What next for the News Corp execs? May 1, 2012 Q Can Hinton, Myler and Crone be punished for misleading the committee? A It is now up to Parliament to decide whether the three News Corp executives have committed a contempt, and if so, what punishment should be imposed. A possible outcome is that they will be called to the House of Commons to apologise [...]
Funding costs drive Lloyds to slash loan book May 1, 2012 LLOYDS has taken an axe to its balance sheet in order to cut its reliance on increasingly expensive wholesale funding, the bank revealed yesterday. Markets welcomed the speedy shrinkage of the bank’s loan book as well as a signal from chief executive António Horta-Osório that he is keen to start paying a regular dividend and [...]
Xstrata’s shareholders protest over pay and Glencore merger May 1, 2012 DISGRUNTLED shareholders in miner Xstrata yesterday made their concerns felt over the firm’s strategy ahead of its planned merger with commodities giant Glencore. Almost four in ten shareholders failed to support the firm’s pay plan, while more than 15 per cent refused to vote for the reappointment of director Ivan Glasenberg – who also runs [...]
Why a lender promising to cut its lending makes sense – and why the ECB can’t do much about it May 1, 2012 IT IS not often these days that you hear a high street bank executive admit that his plan is to lend less to those well-loved aspirational families. And yet that is exactly what António Horta-Osório told analysts yesterday on a call to discuss Lloyds’ first quarter results. The aim, he said, is to slash the [...]
Yield-hungry EU investors flock to bonds May 1, 2012 EUROPEAN investors are fuelling a “bond boom” in their hunt for income, but they are shunning western government bonds in favour of high yield and emerging market debt. A report by Morningstar, the funds data company, shows that while European equity funds lost €1.3bn in assets under management in March, bond funds gained €13.9bn, with [...]
HSBC unit generates bigger profits despite losing assets May 1, 2012 HSBC saw investors withdraw $200m from its hedge fund and private equity unit last year, but managed to increase the profits it made off the remaining assets it manages by 24 per cent. HSBC Alternative Investments Ltd (HAIL), a part of the group’s private banking division that invests clients’ money in private equity, hedge fund [...]
No large claims helps Lloyd’s May 1, 2012 LLOYD’S of London insurance market said yesterday that there had been no change to its expected performance for 2012 thanks to a lack of major claims in the first quarter of this year. The market said the excess of its central assets over solvency shortfalls rose to £3.2bn in the first three months of 2012, [...]
Swap clearing soars in 2012 May 1, 2012 THE number of interest rate swaps being cleared centrally has surged ahead of regulatory changes. LCH.Clearnet reports that buy-side volumes on its SwapClear service are up 175 per cent so far in 2012 on a year-on-year basis. The move to central clearing of interest rate swaps comes ahead of the US’s Dodd-Frank mandate, due to [...]
Business backs Boris to fight for the recovery May 1, 2012 BORIS Johnson will create a new position of deputy mayor for the economy if he is successful in tomorrow’s mayoral election. It is understood the move is part of Johnson’s plans to place the economic recovery at the heart of his mayoralty if he is returned to City Hall. The deputy would be responsible for [...]
OCCUPY ACTIVISTS ENTER PATERNOSTER SQUARE May 1, 2012 OCCUPY London protesters streamed into Paternoster Square last night to mark May Day. One man with a tent ascended the obelisk. The invasion, made up of a few dozen people outside the London Stock Exchange, came despite the square managers winning an injunction in October. Earlier, activists handed out flowers at Liverpool Street station.
