HSBC to close sub-prime units June 3, 2009 HSBC said it plans to close 100 high street branches of its sub-prime division Beneficial Finance yesterday, putting 450 jobs at risk. It blamed the slowdown in the economy for the move. The group said the remaining 25 branches will close to new business. It said the unit, which includes Beneficial Finance, known as HFC, [...]
ABI: Don’t punish other sectors June 3, 2009 Regulators and politicians must be careful not to punish other industries for the mistakes of bankers, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) warned yesterday. The ABI argued in a report entitled Restoring Market Confidence that any move to remedy flaws in banking should not affect other sectors
Bernanke raises debt alarm June 3, 2009 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday that Washington needs to get a grip on its exploding deficit or risk America’s longer term recovery. Speaking before the budget committee of the US House of Representatives, he said the government will need to develop a plan to tackle the huge US budgetary shortfall in order to [...]
LATVIAN BOND AUCTION FAILS June 3, 2009 A FAILED $100m (£61m) Latvian government bond auction yesterday sparked fears that emerging nations would find it difficult to attract buyers for sovereign debt issuance. It also boosted speculation that Latvia may be forced to devalue its currency, knocking Nordic and central European markets . The Latvian central bank has been burning reserves to defend [...]
Bargains help New Look to book a profit June 3, 2009 BUDGET clothing retailer New Look said yesterday it snatched market share from high street rivals Marks & Spencer and Next in the year to end March, as the recession caused consumers to seek cheaper fashion alternatives. The group, owned jointly by founder Tom Singh and private equity giants Permira and Apax, reported a pre-tax profit [...]
Swiss regulators in bonus crack down June 3, 2009 SWITZERLAND’S financial regulator is proposing new rules to align executive reward more closely with long-term profits and will pay special attention to UBS, the Swiss bank bailed out by the government. The Swiss Market Supervisory Authority, known as Finma, said it would tighten up rules in remuneration by January 2010, to prevent companies from offering [...]
Lloyds unveils fresh job cuts June 3, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group continued its drip-feed of job cut announcements yesterday, revealing 530 fresh redundancies and one site closure. The bank said 210 people would lose their jobs with the closure of a customer service unit in Kent, while 320 more will go in retail banking. The latest round of cuts come just a month [...]
Aviva payout goes to voters June 3, 2009 POLICYHOLDERS at insurance group Aviva are being sent voting packs outlining the proposed “reattribution” of surplus funds at the company. Aviva is asking its customers to accept payments of a minimum of £200 to forego any future share of surplus cash. Those who vote “yes” will receive payments in November 2009. The deal, which has [...]
Osmond set for lesser role June 3, 2009 HUGH Osmond’s role at Pearl Assurance, the highly-indebted insurance group, will be the subject of intense debate over the next few days as banks and shareholders close in on a refinancing deal. The banks have made it a condition of the deal that Osmond’s influence on the company is reduced, City A.M. has learned. In [...]
Heritage Oil shares halted as it admits to takeover talks June 3, 2009 UK-BASED oil explorer Heritage Oil is in early-stage merger talks, it said yesterday, after its shares were suspended. The group, which made a significant oil find in Uganda earlier this year and has potential for development in a Kurdish region of Iraq, said it was in talks with a third party about a possible reverse [...]
