Investment banks booming as RBS chief nets pay deal June 22, 2009 INVESTMENT banks are on course for a year of record profits, as they take advantage of dwindling competition to hoover up business from governments and companies raising money in the markets. Bankers at Goldman Sachs are expecting mammoth bonuses, after the investment banking division booked profits of more than £500m in the first quarter, nearly [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 22, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES BRAMDEAN FUND POSTS HEAVY FALLBramdean Alternatives, the listed fund of alternative funds, has posted its worst monthly fall in net asset value in sterling terms since its inception two years ago. The fund, which is managed by Nicola Horlick’s Bramdean Asset Management, suffered a 7.7 per cent fall in net asset value to [...]
US boss to leave BAE June 22, 2009 Walter Havenstein, US president and chief executive of BAE Systems, has resigned to become the chief executive of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Havenstein, who was also a member of the company’s board, took over as US boss of BAE Systems in January 2007 and will step down this Friday. SAIC is a Fortune 500 [...]
Fitch highlights negative equity June 22, 2009 A report by credit agency Fitch Ratings will today say that one in 10 borrowers with excellent credit ratings are trapped in negative equity, owing more on their mortgage than the value of their homes. The agency will also forecast a peak-to-trough fall in house prices of up to 35 per cent. The report, which [...]
MINERS PLOT A 40BN MERGER June 21, 2009 COAL miner Xstrata is eying up Anglo American – owner of the world’s biggest platinum producer – for a £41bn marriage, City A.M. can confirm. A tie-up between the two titans would create one of the world’s leading natural resources companies, and comes as a wave of consolidations sweeps over the mining industry. Xstrata is [...]
RBS boss in 9.6m pay bonanza June 21, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland is set to announce a £9.6m pay package for chief executive Stephen Hester, in a deal agreed after his predecessor Sir Fred Goodwin agreed to give up a third of his pension. The long-term incentive plan was approved on Friday by UK Financial Invesments, controller of the state’s 70 per cent [...]
Iran protests see 10 deaths June 21, 2009 AT LEAST 10 people died and 100 have been injured in Iran’s most violent weekend of unrest since the shah was overthrown 30 years ago. An uneasy calm settled over Iran yesterday after Saturday’s bloody demonstrations against the contested 12 June election. The clashes saw demonstrators waging pitched battles in Tehran against police armed with [...]
Controlling banks’ capital no panacea June 21, 2009 VIRTUALLY every week during the bubble years, I would talk to economists who were well aware that the economy was on an unsustainable path. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 some of these were so anxious that they could barely sleep at nights. They usually hailed from the Austrian School of Economics – many of whom [...]
TfL minds the funds gap June 21, 2009 TRANSPORT for London has narrowed the tube funding gap by £2.5bn with a massive cost cutting drive. The new budget plan for three quarters of the tube network includes deferring upgrades, axing 1,000 jobs and rewriting engineering contracts. Under the plan, set to be announced on Wednesday, £800m will be saved by postponing work on [...]
Blackout looms as oil workers step up protest June 21, 2009 POWER stations and other energy-sector sites face further disruption today as the bitter workers’ dispute continues at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire. Workers sacked by energy giant Total over wildcat strikes are planning to burn their dismissal letters in protest – ahead of a deadline to reapply for their jobs. The energy giant sacked [...]