Outraged City hits back on EU audit plan September 27, 2011 PWC BOSS Ian Powell has lead the charge against the European Commission’s (EC) proposed shake-up of the accounting industry. Writing in City A.M. today, Powell says the proposed creation of audit-only firms could “create severe disruption and undermine quality and confidence”, and calls for more input from UK firms in shaping the final reforms. Other [...]
Barclays reshuffles execs as Oppenheimer departs September 27, 2011 DEANNA Oppenheimer, one of Barclays’ top female executives, has announced she will leave the bank. The American will step down as chief executive of retail and business banking (RBB) in Britain and Europe on 1 October. She will stay on as vice-chair of the division until the end of the year. Ashok Vaswani, currently chief [...]
Bid for NAB UK rejected September 27, 2011 NATIONAL Australia Bank (NAB) rejected a bid by Hugh Osmond’s Sun Capital for its UK assets before entering into its current talks with NBNK Investments, it has emerged. A source familiar with the situation said that the bid, which was around £2bn, was made in the last few months but did not go anywhere. NAB is [...]
House prices drop across 20 US cities September 27, 2011 HOUSE PRICES in almost every US city fell over the last year, according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index, out yesterday. The 4.1 per cent decline in the year to July takes prices back to levels last seen in the summer of 2003. The value of single-family homes fell in 18 of the 20 [...]
No end in sight for suffering retailers as sales fall for five months in a row September 27, 2011 HIGH STREET spending fell again in September with the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) distributive trades survey, released yesterday, showing more retailers suffering from falling sales. Thirty-nine per cent saw sale volumes falling over the last 12 months, compared with 24 per cent who experienced an increase. That gives a balance of -15 per cent, [...]
UK HOME-BUYERS NOT PUT OFF BY DOWNTURN September 27, 2011 ECONOMIC gloom might be hitting retail sales, but bigger spending plans are still on track, according to a report from Santander out today. Eight per cent of Londoners intend to buy a house in the next year, while 31 per cent – the highest proportion in the country – plan to buy in the next [...]
Byrne keeps door open to Barbican deal September 27, 2011 MARK Byrne, the insurance entrepreneur aiming to gain control of Omega, has not ruled out a possible partnership with Barbican. The two groups, who are both involved in bid talks with Omega, held talks recently at the Reinsurance Rendezvous in Monte Carlo, a conference for the reinsurance sector. The talks broke down but yesterday sources [...]
Close Brothers eyes expansion as profits rise September 27, 2011 MERCHANT banking group Close Brothers yesterday said it was on the lookout for takeovers as its adjusted operating profit improved by 13 per cent in the year to July. Close said it made £131m operating profit despite a difficult economy, but pre-tax profit slipped 22 per cent to £78.5m as it paid a raft of [...]
Elliott Advisors earnings dive as business shrank last year September 27, 2011 ELLIOTT Advisors, the activist investor behind a boardroom assault on National Express this year, saw its pre-tax profit slump 67 per cent in 2010, accounts showed yesterday. Elliott, the UK subsidiary of Paul Singer’s US hedge fund manager Elliott Management, said its turnover more than halved to £46.2m by the end of last year, from [...]
Hedge funds still racking up losses in September September 27, 2011 BILLIONS of dollars have been wiped off the value of global hedge funds this month as the industry shows little sign of recovery after a grim August. Plunging equity prices, particularly in Europe, have contributed to a 2.3 per cent fall for the average hedge fund in September so far. The provisional data from the [...]
