Davis report into FCA insurance fiasco: Good intentions are not enough – Editor’s Letter John Griffith-Jones, the chairman of the FCA, said last night that the regulator’s botched briefing to one media organisation, which went disastrously wrong and resulted in causing mayhem on the stock market last March, was well-intended. It’s a view that is backed by Simon Davis, the Clifford Chance lawyer commissioned to write a highly detailed [...]
Davis report: FCA chief Martin Wheatley in the firing line after publication of review into regulator’s newspaper leak Martin Wheatley, head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is expected to face questions over his future today after the publication of a report into the regulator’s leak of price sensitive information concerning life insurers. Wheatley, who famously said his strategy was to shoot first and ask questions later when it comes to regulating the [...]
WPP awaits a new era on its board – Editor’s Letter By the time the last of the chocolates have been foraged from the Advent Calendar, or thereabouts, WPP, the giant advertising group run by Sir Martin Sorrell, will very likely have chosen a new chair for the company’s board. The group, which has had regular spats with shareholders over the scale of its executive pay, [...]
Crisis at the FCA as top regulator Clive Adamson departs December 4, 2014 Some of the City’s most senior insurance executives last night expressed their dismay at the departure of Clive Adamson from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Adamson was widely respected within the industry for being a tough but fair regulator. The news that he is to step down comes days ahead of the publication of a [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: There’s only one thing on George Osborne’s mind – Editor’s Letter December 3, 2014 George Osborne is the consummate tactician. With 153 days to go to the election, there’s only one thing on his mind, and that’s how to breeze past opposition parties on the journey back to Downing Street. And who can blame him? After all, he’s the one who has kept the economy on the road and [...]
Barclays to place ISS shares worth £300m December 2, 2014 Barclays was last night in the market with 13.5 per cent of the stock in ISS, the cleaning and catering group that floated earlier this year in the largest Danish IPO for 20 years. The bank acted on behalf of shareholders to buy the block in a deal worth around £300m and will be placing [...]
Too soon to write off Aviva’s £5.6bn bid for Friends Life – Editor’s Letter November 26, 2014 Aviva’s New Zealand-born chief executive Mark Wilson comes from a family of insurance people and has been an investor in insurance companies since he was 15. Maybe it’s that pedigree that gives him the confidence to press ahead with a strategy that is being doubted by many experts. When he first came into Aviva, he [...]
Aviva merger target Friends Life eyed up deal with closed insurance group Phoenix November 25, 2014 Friends Life, which is in merger talks with Aviva, has held informal talks with Phoenix, the closed insurance group, about a possible deal in the past few months, City A.M. understands. News of the talks between the two groups, which are not ongoing and did not reach any conclusion, come as Aviva struggles to convince [...]
Aviva has some work to do to finalise deal – Editor’s Letter November 23, 2014 Panmure Gordon, the independent stockbroking firm, made a name for itself last year when one of its analysts calculated the government was planning to sell the Royal Mail at £1bn less than what the firm thought it was worth. Subsequent events showed Panmure had been right to be bullish on the firm’s valuation, at least [...]
Change is needed in the IPO market – Editor’s Letter November 18, 2014 As the recent flotation of Virgin Money proved, albeit after a false start, London’s window for new issues (or Initial Public Offerings, IPOs) isn’t absolutely closed, as it was a couple of years ago. But, after a stunning year, it’s damned close to it. There have been 121 IPOs in London and in general those [...]
