Rock suffers on bad debts August 4, 2009 NATIONALISED mortgage lender Northern Rock posted a £724.2m first-half loss yesterday, as the number of bad debts trebled. The bank, taken into public ownership in February last year, wrote down £602.2m in bad loans, up 214 per cent on the £191.6m in writedowns it took in the first half of 2008. The outlook for the [...]
Not all banks were given state handouts August 4, 2009 ANOTHER day; another row about banking profits, bonuses and the future of the City. The nationalised Northern Rock’s numbers were poor as expected – but for some reason, the pundits are more concerned with banks that are doing reasonably well. And not any institution: they couldn’t care less about Standard Chartered, a well-managed group which [...]
ANZ buys RBS Asian assets in a $550m deal August 4, 2009 AUSTRALIA and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has agreed a $550m (£324.6m) deal to buy Asian assets from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The deal is its biggest overseas purchase, helping it to take on rivals HSBC and Standard Chartered in Asia’s fast-growing markets. ANZ has been in talks for weeks to buy retail [...]
GE fined $50m by SEC August 4, 2009 GENERAL Electric has been fined $50m (£29.5m) after being accused of manipulating its earnings to meet analysts’ expectations. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that the firm deceived investors, adding that “overly aggressive accounting can distort a company’s true financial condition.” GE did not admit or deny the allegations, but agreed to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 4, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES BMW EYES TIE-UP WITH PEUGEOT FOR MINIBMW is examining whether to share platforms with PSA Peugeot Citroën for its Mini small car, it emerged yesterday, as the German premium carmaker returned to profit in the second quarter on the back of cost-cutting. Norbert Reithofer, BMW’s chief executive, said the company was talking to [...]
Bluefin boss attacks Tory threat to FSA August 4, 2009 THE HEAD of one of the UK’s largest insurance brokers has hit out at shadow chancellor George Osborne’s plans to scrap the tripartite system of regulation, accusing him of “pandering to public sentiment”. Howard Fryer, managing director of Axa-owned broking giant Bluefin, has said the insurance sector would face costly turmoil if Osborne goes ahead [...]
BSkyB and Deloitte bosses net millions August 4, 2009 THE senior partner of accountancy firm Deloitte, John Connolly, and the chief executive of BSkyB, John Darroch, have been awarded pay packages worth millions. Connolly, whose firm Deloitte is the auditor of the part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), grabbed an annual pay packet of £5.3m, benefiting from Deloitte’s profit-sharing scheme as the company earned [...]
WIFE STRIFE August 4, 2009 THE WIFE of fraudster Bernie Madoff, Ruth has come under fire from a former associates who say she almost certainly knew about her husband’s $65bn Ponzi scheme. She yesterday reached an agreement with a court meaning she cannot spend more than $100 on anything without telling a court-appointed trustee.
BNY Mellon nears Insight deal August 4, 2009 Bank of New York Mellon is in late-stage talks to buy the lion’s share of Insight, the fund manager inherited by Lloyds Banking Group from HBOS, in a deal worth up to £235m. BNY is understood to have beaten off competition from US private equity house Hellman & Friedman and asset manager Schroders. Abdullah Nauphal, [...]
Focus DIY hopes for rescue plan August 4, 2009 Focus DIY will today unveil a restructuring plan aimed at saving it from collapse and will call on landlords to get behind the proposals. The retailer is proposing a company voluntary agreement (CVA), under which it would jettison stores standing empty. Landlords of the closed outlets would be offered dividends, paid in lump sums, in [...]
