Big EU insurers can pass critical stress testing March 16, 2010 Europe’s insurers are able to withstand even a major financial crisis, an EU watchdog said yesterday, boosting industry hopes for less onerous regulation. EU insurance watchdog CEIOPS unveiled the long-awaited results of its stress tests of how insurers would weather another financial market storm like that which followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, [...]
Close profits rocket 50pc March 16, 2010 British merchant bank Close Brothers saw first-half profits rocket 50 per cent, smashing analyst expectations. However, it sounded a note of caution saying the buoyant conditions had sagged recently. Chief executive Preben Prebensen said uncertainty surrounding the upcoming election has spooked markets and hit its profits. Its operating profit before tax reached £62.3m for the [...]
Winterflood is the star of the show as trend for equities ups trading volumes March 16, 2010 Winterflood was the star performer for Close Brothers this year. The bank’s securities division, of which Winterflood is an integral part, out-performed the market, boosting the bottom line for the merchant bank. Winterflood received a welcome boost from better-than-expected demand for mid and small-cap shares. It saw a 48 per cent increase in adjusted operating [...]
UniCredit committee gives its backing to reshuffle plans March 16, 2010 UniCredit’s strategic committee approved a controversial reorganisation at the Italian bank yesterday but a final board vote was delayed as key shareholders resisted in a power struggle with the lender’s boss. With shareholder foundations who control around 12 per cent of the lender opposing the plan, chief executive Alessandro Profumo is understood to have told [...]
Portsmouth could end its administration hell soon March 16, 2010 PREMIER League club Portsmouth could come out of administration in six to eight weeks, administrator Andrew Andronikou said yesterday after a High Court winding up order was suspended. The troubled club was back in the High Court to address revenues and customs concerns about the process in which it entered administration last month – a [...]
Policy mix in Japan not good news for the yen March 16, 2010 SPECULATION has been rife in the markets that the Bank of Japan is mulling new liquidity measures to fight the deflationary pressures that are building in the Japanese economy. And yesterday, Japanese finance minister Naoto Kan added fuel to the speculative fire, saying that the central bank can make an inflationary impact with monetary policy. [...]
Virgin mulls free football March 16, 2010 VIRGIN Media is considering plans to give away Premier League matches for free as part of a package including its broadband, TV subscription and telephone services. It joins BT Vision, which is also considering offering top flight matches as part of its existing “bundle” deal, according to industry sources. If the firms go ahead it [...]
YUAN CHANGE DEPENDS ON US RECOVERY March 16, 2010 LAST weekend Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao dismissed any possibility of an immediate yuan revaluation, noting: “I understand that some countries want to increase their exports, but I don’t understand the practice of depreciating their currency and forcing others to appreciate theirs in order to accomplish this. I think this is a type of trade protectionism.” [...]
Kraft apologises for factory u-turn but says no more cuts March 16, 2010 KRAFT Foods came under heavy fire from MPs yesterday for raising false hopes about the future of a Cadbury plant as it battled to win control of the British chocolatier. Kraft had possibly violated the country’s code on mergers and acquisitions after its U-turn on the closure of the Somerdale plant, parliamentarians said in the [...]
Fiscal medicine heals Hungary’s economy March 16, 2010 THE Greek debt crisis has had some unexpected consequences. For example, it has highlighted the relative stability of the economies of Eastern Europe. Hungary, which went through its own debt crisis in October 2008 and required a €20bn bailout by the IMF and the EU, has since been on a fiscal road to recovery and [...]
