UBS beats second quarter profit forecasts July 27, 2010 STRONG equities and currency revenues drove UBS’s second-quarter net profit well above forecasts despite choppy market conditions and client money withdrawals fell to their lowest level since early 2008. UBS improved investment banking performance, although partially helped by a gain on own credit, stood out against weak results at several U.S. rivals in the face [...]
Cable threatens bank tax hikes July 26, 2010 BUSINESS Secretary Vince Cable has warned British banks they could face a tax on profits if they paid excessive dividends and bonuses and did not promote lending to smaller businesses. Launching a consultation document on how to get more money flowing to businesses, Cable said that a tax on bank profits was one of the [...]
Heavyweight UK bank regulator to start in autumn July 26, 2010 A POWERFUL new Bank of England committee to police the banking sector will be up and running in the autumn, the government has said. The Financial Policy Committee will be initially set up on an interim basis as legislation is looked at by parliament, according to the coalition government’s Financial Regulation consultation document. Its membership [...]
Aberdeen sees dip in assets under management July 26, 2010 BRITISH asset manager Aberdeen has seen a dip in assets under management, it said in a trading update. The fund firm said assets under management stood at £164.7bn in its third quarter, compared with £170.9bn, after it bought Royal Bank of Scotland’s non-core fund assets in January. Over the quarter, the firm attracted net inflows [...]
Pace in £300m deal for 2Wire July 26, 2010 PACE, the world’s largest set-top box maker, has agreed to buy US broadband technology firm 2Wire for £306.6m to broaden its customer base beyond cable and satellite into the Internet TV market. The British company, which overtook to claim the top spot in May, said 2Wire had an established relationship with North American telecoms providers [...]
National Grid upbeat on year ahead July 26, 2010 BRITAIN’S biggest utility company National Grid said it was positive on the outlook for the year and reported a 1.3 per cent rise in electricity transported in the first quarter. The grid operator said, however, that gas volumes transported in Britain were down by 4.6 per cent in the first quarter due to the effects [...]
Reckitt Benckiser profit up 23pc July 26, 2010 CONSUMER goods group Reckitt Benckiser saw net profit rise 23 per cent to £380m, in the second quarter. Sales rose to £2.1bn from £1.9bn in the same period last year. Reckitt, which agreed to buy durex-maker SSL for £2.54bn, said if its offer was successful it hoped to close the deal in the fourth quarter [...]
Seven out of 91 banks fail stress tests July 23, 2010 European Union regulators said most euro zone banks passed their stress tests, though analysts worried whether the tests were strict enough to reveal the true health of the banking sector. All French banks and all but one of Germany’s were judged to have sufficient capital cushions to withstand potential losses on their sovereign debt holdings. [...]
Metro Bank targets 10pc of London market July 23, 2010 METRO Bank, which will be Britain’s first new High Street lender to launch in more than 100 years, has a long-term goal to grab up to 10 per cent of the capital’s retail and commercial banking market. “It is a reasonable aspiration to say that, after 10 years, we will have between five and 10 [...]
Economy grows fastest for four years July 23, 2010 THE UK economy grew 1.1 per cent between April and June – higher than expected. According to the figures from the Office for National Statistics the construction industry saw its biggest lift since 1963 at 6.6 per cent. The service sector also saw a healthy rise. Chancellor George Osborne said the figures were evidence that [...]
