Crunch easing for euro banks January 11, 2012 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) has succeeded in kick-starting bank funding markets, prompting a rush to issue debt that has reached levels not seen since before the latest credit crunch took hold. Funding costs for banks on the continent have plunged to their lowest level since April on the back of a flood of new [...]
US regulator in favour of Volcker rule January 11, 2012 US REGULATORS came a step closer to implementing the Dodd-Frank rules on banking yesterday, after laying out a fresh draft of the Volcker rule and giving more protection to collateral in swaps deals. The Volcker rule, under the Dodd-Frank Act, prevents banks that hold customer deposits from proprietary trading, on the basis that it could [...]
Swiss banker will get a full 2012 salary January 11, 2012 OUSTED Swiss banker Philipp Hildebrand will receive a full year’s salary for 2012 of around SwFr862,000 (£590,000), despite stepping down from his role as central bank governor just nine days into the year. Hildebrand was apparently pressured to quit on Monday, after a string of emails from his personal banking adviser failed to clear up [...]
Rush for top job at KPMG January 11, 2012 KPMG, the audit and consulting group, is gearing up for a widely contested battle to succeed John Griffith-Jones as chairman of the firm’s UK unit. Sources have said that the race to replace Griffith-Jones, who is due to step down in September, has attracted up to as many as ten candidates with no obvious front-runner [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 11, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES BANK OFFERS TRADES FOR EUROZONE SHORTING Credit Suisse is offering its hedge fund clients off-the-shelf products that allow traders to replicate hypothetical gains made by betting against European stock indices that include equities covered by Eurozone short selling bans. The bank has made five shortable baskets “optimised” to track leading European indices as [...]
More bankers wave goodbye January 11, 2012 Goldman Sachs yesterday reported the departure of the co-heads of its global securities division. Edward Eisler and David Heller will retire from Goldman after working there for 18 and 22 years respectively, remaining as senior directors. Isabelle Ealet, currently global head of commodities, will take their place. And RBS will today unveil restructuring plans which [...]
Olympus seeks equity partner January 11, 2012 Scandalised Olympus, while better known to consumers as a camera maker, could be saved by its prestigious gastro-intestinal endoscope business which may well appeal to investors. The company is in discussion with prospective investors in search of an equity-for-cash deal, according to Japanese media.
Fed reports improved growth January 11, 2012 The Fed’s Beige Book last night confirmed improving economic conditions in the US. Most districts reported “more favourable conditions than identified in reports from the late spring through early fall”.
Alex Salmond backed RBS’s ABN disaster January 11, 2012 SCOTLAND’S first minister Alex Salmond’s enthusiastic backing of Royal Bank of Scotland’s disastrous takeover of ABN Amro returned to haunt him yesterday. A letter, released yesterday, shows that Salmond wrote to RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin (pictured) in May 2007 to throw his weight behind the bank’s disastrous purchase. Signing the note, “Yours for Scotland”, Salmond [...]
Small win, but no safeguards, in euro treaty January 11, 2012 A NEW draft of the Eurozone’s “fiscal compact” emerged yesterday that appeared to show some movement towards the UK’s negotiating position. The draft, published by the think-tank Open Europe, takes out all reference to the single market – the whole EU – in favour of applying new fiscal rules only to Eurozone members. But it [...]