Green shoots as London law firms recover May 9, 2011 LAW firms in central London are showing signs of recovery, with an average increase in practice fee income of two per cent in 2010, compared to a 6.5 per cent reduction the previous year. The figures from the annual Law Society profitability survey show an upturn in fortunes across the 200 firms surveyed, with profits [...]
Twitter user reveals detail of celeb super injunctions May 9, 2011 TWITTER’S role in the super injunction saga has come under intense scrutiny after several accounts sprung up which appear to name and give details about the alleged affairs of those who have taken them out. Yesterday one Twitter feed, which has attracted more than 50,000 followers, gave details on six supposed super-injunction cases. The feed [...]
City of London offers world’s best talent pool May 9, 2011 THE CITY’S “unparalleled critical mass of talent” and international focus have secured its place as a long-term hub for financial firms, according to research by Ipsos MORI. The survey of 40 financial services professionals from around the world showed that firms view proximity to clients, an area’s business climate and availability of local skilled staff [...]
Bankers bow to Glasenberg in Glencore float May 9, 2011 There are an incredible 23 different investment banks providing advice to Glencore on its bumper London/Hong Kong flotation and yet, according to those close to the discussions, the proceedings are being led by only one man, Glencore’s 54 year-old chief executive Ivan Glasenberg. Maybe it’s precisely because there are so many banks that none in [...]
Madoff trustee in $1bn pact May 9, 2011 The trustee seeking money for Bernard Madoff’s victims announced a $1bn settlement with liquidators for three “feeder” funds yesterday, allowing higher payouts to the swindler’s former customers. The trustee, Irving Picard, said he also decided to stop his pursuit of $3.8bn from the liquidators of the Fairfield funds, citing the funds’ “limited ability to pay [...]
Torex chair charged over collapse May 9, 2011 The Serious Fraud Office yesterday charged the former chairman of Torex Retail with offences in connection with the firm’s collapse. Christopher Edward Moore has been charged with conspiracy to defraud and false accounting, linked to events between May 2006 and January 2007, when Torex shares were suspended amid an investigation by the SFO. The firm [...]
FSA GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO TWITTER HEDGE FUND May 9, 2011 GOOD news for Paul and Simon Hawtin, the brains behind the world’s first social media-based hedge fund, after the FSA yesterday gave the venture the green light to open for business. The approval for the fund, a spin-off of Derwent Capital that will monitor sentiment threads on Twitter to predict swings in the Dow Jones [...]
Hiscox poised for rate rises after Japan May 9, 2011 CATASTROPHE losses in the first three months of 2011 have “changed the market” for insurance firms and pushed up rates, Lloyd’s insurer Hiscox said yesterday. Bermuda-based Hiscox wrote eight per cent less business in the first-quarter compared with the same period in 2010 as it pulled back from insuring risk at unprofitably low rates. But [...]
Munich Re in the red after disasters May 9, 2011 GERMAN reinsurer Munich Re took a €2.7bn (£2.4bn) catastrophe loss in the first-quarter of 2011, pushing it to a €1.4bn operating loss from a €770m profit in the same period in 2010, it said yesterday. Chairman Nikolaus von Bomhard warned that 2011 would “place more of a strain on us than the three preceding years [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW WILL HIGHER RATES AFFECT HISCOX? May 9, 2011 JOY FERNEYHOUGH | ESPIRITO SANTO Its discipline at 1 January when rates were falling should afford Hiscox greater flexibility to grow into more attractive areas post-Japan. With the UK business strengthening and the market turn in catastrophe business expected, we see both sides of its business being able to drive increased profitability. SARAH LEWANDOWSKI | [...]
