Hardy up for sale over Thai flood losses December 1, 2011 DEVASTATING floods sweeping Thailand caused Lloyd’s insurance group Hardy Underwriting far worse than expected losses, eating into its capital and causing the group to put itself up for sale. Hardy has been hammered by international catastrophes this year and said that the Thai floods would cause it £10m to £25m of losses on top of [...]
Omega investors angered by Byrne’s plans to lapse offer December 1, 2011 INVESTORS in Omega Insurance including Aviva, Toscafund, Crystal Amber and founder shareholder John Robinson, are up in arms over plans by tycoon Mark Byrne to allow his tender offer for 25 per cent of shares in the group to lapse even though it received more than the minimal number of acceptances. Robinson, speaking to City [...]
Bank-to-bank debt’s riskier than thought December 1, 2011 COMPLEX risk-weighting calculations make it difficult to assess how well prepared banks are to face a crisis, the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) warned yesterday. However, changes are on the way, the FPC’s report said. In particular, lending to financial institutions will be weighted more highly in future, as a result of recent [...]
The wages of finance to fall by a third as regulation bites December 1, 2011 SALARIES in European investment banks will have to fall by as much as a third as institutions fight to retain their level of return on equity in the face of harsh new regulation, analysts at JP Morgan said yesterday. Banks are likely to cut compensation levels drastically from 2012 as they see their return on [...]
Draghi speech soothes euro bond markets December 1, 2011 THE amount it costs European governments to borrow from the financial markets eased a little yesterday, after a pair of closely-watched debt auctions in Spain and France were more successful than expected. Bond traders also took succour from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi (pictured), who appeared to suggest he would be willing to expand [...]
Sarko pushes for new treaty December 1, 2011 FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy, under pressure from a spiralling Eurozone debt crisis five months before a presidential election, told France last night the euro bloc needs closer and stricter coordination of national budgets to survive. Seeking to reassure the public ahead of a Franco-German push to redraw the European Union’s founding treaty, Sarkozy promised that [...]
EC extends state aid rule as funding crisis worsens December 1, 2011 LOOSER rules on state aid to troubled banks – introduced in 2008 – have been extended again as the European Commission (EC) fears banks would not survive without help. “Stronger tensions in sovereign debt markets and the transmission of those tensions to interbank markets and to funding conditions for banks” persuaded competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia [...]
GREEKS BACK ON THE STREETS December 1, 2011 MILLIONS of Greek workers took to the streets to strike yesterday, closing schools, government offices and ports in the first industrial actions since the country appointed technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos to lead a new government last month. Strikers descended on Athens and other major cities in protest at strict austerity measures designed to reign [...]
Key Merrill banker steps down December 1, 2011 Andrew Osborne, one of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s best-known oil and gas bankers, left the company on Wednesday for confidential reasons, a source told City A.M. He joined Merrill Lynch in 2005 and has advised firms such as Tullow Oil and Rockhopper.
French unemployment rising December 1, 2011 Metropolitan unemployment in France rose to 9.3 per cent in the third quarter, up from 9.1 per cent previously, according to data out yesterday from official statistics agency INSEE. Unemployment stands at 2.6m, though the total number who do not work but would like to has hit 3.4m. Youth unemployment fell slightly, to 21.6 per [...]
