US to offload $6bn AIG shares March 7, 2012 The US Treasury yesterday revealed plans to sell $6bn of American International Group (AIG) shares and struck another deal for the insurer to pay down $8.5bn more in obligations, in a bid to hasten its unwinding. AIG said the agreement would allow it to pay down what it owed in a special purpose vehicle, AIA Aurora, [...]
Treasury cool on Cable state bank policy March 7, 2012 TREASURY sources talked down the idea of a state-owned business bank yesterday as Vince Cable appeared to row back from the idea in a speech at Mansion House. A treasury source told City A.M. that the creation of a wholly publicly owned bank that channels cheap funds into small business (SME) is “not going to [...]
HSBC sells non-core insurance units to AXA for over $900m March 7, 2012 HSBC has agreed to sell its general insurance businesses to French insurer AXA Group and Australia’s QBE Insurance Group for $914m (£580m) in cash, as Europe’s biggest bank moves ahead with its plan to divest non-core assets. HSBC’s decision to exit the business could be a precursor to similar deals as lenders globally consider selling [...]
National Australia Bank prepping for UK sell-off March 7, 2012 NATIONAL Australia Bank (NAB) is likely to position its UK bank assets for sale after separating off its troubled commercial real-estate business at the end of an ongoing review of its UK operations, two sources said. The result of the review is due in May, and it is still classified within NAB as an operational [...]
BBA keen to maintain role in compiling Libor March 7, 2012 THE BRITISH Bankers’ Association (BBA) said it is keen to keep a central role in compiling the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), a key financial benchmark, despite recent scandals. The industry body also insisted that the number, which is used as a measure of interbank interest rates borrowing costs in trillions of pounds’ worth of financial [...]
Goldman Sachs rejigs its UK subsidiary’s boardroom March 7, 2012 INVESTMENT bank Goldman Sachs is reshuffling the board of directors that oversees its UK-based subsidiary, with four senior executives stepping down from their board-level roles, including investment banking rainmaker Yoel Zaoui. Zaoui, Christopher French, David Wildermuth and the soon-to-be relocated to Hong Kong Matthew Westerman have stepped down from the board of Goldman Sachs International (GSI), [...]
Admiral hits record profit in tough year March 7, 2012 ADMIRAL shares climbed 11 per cent yesterday after the firm overcame last year’s profit warning to announce better-than-expected results. The car insurance giant increased profits to £299m in 2011, up 13 per cent on the year before, largely thanks to the addition of 600,000 new customers. Turnover increased 38 per cent to £2.19bn. But although [...]
ABI warns 200,000 could miss out on flood insurance March 7, 2012 THE ASSOCIATION of British Insurers (ABI) says the government must come to a new agreement soon if it wants to secure a sustainable flood insurance market in the UK. It claims that up to 200,000 property owners will struggle to get affordable insurance when the current agreement ends in June 2013. At the moment insurers [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: CAN ADMIRAL BOOST PROFITS IN 2012? March 7, 2012 NICK JOHNSON NUMIS UK customer growth slowed in the second half of the year to a 10 per cent annualised increase from 30 per cent in the first half, as Admiral switched from raising rates a little less than the market to a little more. The group put through average rate increases of 15 per [...]
City shrinks but Jupiter goes red hot March 7, 2012 THE CHIEF executive of Jupiter warned the financial services sector would continue to shrink as a proportion of Britain’s economy as the fund manager posted a jump in annual profits. Edward Bonham Carter also said his sector has to work harder to give value for money as the City adjusts after a long period of [...]
