Traders look to hedge fund guru for lead on Barclays November 2, 2009 AFTER eight months of holding onto his 1.5 per cent stake in Barclays, one of London’s top hedge fund managers announced last week that he has sold his stake in the high-street bank, which has risen in value by 550 per cent over the period. Crispin Odey, head of Odey Asset Management, cited uncertainty over [...]
Insight deal completed as staff go November 2, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group yesterday cut another 120 staff as part of the completion of the £235m sale of its Insight Investment Management business to Bank of New York Mellon. On another bleak day for banking jobs, Lloyds said 331 staff would move to BNY Mellon as part of the deal while 12 would be kept [...]
Turner warns break-ups to hit stability November 2, 2009 THE forced break up of the “too big to fail” banks into retail and casino institutions would actually increase instability in the financial sector and worsen the economic impact of future banking crises, the City watchdog warned yesterday. Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said proposals to separate traditional banking operations [...]
Northern Rock break-up is good for competition November 1, 2009 Leaving the debate over who should be the first “President of the EU” aside, the EU Commission’s recent decision to allow the break-up of Northern Rock into separate “good” and “bad” banks was a major step forward to restoring healthy competition in the banking sector. Restructuring Northern Rock and selling off its viable parts will [...]
Santander able to bid for RBS assets November 1, 2009 Spanish bank Santander has been cleared to bid for Royal Bank of Scotland’s business-focused branches when the bank’s assets are divested under plans being drawn up. Competition rules agreed between London and Brussels will ensure that no purchase of the assets will push the buyer’s market share in the specific market past 15 per cent. [...]
Plus a change, plus c’est la mme chose October 29, 2009 IT is becoming increasingly clear that the current crisis is much more similar to previous booms and busts than is usually understood. London’s secondary banking crisis of the 1970s, for example, saw a number of financial institutions that raised funds on the money markets go bust after the Bank of England hiked interest rates and [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 29, 2009 MarshThe insurance broker and risk adviser has hired Simon Curtis as chief operating officer of its UK operations, based in London. He succeeds Ian Clarke, who continues as a board member and a member of the firm’s international executive group. Curtis joins from Jardine Lloyd Thompson, which he joined in 2000 after its acquisition of [...]
TOP BANKER HIRED TO SPLIT UP ROCK October 27, 2009 SENIOR UBS banker Robin Budenberg is set to be named today as the new chief executive of UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the Treasury unit that manages the government’s holdings in UK banks. Budenberg’s first job will be to oversee the break up of Northern Rock into a “good” and a “bad” bank – a plan [...]
Lloyd’s of London is the City’s great gem October 27, 2009 IT was Lord Davies, the former boss of Standard Chartered and current trade minister, who put it best. Speaking at a gathering of senior figures at Drapers’ Hall organised by the City of London on Monday night, he pointed out that among all the chaos in financial services, there is one player that has emerged [...]
Lloyd’s: equity market rally is nearing end October 27, 2009 THE stock market rally has run out of steam, according to Lloyd’s of London. The world’s oldest insurance market yesterday poured cold water over hopes that surging equity prices would continue to rise into the latter stages of the year and into 2010. Pointing out that shares had risen 50 per cent since March, Lloyd’s [...]