Emerging markets suffer on worries over Federal Reserve tapering August 20, 2013 JITTERY investors sent markets into a spiral yesterday on fears the US Federal Reserve could announce plans to slow down the pace of money printing as soon as tonight. India led the emerging markets down as stocks plummeted and the rupee hit record lows. Brazil’s markets dropped fast enough to put fundraising bids on ice, [...]
BAML says interns can go home early after death August 20, 2013 INTERNS at Bank of America Merrill Lynch are to be given the option to finish their summer placements early following the death of 21-year-old student Moritz Erhardt last week. A spokesman said “we are providing full support to our interns”, who are due to complete their postings next week, while BAML conducts its own enquiries [...]
Bonus season pushed to April as tax cut kicked in August 20, 2013 OFFICIAL statistics released yesterday confirmed that many companies held off on their bonus season until April this year, when the highest rate of income tax was cut to 45 per cent. Bonus payments for finance and insurance this April reached £1.3bn, more than twice as high as in the same month in 2012, when £600m [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 21 August 2013 August 20, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Investment bank hiring uptick Investment banks including Nomura, Citigroup and Bank of America have started hiring dealmakers and traders in Europe in a sign that recruitment is picking up following a two-year cull that saw thousands of bankers lose their jobs. Recruiters say they are at their busiest since 2010 as banks add [...]
Tech guru warns that London will lose out on IPOs August 20, 2013 LONDON will continue to lose out on initial public offerings (IPOs) in the technology sector unless banks and investors learn more about these businesses, according to the head of a British ecommerce company hoping to list soon. A lack of specialised analysts and committed investors could prevent new firms from staying in the UK, chief [...]
Treasury looks to ease cost of living burden August 20, 2013 THE TREASURY is looking at ways to ease the cost of living, City A.M. understands, raising hopes that the Autumn Statement could see another round of tax cuts or freezes. After years of high inflation outstripping wage growth, the government has faced criticism for doing to little to ease the squeeze on living standards. As [...]
RBS bidders at war over bank branches sale August 20, 2013 THE WAR of words between investors vying to buy 316 RBS branches intensified yesterday as the groups tried to discredit their opponents. W&G Investments’ Andrew Higginson claimed his is the only viable bid, while John Maltby, from the consortium including Corsair, argues he is in a better position to move ahead. Former Tesco Bank boss [...]
Kate Bostock returns to the high street as Coast boss August 20, 2013 KATE Bostock, former head of general merchandise at Marks & Spencer, is to make a return to the high street next month as chief executive of Coast, the womenswear brand confirmed yesterday. Bostock’s appointment comes just weeks after she stepped down from Asos after a short-lived seven month stint as executive director at the online [...]
Britain rejects Spanish request for Gibraltar sovereignty talks August 20, 2013 THE BRITISH government yesterday refused Spain’s offer of talks over Gibraltar’s sovereignty as the dispute over the overseas territory showed no sign of abating. Downing Street said it would not listen to Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, who used a Wall Street Journal article to call for an end to “the colonial situation” in the tiny [...]
Glencore Xstrata writes down £4.9bn in assets August 20, 2013 FTSE 100-listed Glencore Xstrata yesterday revealed that it had taken a $7.7bn (£4.9bn) writedown on Xstrata’s mining assets, as it posted a nine per cent fall in half-year earnings to $6bn, due to low commodity prices that continue to weigh down on the sector. The miner trader attributed a large part of the writedown to [...]