Hoban says Solvency II likely to start a year late December 8, 2011 TOUGH new insurance industry regulation is highly likely to be brought into effect a year later than first planned, Treasury secretary Mark Hoban told an industry conference yesterday. Hoban said European governments and insurance groups were broadly agreed that new Solvency II capital rules for insurers should take effect in 2014 rather than 2013. “There [...]
Macro hedgies struggling to hold on to gains December 8, 2011 SOME of the hedge fund industry’s best-known macro hedge fund managers are struggling this year to generate returns befitting their star status. The market segment made famous by George Soros was down 3.09 per cent in the 10 months to 31 October, the HFRI Macro (Total) Index showed. In a 2011 littered with market-moving events, [...]
Putin teams up with Chavez in $2.6bn oil deal December 8, 2011 RUSSIA has agreed to team up with Hugo Chavez to produce oil in the lucrative Venezuelan oil fields. Russia’s state-owned venture Rosneft has signed a memo of understanding with Petróleos de Venezuela to explore blocks in the Orinoco Belt that are thought to contain up to 40bn barrels of oil. Rosneft has paid a $440m [...]
MUNICH RE SEES €500M THAI FLOOD LOSS December 8, 2011 FLOODS to hit Thailand last month are the costliest natural disaster ever to hit the country, Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, said yesterday. Munich Re said it would bear losses of €500m (£429m) from the catastrophe, which has claimed more than 600 lives and wrecked critical industrial areas around the capital Bangkok. Picture: REX
PIPPA MIDDLETON JOINS BANKERS AT MAHIKI DUO’S LOW-KEY LAUNCH December 8, 2011 PIPPA Middleton is out and about again after splitting from her boyfriend Alex Loudon, an analyst at brewing giant SAB Miller. And one of the first places Middleton has patronised in her newly single life is the Markham Inn on Elystan Street, the latest restaurant venture from Mahiki owners Nick House and Piers Adam that [...]
StanChart to see profits grow by 10pc December 8, 2011 STANDARD Chartered confirmed it will see double-digit profit growth this year of at least 10 per cent, helped by a strong performance in emerging markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong. However, the bank said that although it had “a strong pipeline in difficult market conditions”, income in 2011 is now expected to grow at [...]
E&Y to examine its involvement with Olympus December 8, 2011 THE JAPANESE arm of Ernst & Young is to set up an external committee to investigate its audit of scandal-ridden Olympus. The move follows a separate probe into an accounting scandal at the camera maker, which raised issues with its audit and work done by a previous auditor. Ernst & Young ShinNihon said it has [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF STANCHART’S LATEST UPDATE? December 8, 2011 BRUCE PACKARD | Seymour Pierce The bank is currently trading on 1.8 times tangible book value, well ahead of European banks. In one sense we think this is justified given the geographies that StanChart operates in, however we are concerned that the secondary effects of the European bond turmoil will impact Asian trade… Hold. GARY [...]
Tullett’s COO to step down after 17 years December 8, 2011 INTERDEALER broker Tullett Prebon abruptly announced that its long-serving chief operating officer Steph Duckworth was leaving yesterday. Duckworth, who spent 17 years with the company after joining its predecessor entity Liberty in the 1990s, resigned yesterday, Tullett said, without specifying when he would go or who would succeed him. A person familiar with his departure [...]
Korhonen out at flagging Fidelity fund December 8, 2011 THE INVESTMENT chief who took over half of Anthony Bolton’s flagship Fidelity fund has left after a series of losses. Jorma Korhonen will be replaced by Jeremy Podger as manager of the £1.5bn Global Special Situations fund. Sudipto Banerji, a veteran Fidelity manager, will take over until Podger arrives from Threadneedle in March. Meera Patel [...]