Morgan Stanley to sell Saxon October 24, 2011 Morgan Stanley plans to sell its mortgage-servicing business to Ocwen Financial Corp for $59.3m (£37m), closing out a money-losing strategy that stemmed from the subprime housing bubble. The deal, announced yesterday, signals Ocwen’s strategy of expanding by buying troubled servicing assets on the cheap from big banks that have stepped back from the US mortgage [...]
Accounting tweak hides bank wipeout October 24, 2011 ACCOUNTING technicalities have disguised the true extent of the wipeout for Wall Street’s investment banks this quarter, according to data compiled by Financial News. A run of US bank results for the third quarter of this year exceeded analysts’ expectations last week, but a closer look at the numbers shows that their investment banking businesses [...]
Shareholders rage against Murdochs October 24, 2011 JAMES Murdoch, the presumed heir to the News Corp media empire, felt the wrath of the firm’s shareholders yesterday, with nearly 35 per cent of its investors voting against his re-election to the board. James, the youngest son of News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, garnered only a 65 per cent approval vote. James was formally [...]
G4S head Nick Buckles flies out to convince investors of ISS deal October 24, 2011 THE CHIEF executive of embattled security giant G4S met key investors in Copenhagen yesterday to try to persuade them to back his controversial £5.2bn takeover of rival ISS. Nick Buckles made the swift visit to Denmark after the hostile reaction that greeted the deal last week. G4S has a series of Scandinavian shareholders remaining from [...]
US stocks in results and deals boost October 24, 2011 US stocks rallied yesterday as investors were roused by big-money takeover talks and record results from the world’s largest heavy machinery manufacturer. The S&P 500 rose 1.3 per cent to 1,254.19, dragged up by acquisition targets. It has now gained almost 11 per cent in October after five consecutive monthly falls. Health insurer Cigna’s decision to [...]
Human rights laws could let activists cling on until 2012 October 24, 2011 THE THREAT of challenges under human rights legislation means any eviction of protesters outside St Paul’s Cathedral may not take place until the New Year, City A.M. understands. Yesterday the City of London Corporation met lawyers and officers believe it could take several months to win a legal battle against Occupy LSX because of the [...]
Vatican slams economic liberals and calls for global central bank October 24, 2011 THE VATICAN made a series of radical demands for global financial control yesterday, attacking “economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls”. The Catholic authority condemned what it called “the idolatry of the market” as well as a “neo-liberal thinking” that it said looked exclusively at technical solutions to economic problems. And it called for the establishment of [...]
Major banks face non-core loss hangover October 24, 2011 EUROPEAN banks could be vastly under-estimating the losses they will have to take on the sale of billions in non-core assets, City A.M. has learned. In addition to being forced to take write-downs on their sovereign debt, lenders could be hit by worse-than-expected sale prices for many of the assets they are offloading in order [...]
Greek lenders plunge after haircut talk October 24, 2011 SHARES in Greece’s major lenders plunged by more than a fifth yesterday amid growing talk that Athens could impose a 60 per cent haircut on holders of its debt. Attica Bank lost 24.9 per cent, EFG Eurobank lost 20.3 per cent and Alpha Bank, which is set to merge with EFG, lost 19.4 per cent. [...]
Chance of euro deal lifts markets October 24, 2011 HOPE that Eurozone leaders would successfully put together a rescue plan pushed global stocks to a seven week high yesterday. Leaders failed to put together a plan to recapitalise banks, build a “firewall” around at-risk sovereigns and resolve the Greek crisis by Sunday’s summit, but the governments appear to be inching their way towards agreements [...]
