Bank separation back on agenda December 20, 2012 PROMINENT City groups reacted furiously to plans for full separation of banks today, arguing the proposals add a fresh round of uncertainty to the sector, hurting lending and growth. And plans for a tougher leverage ratio were also attacked, as it could push up the cost of mortgage borrowing and put the UK’s banks at [...]
NYSE sold to upstart ICE in $8bn deal December 20, 2012 THE NEW York Stock Exchange is to end two centuries of independence after its parent company NYSE Euronext was yesterday sold to upstart IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) for $8.2bn (£5bn). The deal hands control of one of the most renowned names in global finance to little-known ICE, an Atlanta-based company best known for its electronic commodities trading platforms. [...]
Thank you for reading us in ever greater numbers in 2012 December 20, 2012 The common complaint about City A.M. in its infancy was that it was hard to pick up outside the City, Canary Wharf and Mayfair. Readers generally loved the paper but wanted to read it on their way into work rather than when they arrived at their destination. So, over the past couple of years we [...]
London’s quality of Liffe at heart of NYSE purchase December 20, 2012 TAKING control of the London-based Liffe derivatives market is the main reason Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) paid $8bn (£4.9bn) for exchange operator NYSE Euronext, analysts declared yesterday. Although the NYSE Euronext group includes the venerable New York Stock Exchange and equity markets across Europe, it is the derivatives arm that offers growth opportunities as new regulations [...]
What the other papers say this morning December 20, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Trafigura earns $1bn twice in a row Trafigura, the commodities trader, earned about $1bn for the second year running in 2012, indicating that the profitability of the world’s top houses that dominate raw materials has remained high in spite of slower economic growth in China. The privately held company, based in Geneva and [...]
Cable mulls insolvency shakeup December 20, 2012 ■ Business secretary Vince Cable yesterday floated the idea of shaking up the UK’s insolvency rules amid questions around the controversial collapse of electrical retailer Comet. Cable told the House of Commons: “There may well be better ways of handling insolvency. We should have an open mind about other approaches. The American Chapter 11 system [...]
Republicans push own fiscal plan December 20, 2012 ■ Republicans in Congress pushed ahead yesterday with a “fiscal cliff” plan that stands no chance of becoming law as time runs short to avert a Washington-induced economic recession. House Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” to limit income-tax increases to the wealthy appeared likely to pass the House last night after it cleared a procedural [...]
Madoff brother given 10 years December 20, 2012 ■ Peter Madoff will serve 10 years in prison for his role in his brother’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, a judge in the US said yesterday. Peter Madoff, 67, pleaded guilty in June to criminal charges including conspiracy to commit securities fraud for falsifying the books and records of the investment advisory company founded by his [...]
BlackBerry subscribers plunge by a million before new launch December 20, 2012 BLACKBERRY maker Research in Motion shed one million subscribers and shipped 500,000 fewer smartphones last quarter ahead of the launch of its new model next month, it said yesterday. The Canadian company said people were delaying buying the phones because they were waiting for the launch of the new BlackBerry 10 smartphone, due to go [...]
SAV Credit to buy major store cards business from Santander December 20, 2012 CREDIT card specialist SAV Credit is in the final stages of acquiring seven million more customers from Santander for an undisclosed price, it was announced yesterday. It is thought that 3.5m of those customers are active, adding more than a third to SAV’s existing 9.5m customer base. Santander acquired the credit card business – which [...]
