UBS’s profits plunge on sluggish trading July 26, 2011 INVESTORS shunned UBS after its second-quarter results revealed a steep plunge in profits yesterday, with the bank’s share price dropping 2.88 per cent by the close of trading. Overall pre-tax profits halved from SFr2.6bn to SFr1.3bn (£989m), well below consensus estimates of SFr1.9bn, with operating profits falling 37 per cent to SFr1.65bn. But despite an [...]
Deutsche misses forecasts as new bosses confirmed July 26, 2011 DEUTSCHE Bank named two successors to its chief executive Josef Ackermann yesterday but its first-quarter net profit of €1.2bn (£1.1bn) missed market forecasts for €1.3bn. Germany’s investment banking giant said its head of investment banking Anshu Jain (pictured) and head of regional management Juergen Fitschen would become co-chief executives when Ackermann moves up to become [...]
Top banker jumps ship to Merrill from Swiss rival July 26, 2011 IN a blow to UBS’s UK investment bank, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch has poached one of its top managing directors. Jonathan Bewes, whose client list boasts Capital Shopping Centres, Rentokil, Home Retail Group and Carphone Warehouse, will start at his new post in October. The move forms part of a broader strategy to grow Merrill Lynch’s [...]
A destructive surge of hiring and firing July 26, 2011 AFTER an over-optimistic hiring binge last year, UBS has been left with a lot of bored traders on its hands, as the slated uptick in activity failed to materialise. Cue a full-scale retreat: hundreds, if not thousands, of job cuts are in the pipeline and the bank’s earnings targets have been kicked into the long grass. Admittedly, the [...]
CITY FIGHTS FOR SEATS AT KEYNES VS HAYEK July 26, 2011 FORGET silk shorts, gum shields and sweatbands, the only kit needed for last night’s big fight in the City was a thinking hat firmly on your head and a grasp of twentieth century economic theory. At “Keynes vs Hayek”, the latest in a series of public debates hosted by the London School of Economics, some [...]
Finance hubs make €170bn a year for EU July 26, 2011 EUROPE’S eight biggest financial hubs contributed more than €170bn (£150bn) to their countries’ GDP last year and employed nearly a million people, according to new research. These financial centres – Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan and Paris – play a vital role supporting governments, companies and societies across all 27 EU member states, [...]
IS THE CITY OF LONDON’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE ECONOMY UNDERESTIMATED? July 26, 2011 HENRY SMITH | MARKEL INTERNATIONAL “Yes of course. The City is the insurance capital of the UK and I don’t think people appreciate that the largest proportion of service exports in Britain derives from the London insurance market.” JULIAN HAMMERTON | THREADNEEDLE “Yes, there is always a lot of negative press circulating about the banking [...]
DMGT sees decline in ad sales improve July 26, 2011 DAILY Mail publisher DMGT has reported an improved outlook for its national newspaper division, with the decline in advertising revenue slowing from seven per cent in the last quarter, to three per cent in the first three weeks of this month. Overall, the company said its underlying revenues in the quarter to 2 July were [...]
Pace shares spike as its performance picks up speed July 26, 2011 SHARES in British television set-top box maker Pace shot up 8.7 per cent to 113.7p yesterday as the company revealed it was making good progress tackling the supply problems that prompted its profit warning in May. The company, which named City heavyweight Allan Leighton (pictured) as chairman last month, had revised its full-year profit guidance [...]
Former bookkeeper loses her unfair dismissal case against hedgie tycoon July 26, 2011 HEDGE fund tycoon Elena Ambrosiadou has won an unfair dismissal claim brought by her former bookkeeper in the latest twist in a scandal over alleged snooping on former employees of hedge fund Ikos. Nathalie Pratico, the ex-bookkeeper, had filed a claim for €5m (£4.4m), alleging she was fired from Ambrosiadou’s family accounting firm after being [...]
