Still no thaw in relations over Icelandic bank row February 28, 2010 ICELANDIC negotiators may return home today from London if no new meetings are called with British officials over the Icesave debt crisis, Icelandic Radio quoted a finance ministry spokesman as saying. Officials from the two countries met in London on Saturday but the radio station said no formal meetings took place yesterday, although the negotiating [...]
HSBC’s chief gives up £4m February 28, 2010 HSBC boss Michael Geoghegan will announce plans today to hand over his multi-million pound bonus to charity as the banking giant reveals annual results. Geoghegan, who was is understood to have been in line to receive a £4m payout, will donate his bonus to charity after the bank’s strong 2009 performance. HSBC’s annual profits are [...]
Barnier set for key talks on his first London visit February 28, 2010 MICHEL Barnier will make his first trip to London this week as the newly appointed European Commissioner for the internal market and financial services in an attempt to reassure the City that he is a friend of “Anglo-Saxon” capitalism. The Commissioner’s appointment spooked the City back in December as the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, used [...]
Dominion to sell £33m new shares February 28, 2010 AIM quoted Oil explorer Dominion Petroleum is planning a $50m (£33m) share placing to help fund new Ugandan drilling projects, sources confirmed to City A.M. While wary of diluting its shares, Dominion is thought to prefer the option to selling stakes in its prospects to larger rivals, which could hamper its future growth. Canaccord Adams [...]
Entrepreneurs get £200m extra February 28, 2010 British venture capital and the entrepreneurs that it funds are the latest sector to get a helping hand from government. The government last week began distributing its £200m UK Innovation Investment Fund, which is focused on life sciences, digital and advanced manufacturing businesses. It will be managed by the European Investment Fund, with £100m coming [...]
BA in crunch talks over strike February 28, 2010 British Airways (BA) is engaged in crunch talks with its staff as the threat of an Easter strike looms. Both sides have made allegations of harassment over comments that were made on Facebook by staff. BA suspended 15 flight attendants after a list of pilots who refused to back strike action were listed on the [...]
THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION: DO YOU SIT AT A ROUND TABLE? February 28, 2010 DESPITE suffering from something akin to man flu, I managed to speak (apparently sounding more like Barry White – in sound not size) at the annual convention of the Million Dollar Round Table at Kensington Town Hall last week This get together with representation from the main US branch is a gathering of professional financial [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK February 28, 2010 With a successful bonus season showing all the right numbers on their calculators, six lucky City accountants celebrated with a long, long lunch at renowned fine restaurant Winteringham Fields in North Lincolnshire. Leaving the stresses of London behind them, the hungry team took a mid-morning train – apparently eschewing the standard tea and sausage rolls [...]
Pru boss looks to pivotal deal February 28, 2010 JUST over a year after his forerunner Mark Tucker failed to buy American International Group’s Asian business, Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam is ready for another bite of the cherry. Tucker’s offer was turned down by AIG in late 2008 on valuation grounds. Thiam’s plan to raise £15bn through what would be a record-breaking share placing [...]
Thiam is right to look east for inspiration February 28, 2010 THE man from the Pru is heading for Asia, and he’s right to. If Tidjane Thiam snaps up AIG’s Asian operations – a deal his predecessor Mark Tucker failed to ink – Prudential will become the biggest player in the Asian insurance market. It already books over a third of sales in the region, and [...]
