Myners slams bank reforms September 16, 2011 LORD Myners blasted the Vickers report into reforming the UK’s banks yesterday, arguing that it missed an opportunity to properly interrogate the sector. In a House of Lords debate the former City minister said the reforms would neither reduce the risk of banks causing another crisis, nor improve competition. The reforms would also saddle banks [...]
Euro crisis like 1,000 rogue traders September 16, 2011 BY far the biggest threat to the world economy comes from the Eurozone crisis. Rogue traders are a danger to us all, but well-capitalised large banks can cope quite easily with a $2bn loss (the well-deserved reputational disaster is another matter). That is why all recent global banking reforms have emphasised the need for financial [...]
Goldman cuts hedge fund September 16, 2011 GOLDMAN Sachs is to close its $1.6bn (£1bn) Global Alpha computer-based hedge fund after a poor trading performance and investor demands to pull out their money. Goldman has written to the fund’s investors to tell them the fund, which makes money by quantitative trading, would be wound down by the end of October. It has [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 16, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BTG PACTUAL LOOKS AT IPO AS IT EYES EXPANSION BTG Pactual, Brazil’s largest independent investment bank, is looking to hold an initial public offering as early as next year as one option to fund an ambitious expansion in Latin America. The move comes as the bank is also strengthening its foothold in Asia [...]
US Democrats back AT&T deal September 16, 2011 A group of influential Democrat lawmakers have written to US President Barack Obama calling on him to approve telecoms giant AT&T’s $39bn (£24.7bn) proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom. The fifteen representatives have said the deal would help to cut unemployment and encourage investment at a time when the US badly needs it. [...]
City welcomes UK’s ECB lawsuit September 16, 2011 The City of London Corporation yesterday welcomed government action to sue the European Central Bank over plans to force clearing houses to move to Europe. Policy chairman Stuart Fraser told City A.M. it was vital that European legislation was “underpinned by sound economic reasoning rather than using the recent crises as an excuse to build [...]
Stark echoes Merkel attack on euro-bonds September 16, 2011 EURO-BONDS were attacked by several leading Eurozone figures yesterday, in a fierce rebuttal of the plan currently under consideration by the European Commission. Senior European Central Bank official Juergen Stark threw his weight behind compatriot Angela Merkel, stating: “Euro-bonds are no solution to the debt crisis. There are no simple, quick solutions to the debt [...]
Q&A: CENTRAL BANK DOLLAR LENDING – WHO’S DOING WHAT? September 16, 2011 Q. WHAT’S THE PROBLEM? A. Banks are worried about the crisis in the Eurozone, and do not know which other banks they can trust. That means they are cutting the amount they lend to each other. Q. WHAT’S BEING DONE ABOUT IT? A. Central banks in Europe, the UK, US, Switzerland and Japan will make [...]
Chi-X beating LSE on trades September 16, 2011 EUROPE-wide equity trading platform Chi-X Europe fielded more trades than the London Stock Exchange in August, putting it ahead of all other exchanges in the region, data from the Federation of European Securities Exchanges yesterday showed. Chi-X, which allows multilateral equity trades in Europe-listed companies, saw 43.1m trades completed in August, a 58 per cent [...]
Mitchells & Butlers sets Lewis a deadline for his next move September 16, 2011 THE INDEPENDENT directors of Mitchells & Butlers have issued a put up or shut up notice to Piedmont, forcing Joe Lewis to make a public offer for the group by 17 October. If Piedmont fails to come back with a firm offer by the deadline of 5pm on 17 October, following its possible offer of [...]