Prudential sized up as bid target as investors price in a break-up offer May 6, 2010 PRUDENTIAL’S share price climbed yesterday as the market wrote off its chances of taking over Asian insurer AIA for $35.5bn (£24bn) and began pricing in a break-up bid. Shares in Prudential closed marginally up at 549.5p after flying in morning trading. The optimism was spurred by management’s failure to put out the prospectus for a [...]
Predator becomes prey May 6, 2010 RESOLUTION’S timing is uncanny. Just a day after Prudential’s embarrassing delay to its £14bn cash call, along comes chief executive John Tiner with strong first quarter results announcing loud and clear that he is ready to pounce. Resolution had already held talks with Prudential earlier this year over the potential acquisition of its UK arm, [...]
RSA premiums rise despite Chile losses May 6, 2010 BRITISH based insurer RSA saw premiums rise by five per cent during the first quarter, despite taking a £30m hit from the Chilean earthquake in February and a series of bad weather in Europe at the start of the year. RSA reported a net premium of £1.9bn during the period and said the increase indicated [...]
Swiss Re gears up to repay loan to Warren Buffett May 6, 2010 SWISS Re, the world’s second-biggest reinsurer, boosted its capital by around $3bn (£2bn), giving it confidence it can repay a costly convertible loan from billionaire Warren Buffett and regain a key credit rating. A much improved investment performance also enabled the company to beat profit expectations for the first quarter, despite large natural catastrophe claims [...]
France’s Axa disappoints investors with sales at low end of expectations May 6, 2010 France’s AXA disappointed investors yesterday, unveiling first-quarter revenue growth that failed to match the upswing at a raft of US, Swiss and German rivals. Insurers on both sides of the Atlantic have seen investment income shoot up in the first quarter on the back of buoyant financial markets, and many have also boosted sales of [...]
Brit Insurance moves to protect its margins as rates remain depressed May 6, 2010 BRIT INSURANCE expects premium growth to remain depressed this year after the group reported a double-digit drop in first quarter numbers. The group’s chief executive Dane Douetil said in an interim statement yesterday that he did not expect to see premium volume growth during 2010. His comments come on the back of Brit’s first quarter [...]
BNP has €5bn exposure to Greek plight May 6, 2010 BNP Paribas yesterday revealed a €5bn (£4.2bn) exposure to Greece, the largest among major French banks, as worries over contagion from the debt crisis kept lenders under pressure. The revelation came as BNP posted first-quarter net profit that beat analyst forecasts, thanks to improved market conditions and the integration of Fortis, and said the economic [...]
Clydesdale, Yorkshire profits rise May 6, 2010 CLYDESDALE and Yorkshire Banks yesterday posted an 11 per cent surge in underlying first-half profits to £264m and said they had lured more customer deposits despite intense competition from rivals. The high street lenders, which are owned by parent company National Australia Bank, said they were focused on maintaining a strong capital position with retail [...]
Commerzbank first-quarter earnings fall short of its financial services rivals May 6, 2010 COMMERZBANK posted better than expected first-quarter results yesterday thanks to strong trading and lower risk provisions but still lagged the stellar earnings of investment banking peers. Germany’s second-biggest lender has only a small-scale investment banking business, leaving it unable to benefit from some of the stimulus measures that pushed Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan [...]
Obama warns against payday loan amendments May 6, 2010 US PRESIDENT Barack Obama said yesterday he would not support amendments made by the Republicans to the Financial Reform Bill that would “gut” and “weaken” consumer protection. During a Congressional debate on financial regulatory reform, Obama said amendments proposed by the Republicans would gut consumer protections and include “dangerous carve outs for payday lenders”. He [...]
