Banks to rejig risk calculations to raise capital February 9, 2012 EUROPEAN banks are relying on rejigging the way they calculate the riskiness of their balance sheets to “raise” nearly a quarter of the capital demanded of them by the European Banking Authority (EBA), the regulator revealed yesterday. In its preliminary assessment of lenders’ capital-raising plans, which they must execute by June, the EBA has revealed [...]
KKR dividend hits high but earnings drop February 9, 2012 US private equity giant KKR posted a slump in a key profitability measure last night but told investors it would pay a record cash dividend. Fourth quarter economic net income dropped 60 per cent year-on-year to $285.5m, underlining the challenges facing buyout groups when they go public. Scott Nuttall, head of KKR’s global capital and [...]
Rothschild vulnerable to Bumi coup February 9, 2012 NAT Rothschild is highly vulnerable to a coup attempt by rival investors in his Indonesian coal mining venture Bumi, as they square up for a pitched battle over control of the company. Bumi’s Indonesian investors, the Bakrie Group and tycoon Samin Tan, have stepped up their bid to kick Rothschild and his supporters off the [...]
Revenue drop pushes Credit Suisse to loss February 9, 2012 CREDIT Suisse made its first quarterly loss since 2008 last year, the bank revealed in its results yesterday. The bank lost nearly SFr1bn (£690m) pre-tax and SFr637m in net losses after revenues plunged by over a third for the group. The investment bank was worst hit: it saw top-line income fall away by 64 per [...]
Picking bank winners is a loser’s game February 9, 2012 THE grim news for bankers just keeps coming. Revenues at Credit Suisse’s investment bank fell off a cliff last quarter: overall they were down by nearly two thirds on the end of 2010, but in fixed income the decline – 96 per cent – was particularly sharp. Chief executive Brady Dougan is scrambling to respond: the investment [...]
UBS in bonus clawback after investment profits disappear February 9, 2012 UBS has launched a major bonus clawback at its struggling investment bank as it continues a round of belt-tightening in the aftermath of an alleged rogue trade. It has told staff it will take back 50 per cent of share-based bonuses awarded last year to investment bankers whose rewards were more than SFr2m (£1.39m). UBS [...]
Cameron is slammed for female board quota call February 9, 2012 A SUGGESTION by David Cameron that quotas could be introduced to force an increase in the number of women on UK boards has been met with criticism, after the Prime Minister suggested that the country’s economic recovery is being held back by a lack of women in top jobs. Speaking at a summit in Stockholm, [...]
BarCap wins accreditation on Xstrata February 9, 2012 BARCLAYS Capital was yesterday granted accreditation from Thomson Reuters for its role as an investment banking adviser to Xstrata in its £56bn merger deal with Glencore. Its inclusion as an adviser is massively important to the bank, elevating it from eighth to sixth place in the Thomson Reuters M&A league table, as it seeks eventual [...]
Pepsi plans to slash 8,700 jobs in cost-cutting drive February 9, 2012 PEPSICO chief executive Indra Nooyi has laid out a radical plan to turn around the company’s North American soft drink business by cutting 8,700 jobs and ramping up advertising spend by $500m – at the expense of short-term earnings. The firm reported a fourth quarter profit of $1.42bn (£897m), up from $1.37bn a year earlier [...]
Oracle to pay $1.9bn for Taleo February 9, 2012 Business management software maker Oracle is planning to buy Taleo, a maker of web-based software for recruiting employees, for about $1.9bn (£1.2bn) as a war heats up for control over the fast-growing cloud computing market. The Taleo deal value of $46 a share offers an 18 per cent premium to Taleo’s Wednesday close of $38.94.
