Bankia raises £1.26bn April 10, 2014 Spain’s Bankia, rescued by the state from near financial collapse in 2012, has announced it raised £1.26bn by selling its 4.94 per cent stake in energy giant Iberdrola. The sale of 315m shares was led by UBS and Citi. Market sources suggested there remained a significant amount of unsold stock, although UBS’ presence on the [...]
Bank switching jumps 14 per cent April 10, 2014 New rules making it easier for Britons to switch banks resulted in a 14 per cent increase in the number of customers moving accounts in the six months since they were introduced, the Payments Council will say today. The new rules, introduced last October, ensure customers can switch accounts within seven working days with all [...]
IMA to bolt-on ABI division April 10, 2014 The Investment Management Association, the trade body for fund managers, is set to merge the investment affairs division of the Association of British Insurers into its organisation. The Institutional Voting Information Service (Ivis), best known in City circles for issuing “red top” alerts on companies, is on the verge of joining the IMA, which will [...]
Yields drop as Greek bond sale pulls in investors April 10, 2014 INVESTORS piled into Greece’s return to global capital markets yesterday, as the state raised €3bn (£2.47bn) through a bond sale that attracted more than €20bn of orders. The successful sale of five-year debt is Greece’s first foray into the bond market since 2010, when the IMF and EU were forced to put together a €110bn [...]
Lambeth and Southwark are leading London’s housing boom April 10, 2014 SOUTH London is leading the housing boom in the capital and the UK as a whole, according to figures out today from LSL Property Services. Prices in Lambeth soared 31.5 per cent in the last year to an average of £551,662 in February. And Southwark was close behind with a 24.8 per cent jump to [...]
Forex scandal hits Singapore central bank April 10, 2014 A SUSPENDED Deutsche Bank trader may have had inappropriate links to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), it emerged yesterday. London-based sales director Kai Lew was put on leave last month as part of the bank’s internal probe into alleged foreign exchange benchmark manipulation. The action was taken because she had communicated improperly with MAS, the Wall Street Journal reported [...]
Cambian makes it over the line April 10, 2014 CAMBIAN, the provider of specialist behavioural health services, yesterday priced its shares at the bottom of a range of between 225p-290p, valuing the group at around £400m. The shares begin conditional trading today on the London stock market. Most groups floating on the market since the New Year have issued shares towards the middle or [...]
Discounts weigh on M&S despite rise in clothing April 10, 2014 MARKS & Spencer’s revamped womenswear collection, which has been fronted by stars including Dame Helen Mirren, showed signs of recovery in the fourth quarter despite overall general merchandise sales falling for an 11th consecutive quarter. The high street giant yesterday split clothing sales from other non-food sales for the first time, revealing a 0.6 per [...]
Bottom Line: Bolland must use his breathing space wisely April 10, 2014 MARKS & Spencer’s boss Marc Bolland usually looks pretty pleased with himself, but yesterday his proud smile was somewhat justified. By posting the retailer’s best clothing performance in three years – based on an improvement in its crucial womenswear lines – Bolland has proved the critics wrong, pulling something that looks like the start of [...]
Carney to be tested on low rates April 10, 2014 BRITAIN could have less than a year left before the Bank of England considers raising interest rates, analysts hinted yesterday. The warning came as the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) held interest rates again yesterday. The base rate has been held at 0.5 per cent for more than five years, through the financial crisis and [...]
