China buys first IMF bonds September 2, 2009 China has agreed to buy the first International Monetary Fund bonds for about $50 bn (£31bn). IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, Yi Gang, signed the agreement yesterday at IMF headquarters in Washington. Under the agreement, the Chinese central bank will purchase up to 32bn SpecialDrawing [...]
BORIS IS A BLONDE BOMBSHELL IN BELGIUM September 2, 2009 LONDON’S flaxen-haired mayor just can’t help making waves wherever he goes. Boris Johnson was in Brussels yesterday, lobbying the European Union over its draft directive on the alternative investment management industry, in defence of the UK’s numerous hedge funds. But though he happily deployed his usual self-deprecatory sense of humour to good effect throughout the [...]
BORIS: I’M CITY’S NEW CHAMPION September 2, 2009 LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday took the fight to save the City to Brussels, where he lobbied EU officials over plans to crack down on hedge funds, private equity houses and the alternative investment sector. Johnson met with various MEPs and Charlie McCreevy, the EU’s internal markets commissioner, to highlight the problems contained within the [...]
UK to fight French in bonus row September 2, 2009 EUROPEAN Union finance ministers yesterday agreed to work together to regulate bankers’ pay – but the UK is set to fight plans to cap bonuses. In the run up to the G20 meetings, France and Germany have been drumming up support for the idea of bonus caps, including a targeted tax and a legal maximum [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 2, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES OCH-ZIFF SET TO EARN PERFORMANCE FEES AGAINOch-Ziff, one of the largest hedge fund managers in the world, is set to start earning performance fees again across its $21.7bn (£13.3bn) of funds. The flagship Och-Ziff master fund is up 17.6 per cent this year, meaning it has almost completely recovered from losses incurred in [...]
FSAwill test Lloyds’ plans September 2, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group’s ambitious plans to launch a giant cash call in a bid to reduce its reliance on the government are thought to have been passed to the City watchdog for stress testing. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is understood to have been called in to stress test the plans, to judge whether Lloyds [...]
Why Boris is right to fight for the City September 2, 2009 WHENEVER there is a crisis, certain sections of the British establishment revert to type. Rather than vowing to fight back and rebuild our shattered economy, many senior figures have evidently decided that the best we can hope for is to manage decline, post-war style. In a dynamic, forward-looking, optimistic nation, we would be debating how [...]
Fed to keep policy loose September 2, 2009 A SLUGGISH recovery and continued risks to the economy saw the Federal Reserve hold rates at its August meeting, but said its $300bn (£184bn) Treasury purchase programme would end in October “in light of the evolving economic outlook and conditions in financial markets”. The minutes showed that “most participants saw the economy as likely to [...]
Cerberus locks up funds September 2, 2009 Cerberus has placed a three-year ban on withdrawals from new hedge funds in a bid to stop the type of large outflows that followed its purchases of Chrysler and GMAC. Hedge funds usually allow investors the chance to take money out every few months, but are now becoming more interested in longer-term investment structures.