UBS outflows spoil Grübel’s profits party February 9, 2010 UBS reported a return to profitability yesterday, but there were few celebrations as the Swiss bank revealed a haemorrhaging of private client money in the fourth quarter. Outflows almost doubled to SFr33.2bn (£20bn) after an aggressive Italian tax amnesty added to deeper problems associated with the international crackdown on banking secrecy. UBS chief executive Oswald [...]
Back in the black but doubts remain February 9, 2010 UBS might have hauled itself back into the black, but it is not out of the woods yet. It was primarily a reduction in costs that helped the firm post a profit, rather than a dramatic recovery in the top line. It managed to keep staffing costs low by doling out variable pay in shares, [...]
Google takes on facebook February 9, 2010 GOOGLE has injected social networking features into its popular web email product as the world’s largest search engine seeks to fend off competition from Facebook and Twitter. Google introduced a new product dubbed “Google Buzz” yesterday that allows users to quickly share messages, web links and photos with friends and colleagues directly within Gmail, the [...]
Irish government will throw even more money at its banks February 9, 2010 THE Irish government will throw more money at its financial system as part of its “bad banks” project. Governor of the Irish central bank Patrick Honohan said yesterday the government will have to take additional equity stakes as part of the recapitilisation process. Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks will need fresh capital once [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE DEBT CRISIS IN EUROPE? February 9, 2010 JOHN ROUNDHILL | INGEN “It’s monstrous. If Britain was in a better position, sterling would be rising against the euro. I’d like to see both currencies rising, rather than being fundamentally weak as they are at the moment. It makes the dollar look strong, which is not what I want.” SHEILA FARTINI | OPENLINK “Of [...]
Deficit for UK traded goods worst in year February 9, 2010 THERE were more signs that the UK will face a tough slog back to economic recovery yesterday after trade data for the end of last year was weaker than expected. The UK’s deficit in traded goods widened to £7.3bn in December from £6.8bn the previous month; this is the largest deficit for a year as [...]
Exports a reliable source of growth for German economy February 9, 2010 GERMAN exports continued to rise in December, increasing by three per cent on the previous month, indicating that foreign trade will support economic growth in Europe’s largest economy. But while exports continued to rise, imports reversed the previous month’s decline to grow 4.5 per cent after a 6.2 per cent drop in November. Consequently, the [...]
Successful gilt auction alleviates fears over Bank’s strategy change February 9, 2010 BRITAIN easily placed a £2bn sale of 25-year gilts yesterday, although prices were forced lower ahead of the auction as investors demanded a premium after the central bank halted its bond-buying programme. The auction of September 2034 was seen as a litmus test for the market after the Bank of England’s decision to halt its [...]
British Land beats banks’ expectations February 9, 2010 BRITISH Land has boosted confidence in London’s “rocky” property market by delivering strong third quarter results. In the final three months of 2009 the value of the developer’s assets in the City rose by 8.2 per cent to £2.46bn and its net asset value per share by 18 per cent to 438p – substantially outperforming [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS THE WORST OVER FOR THE PROPERTY MARKET? February 9, 2010 KEVIN DAVIDSON | CAPITAL ECONOMICS Momentum in the City is up but it is not clear that the rental downturn is over outside of the City which could affect long term capital values. Banks are still exposed to the commercial market and it could quickly become overvalued again – it is not profitable or stable [...]
