Big Swiss banks face break up June 18, 2009 SWITZERLAND yesterday became the latest country to join the global regulatory assault on the banking industry, warning that it could force the break up of large banks like UBS and Credit Suisse because they were too big to fail. The Swiss National Bank (SNB), which says that UBS and Credit Suisse still pose a risk [...]
Fighting talk as Geithner wants action June 18, 2009 US TREASURY Secretary Tim Geithner yesterday testified before lawmakers, as he fought for proposals from President Barack Obama which will lead to the biggest overhaul of the US system of financial regulation since the 1930s. Geithner yesterday urged Congress to act quickly on the administration’s reforms, saying past efforts had started too late after the [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU AGREE WITH SIR GOODWIN GIVING UP HALF HIS PENSION? June 18, 2009 NORMAN HEMMING ACCENTURE“I’m quite glad he did something, but I am surprised because I thought he would stand his ground. I didn’t get the impression he was all that bothered about what the public thought of him, though I don’t actually think this will be enough to placate them anyway.”HANNAH OLATUNDE BANKING LAWYER“I think there’s [...]
Brown cedes City oversight powers to EU June 18, 2009 PRIME Minister Gordon Brown ceded some regulatory powers to the EU yesterday, but stopped short of giving it a direct role in policing the City of London. Brown backed plans for tougher cross-border supervision of banks, but insisted ultimate control had to rest with national governments. Under plans being hammered out by EU nations three [...]
Gartmore snatches European fund star Bennett from GAM June 18, 2009 ACCLAIMED fund manager John Bennett is leaving asset manager GAM after 16 years at the group, to take over Gartmore’s giant European retail funds. Glaswegian Bennett is to take over the £1.5bn Gartmore European Selected Opportunities fund and its £1.6bn Luxembourg-domiciled sister fund from star managers Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg. Guy and Rambourg are [...]
POOR SIR FRED June 18, 2009 SIR FRED Goodwin, the former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, is to hand back nearly a third of the £555,000-a-year pension he was awarded on leaving the bank. Goodwin will now take home £342,500 a year, or a total of £9m, after a deal was hammered out between RBS, the Treasury and UK [...]
Tchenguiz lands blow on Horlick June 18, 2009 CITY “superwoman” Nicola Horlick was dealt a blow yesterday after the board of directors of Bramdean Alternatives, a listed fund she manages, was ousted at an extraordinary meeting by shareholders led by property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz. The rebels, who triumphed 56-44 per cent against the board, will now consider whether to liquidate Bramdean Alternatives, which [...]
Wizz Air boosts Airbus orders June 18, 2009 Airbus almost doubled its tally of plane orders and commitments at the Paris Air Show yesterday with a pledge from European low-cost carrier Wizz Air to buy 50 A320 aircraft worth about $3.8bn. Sales chief John Leahy, struggling to ink new orders, said at the show that he was hopeful of announcing another significant order [...]
Carnival cruises past forecasts June 18, 2009 Cruise firm Carnival yesterday posted a forecast-beating quarterly profit, helped by lower costs and higher-than-expected prices on last-minute bookings. The cruise operator reported net income of $264m (£161m), compared with $390m a year earlier.
SIG dives on profit warning June 18, 2009 Shares in SIG a British maker of insulation products, yesterday suffered a 22 per cent nose dive after the company warned that underlying pre-tax profit will be at the bottom end of the range of market expectations in the current year. The group’s shares closed at 99p. The company said European markets had not achieved [...]
