City AM interview Paul Fisher of the Bank of England February 23, 2012 Senior Bank of England official Paul Fisher was interviewed on Wednesday 22nd February 2012, by Allister Heath and Julian Harris from City A.M. The edited transcript is as follows: Paul, would you like to start with how you see the outlook at the moment? I think it continues to be a story where the outlook [...]
Claims rise as takings triple for Swiss Re February 23, 2012 SWISS Re bucked the market trend and tripled its profit in 2011, despite a series of natural disasters that severely damaged the insurance industry. The firm beat expectations to record a full-year profit of $2.63bn (£1.68bn), compared with $863m in 2010. Swiss Re also announced plans to raise its dividend and said the current year [...]
RSA earnings soar but plan to cut dividend sinks shares February 23, 2012 RSA Insurance, the firm previously known as Royal and Sun Alliance, yesterday posted a higher than expected profit for 2011 as cost cuts helped offset big catastrophe claims. But shares in the insurer sunk 4.9 per cent to 107p, the biggest fall in the FTSE 100, after the firm announced plans to rein in its [...]
Lancashire looks upbeat for 2012 February 23, 2012 BRITISH insurer and reinsurer Lancashire reported a better-than-expected 2011 profit even though natural disasters drove a 55 per cent increase in claims. The firm, which insures ships, oil rigs and aircraft, said its 2011 pre-tax profit fell 35 per cent to £139.3m, still ahead of analysts’ predictions. The decline was driven by earthquakes in Japan and [...]
Tough year for insurer Allianz February 23, 2012 GERMAN insurer Allianz saw its profits tumble after a series of disasters decimated the insurance market during 2011. Net income for the year was €2.8bn, compared to €5.2bn the year before, mainly due to a write-down in the value of Greek debt and record claims from earthquakes and storms. Revenue slipped slightly to €103.6bn. “2011 [...]
EasyJet wins vote opposed by Sir Stelios February 23, 2012 EASYJET’s board claimed victory yesterday in the airline’s long-running feud with its founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou after shareholders voted in favour of a multi-million pound pay package for its top executives. Just over 44 per cent of shareholders voted against the recommended pay-outs for executives at the annual general meeting, including Sir Stelios and his [...]
New UTV chair after bust-up over investment February 23, 2012 THE BOARD of UTV Media, the group that owns TalkSport Radio, was thrown into disarray yesterday as three directors quit over a row about the chairman’s supposed closeness to a major shareholder. UTV said a majority of the board’s members no longer considered it appropriate for John B McGuckian to continue in his role as [...]
Credit Agricole in record £2.6bn loss February 23, 2012 FRENCH bank Credit Agricole posted a record €3.07bn (£2.6bn) quarterly net loss yesterday, performing worse than expected due to the cost of shrinking its balance sheet and losses on Greek debt. The semi-cooperative bank, which is under new management and trying to return to its low-risk retail lending roots, was hit by more than €2bn [...]
Dexia warns over survival as it falls €11.6bn into red February 23, 2012 STRICKEN Franco-Belgian bank Dexia has warned it could go out of business after posting a net loss of €11.6bn (£9.8bn) for last year. The lender has only received commitments for half the €90bn of state guarantees agreed in October and yesterday it said its survival as a “going concern” depends on the pledges from France, [...]
Commerzbank set to raise €1bn in bond-share swap February 23, 2012 GERMAN lender Commerzbank has finally bowed to the inevitable and announced €1bn (£848m) capital-raising to plug a hole so that it can comply with EU regulations. The capital-raising will be achieved by offering shares in return for chunks of the bank’s junior subordinated debt, which have fallen sharply in value and now trade at a discount. [...]
