A bonanza of fresh, cheap funds for the retail investor November 3, 2010 HSBC is planning another series of emerging market exchange traded fund (ETF) launches as the price war in ETFs intensifies. Retail investor confidence in using funds tracking more exotic indices is growing and HSBC is cranking up its aggression with planned launches in the first half of 2011 tracking the MSCI India, MSCI Emerging Asia [...]
Cameron unveils plans for British Silicon Valley November 3, 2010 DAVID Cameron will today unveil plans to turn the East End of London into a “British Silicon Valley”. He will announce that Google, Facebook, Intel and McKinsey have committed to investing in the area, building on the budding hi-tech community that has sprung up in Old Street and Shoreditch. The Prime Minister will say: “Right [...]
MGM NEEDS FINANCIAL WIZARD November 3, 2010 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios filed for bankruptcy yesterday, marking a climax to a long restructuring for the Hollywood studio that controls the James Bond films and made The Wizard of Oz. The Chapter 11 filing follows last week’s vote by creditors to support a prepackaged bankruptcy in which MGM will shed more than $4bn (£2.5bn) of debt [...]
RBS in MUFJ project deal November 3, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) is in talks to sell a $6.4bn (£4bn) project finance book to Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, which includes loans for London’s orbital M25 motorway and a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. Sources told City AM the sale would help the government–backed bank boost its balance sheet. RBS, led by [...]
Turkey’s star is still rising for ETF investors November 3, 2010 WITH a near-record 18 IMF bailouts, Turkey might not seem like a smart investment to the untrained eye. But in just a decade the country has gone from a basket-case to a fully-fledged bull market. At this rate the country is tipped to grow faster than China in the next decade. News like this has [...]
Cabin crew lose appeal against BA November 3, 2010 BRITISH Airways won the latest round in its bruising battle with cabin crew union Unite yesterday, after the Court of Appeal ruled that reductions in crew numbers were legal. The Court of Appeal upheld an earlier judgement from the High Court, which ruled that BA’s decision did not constitute a breach of contract. In November [...]
G20 PUTS FX MARKETS IN SHARP FOCUS November 3, 2010 DIRECTOR OF THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTION, ETF SECURITIES CURRENCIES are currently very much in focus. Bizarrely, however, many investors shun direct currency exposure because they view currencies as being more volatile compared to other asset classes. This leads investors to play currencies through their asset allocation decisions rather than trading the foreign exchange markets directly. Indeed [...]
IMF warns banking rules lack global theme November 3, 2010 TOUGH new banking rules may not be enough to prevent another financial crisis unless there is closer global co-ordination, the IMF warned yesterday. Global banking supervisors agreed in September the so-called Basel III rules which set tough new requirements for bank capital and liquidity. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is now working on additional measures [...]
Legal sector preparing for mergers November 3, 2010 THE City’s law firms are ripe for a new round of mergers as falling fee income and the economic environment propels the industry towards a “tipping point”, says a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Of the Top 11-25 firms, 83 per cent predicted more mergers in the industry are “fairly likely’, compared to half of those [...]
Freddie Mac loses $4.1bn November 3, 2010 MORTGAGE buyer Freddie Mac yesterday posted a narrower loss of $4.1bn (£2.5bn) in the July to September quarter. The government-controlled mortgage buyer also asked for an additional $100m in federal aid, substantially less than the $1.8bn it sought in the second quarter. Freddie Mac’s third-quarter loss attributable to common stockholders works out to $1.25 a [...]
