The accountant who sees EU rules as a chance to transform his firm October 18, 2010 For a man less than three months away from retirement, BDO’s policy board chairman – in effect, the firm’s international chairman – can’t wait to get into the issues. And to be fair, there is much for Dermot Mathias, who joined the accountancy giant 37 years ago, to discuss. What excites him most is the [...]
Dubai firm to retain Europe units for 2011 October 18, 2010 Dubai International Capital (DIC) will not sell any European assets before the end of 2011, its chief investment officer said yesterday, as it waits for their value to rise. The private equity arm of Dubai Holding, the investment vehicle owned by the ruler of Dubai, is undergoing a debt restructuring. “It’s fair to say that [...]
StanChart and AgBank deepen JV October 18, 2010 Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) and Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered have deepened a strategic alliance under which the two banks plan to set up a joint venture, AgBank said yesterday. Earlier this year, Standard Chartered invested $500m (£315m) as a cornerstone investor in AgBank’s initial public offering in Hong Kong. AgBank, China’s third-largest lender by [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 18, 2010 Matrix The financial services group has appointed Simon Elvidge as its new group head of compliance and assurance. Elvidge has over 20 years of experience in the sector and joins from Numis Securities, where he was head of compliance. Prior to that, he spent time working at HSBC, Société Générale and at Newedge Group, the [...]
Foreclosures dominate bank earnings season October 18, 2010 JUST before third-quarter earnings season kicked off in the US, JP Morgan released a research note on the US banking sector calling banking stocks “attractively valued”. Pointing to improved credit conditions this year, the note was cautiously upbeat, revising near-term estimates upwards. But there was one word missing from the note: foreclosures. In the past [...]
QE2 IS LIKELY TO BE ABOVE $1 TRILLION October 18, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT FEW analysts now doubt that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will announce another round of quantitative easing (QE) at its November meeting. In fact, speculation has turned to the harm that Fed inaction could cause to the markets. After all, equities have been a one-way bet ever since QE2 became [...]
When weaving a commodities basket, traders must be skilful October 18, 2010 GOLD bullion was down 0.7 per cent to $1,361 while the dollar gained ground against all major currencies except the yen yesterday. Talk of the inverse link between these safe havens is not new and the chart below shows it in action over the last four days. But this relationship is not only true of [...]
THE TIPSTER October 18, 2010 HOME Retail Group has seen its share price underperforming the market and its sector this year: the share price is down a whopping 30 per cent year-to-date. Wednesday’s interims, however, should provide us with some good news and investors might look favourably on the stock as the Christmas period approaches. Capital CFDs quotes 219.2p-219.9p. Euro-dollar [...]
The West End’s smart new club for card sharps October 18, 2010 FOR poker enthusiasts who don’t want to play for thousands of pounds, finding a comfortable environment to get stuck into a live game of poker isn’t easy. You can dabble in piddling pub tournaments (maximum buy-in: £5), try your luck in the rather daunting atmospherve of the few lower-stakes casinos offering poker, or in the [...]
The English queen of the felt October 18, 2010 IS LIV Boeree too good to be true? An astrophysics grad and sometime model with the looks of a Bond girl and a penchant for heavy metal – a YouTube video she’s uploaded proves she’s no mean guitarist – she’s also the sixth biggest winner in tournament poker this year, with $1.8m from the last [...]
