McIlroy ‘more gifted than Tiger’ December 7, 2011 GOLF: English world No1 Luke Donald has branded Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy “more talented” than 14-time Major winner Tiger Woods. Donald is aiming to fend off US Open champion McIlroy’s late charge to pip him to the European Tour title at the Dubai World Championships, which tees off this morning. “In terms of talent I [...]
Banks buy own debt to raise new capital December 7, 2011 EUROPEAN banks are turning to buying back their own debt in order to raise some of the billions in extra capital required by regulators. At least six major banks have launched debt buybacks in the last two weeks and investment bankers say more are likely. Barclays announced the repurchase of £2.5bn of its own debt [...]
ING to book up to €1.1bn US insurance cost December 7, 2011 DUTCH insurer and banking group ING said it would take a charge of up to €1.1bn (£942m) on a US insurance portfolio yesterday and may exclude the business from its planned insurance listings. ING plans to list its insurance and investment management operations in two IPOs as part of European Commission approval for state aid [...]
VINCE CABLE CALLS FOR FAIR EXEC PAY December 7, 2011 Business secretary Vince Cable yesterday firmly backed the Association of British Insurers in its bid to curtail top pay packages. In a letter sent to top investors and FTSE 100 chairmen, he widened the focus on bank bosses and urged all big companies to make sure their top execs’ deals “are not just proportionate, fair [...]
Citi slashes thousands of jobs globally December 7, 2011 CITIGROUP is to cut 4,500 jobs globally, with its London capital markets division shedding dozens of staff. Speaking in New York late on Tuesday, chief executive Vikram Pandit said that the bank has already made $1.4bn in savings this year but needs to respond to slow markets by reducing costs further. City A.M. understands that [...]
Barclays scales back £1bn retail presence in India December 7, 2011 BARCLAYS said yesterday it has decided not to book new retail loans in India, while maintaining its deposit business as part of a restructuring to focus on its corporate banking, wealth management and investment banking businesses. UK-based Barclays plans to sell its retail loan book of more than $580m (£369m) in the next six months [...]
BRICS expansion isn’t always easy December 7, 2011 Talk about counterintuitive. India, we’re always told, is the place to be for Western companies who want to move beyond mature markets at home. Now Barclays is scaling back its operations there, selling its $580m loan book and $35m credit card portfolio. In recent years, it has been the done thing to try to build [...]
Brewin profit drops on levy and cost rises December 7, 2011 STOCKBROKER Brewin Dolphin blamed the cost of moving to a new regulatory regime and a compensation levy for a 27 per cent fall in its full-year profit yesterday. Brewin grew funds under management 3.4 per cent to £24bn in the year to September and raised its income by 10 per cent to £264m, but said [...]
Numis gloomy on 2012 despite jump in earnings December 7, 2011 THE CHIEF executive of Numis said there is no sign of an imminent recovery in the grim state of the stockbroking market despite the firm posting a 13 per cent rise in profits. Adjusted profit before tax hit £8.9m for the year to 30 September. The statutory profit figure – after the impact of share [...]
Bond ETFs see influx as equity funds sold off December 7, 2011 INVESTORS abandoned equity-based exchange traded products (ETPs) last month and ploughed capital into fixed-income products, BlackRock said yesterday, to secure steadier returns and avoid the stock market volatility seen over recent months. Investors pulled $8.5bn (£5.4bn) out of equity exchange traded funds (ETFs), but added $3.7bn into bond products and $4bn into commodity funds over [...]
