HSBC sells insurance business for £518m March 7, 2012 HSBC has agreed to sell its general insurance businesses to French insurer AXA Group and Australia’s QBE Insurance Group for £581m in cash, as Europe’s biggest bank moves ahead with its plan to divest non-core assets. The deal, the latest in a series of cost cutting initiatives under new HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver, includes 10-year [...]
Brazil’s economy overtakes the UK March 6, 2012 BRAZIL’S economy is now bigger than the UK’s, making it the second emerging market to enter the top-tier of world economies and heralding the beginning of the end of Western economic dominance. Britain’s star is fading fast – the country now has the seventh biggest economy in the world, down from fourth in 2005, thanks [...]
Banks: stop FSA’s block on credit March 6, 2012 BANKS have hit out at the City watchdog for introducing new rules that are crippling the flow of credit to small firms, according to a secret document seen by City A.M. In a sign of frustration at the FSA’s hyper-strict regime, banks have called on a special government taskforce to intervene and curb what they [...]
Greek nerves dent markets March 6, 2012 PRE-BAILOUT nerves set global markets tumbling yesterday, as investors fretted about the prospect of Greece’s looming bond swap failing as well as the broader health of the Eurozone’s economy. The FTSE 100 lost 1.9 per cent to close at 5,765.80 points yesterday, suffering its biggest one-day fall in nearly three months, while Paris’s CAC 40 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 6, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES FEARS GROW FOR $45BN UTILITY AS BUYOUT GROUPS’ HEDGES NEAR EXPIRY The world’s biggest private equity deal is facing rising financial pressure during the next two years with the expiry of contracts that underpinned the takeover of utility TXU. Investors in the $45bn buyout of the company, now known as Energy Future Holdings, [...]
Romney edges ahead in race to fight Obama March 6, 2012 MITT Romney notched up early wins as he fought to establish his dominance in the race for the Republican US presidential nomination last night but Ohio, the biggest prize of the evening, was too close to call. Romney won as expected in Virginia and Vermont, while rival Newt Gingrich won in his home state of [...]
Losses double and bidders desert Omega March 6, 2012 INSURER Omega has cancelled its dividend after pre-tax losses doubled to $94.7m (£60m) in 2011, up from $42.9m the year before. Investors were dismayed that the firm made no mention of a possible takeover in its annual report and its shares – which have already lost half their value in the last year – dropped a [...]
Tullett Prebon cuts another 80 jobs as profits tumble March 6, 2012 INTER-DEALER broker Tullett Prebon yesterday said it would cut a further 80 jobs as it announced that profits had dropped for a second consecutive year. Terry Smith, chief executive, said the group needed to “reduce costs and maintain flexibility in the cost business” and warned the firm faced higher costs from developing new electronic platforms and [...]
Tony Hayward picks up $1m bonus from BP March 6, 2012 BP paid former chief executive Tony Hayward a share-based bonus worth more than $1m for last year, despite his resignation from the oil giant in July 2010, a US filing showed last night. Hayward, who quit in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, received 144,422 shares valued at £720,000. The Briton – [...]
Time to split up RBS, Cable tells Cameron March 6, 2012 VINCE Cable, the business secretary, has called for the break-up of Royal Bank of Scotland in a leaked letter that shows a withering view of the direction of the coalition. The Treasury should use the loss-making RBS, which is 82 per cent taxpayer-owned, to create a bank dedicated to boosting business lending and supporting exports, [...]