Insurers find that central banks are all too predictable September 26, 2012 HUNDREDS of homes being evacuated due to flooding in Scotland and northern England wasn’t the ideal backdrop for Lloyd’s of London to announce its upbeat interim results, boosted by a “favourable claims climate”. Then again, even as the number of flood alerts rises, it needn’t sink the Lloyd’s insurance market’s optimism, partly because of its [...]
Standards Commission told to set up bankers’ qualification September 26, 2012 BANKERS should belong to a professional body like doctors and accountants, with basic standardised qualifications designed to drive up standards of behaviour, consumer campaigners told MPs and peers yesterday. The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards was also told that the industry is damagingly concentrated and should be referred to the competition commission. “A professional body [...]
Amplats takes action as miner strike spreads September 26, 2012 ANGLO American Platinum will initiate disciplinary action this morning against miners who persist in the illegal strikes at its Rustenberg mines. Strikes erupted at Rustenberg earlier this month, forcing Amplats to shut five mines. Since reopening, the turnout rate is still less than 20 per cent which has given Amplats “no choice” but to force [...]
JP Morgan Cazenove slashes target for Bumi price amid investigation into Indonesian arm September 26, 2012 ANALYSTS at JP Morgan Cazenove, which advised Bumi on its float, have downgraded their target price for the firm to 100p a share. JP Morgan said that Bumi Resources, the Indonesian arm of the business that is 29 per cent owned by London-listed Bumi, could be forced to turn to the capital markets for funding [...]
BP’s oligarch partners raise the stakes as they seek bankers to help buy out TNK-BP September 26, 2012 THE RUSSIAN partner of oil giant BP is holding a banking beauty parade as it gears up to bid for BP’s entire 50 per cent stake in oil explorer TNK-BP. AAR, the vehicle used by a quartet of Russian billionaires to hold the other half of TNK-BP, is willing to raise its offer to BP [...]
Bean counters cut the clutter September 26, 2012 ACCOUNTANTS have listened to a campaign to “cut clutter” from company reports, the Financial Reporting Council said yesterday. But the council remains worried about the reporting quality of some smaller listed firms, after reviewing 326 sets of accounts last year. The FRC is this week expected to call on companies to regularly put their audit [...]
Ex-Credit Suisse trader arrested September 26, 2012 FORMER senior Credit Suisse trader Kareem Serageldin was arrested in London yesterday in a fraud case tied to subprime mortgages, marking a win for US prosecutors who have been awaiting his return to the US since charging him early this year. Serageldin, 39, was the most senior banker charged in a scandal dating back to [...]
Icap profit view sapped by low trading volume September 26, 2012 ICAP, the world’s largest inter dealer broker, lowered its forecast for annual profit yesterday as it revealed revenues for the first half of the year are expected to plunge 14 per cent. Lacklustre trading over the summer, with volumes in capital markets seeing double-digit drops, forced the firm to cut its pre-tax profit forecast from [...]
Analyst Views | What do you think of icap’s trading update? September 26, 2012 SARAH ING SINGER CAPITAL MARKETS Disappointing and with profit before tax guidance lowered the shares are likely to be weak. The group does remain strongly cash generative and offers around a six per cent yield but it is likely to continue to underperform short term with uncertainty over business volumes. JAMES HAMILTON NUMIS A poor [...]
Upbeat Numis reveals 20pc revenue uptick September 26, 2012 STOCKBROKER Numis yesterday forecast a 20 per cent increase in revenues for the second half of the year compared to the first half, bucked up by an increase in deal related income from equity transactions and M&A deals. The firm, which focuses on small to mid-cap clients, said overall revenues for the six months ending [...]
