Merkel and Rehn are warming to ECB’s bond-buying scheme September 10, 2012 GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel and Olli Rehn, the Finnish European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker, appear to be softening on ECB president Mario Draghi’s bond-buying plan, making the scheme more likely to go ahead. Der Spiegel claimed yesterday that Merkel has switched from the chain theory, in which Greek is seen as a weak link which [...]
Moody’s hails Nomura’s $1bn European cuts September 10, 2012 CUTTING European jobs and trimming down the equities business should help Japanese bank Nomura back on the path to stable profits in the long run, credit ratings agency Moody’s said yesterday. Last week the bank announced the plans, which will see it cut back on equities and investment banking as part of a $1bn (£625m) [...]
Central bankers set up a new committee to study Libor crisis September 10, 2012 TOP CENTRAL bankers from around the world yesterday announced plans to set up a new committee to study key market lending rate Libor. The policymakers regularly meet in Basel to discuss matters of mutual importance, including the Libor-rigging scandal, which has seen investigations launched into several major banks. “The Bank of International Settlement governors have [...]
StanChart has a silver lining says Investec September 10, 2012 MARKETS have yet to recover from Standard Chartered’s Iranian sanction-breaking scandal, and so are failing to recognise the bank’s underlying strengths, analysts from Investec said yesterday. Although the bank’s share price has recovered roughly 30 per cent in the last month, it is still feeling the effects of US regulatory action – even though the [...]
CVC mulls debt for equity deal on Nine TV loss September 10, 2012 CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm, is preparing to crystallise a multi-billion loss on its investment in Australian media giant Nine Entertainment Company, as it mulls a debt for equity swap to pacify the company’s creditors. CVC, which owns Nine’s entire portfolio of TV stations and magazines, paid A$5.3bn (£3.4bn) through its private equity [...]
Branson rails at MPs over First Group win for West Coast line September 10, 2012 FIRST Group chief executive Tim O’Toole yesterday hit back at Richard Branson’s Virgin Trains, telling MPs that his rival was “flat out wrong” to claim First could not achieve continued revenue growth on the West Coast Main Line. “Contrary to Virgin’s depiction of their stewardship in recent years, since they’ve been in revenue support, they’ve [...]
Chaotic global red tape hurts savings firms September 10, 2012 AN EXCESSIVELY complicated and fragmented series of overlapping regulations are damaging the investment industry and hitting savers’ returns, the Investment Management Association (IMA) warned yesterday. The industry is becoming less efficient as governments fail to coordinate their regulations, and in some cases take a more protectionist stance, the IMA’s study claimed. In particular it uncovered [...]
Former UBS trader in court September 10, 2012 Kweku Adoboli, the former UBS trader arrested last year, went on trial yesterday at Southwark Crown Court. Jurors were selected by judge Brian Keith, who told them to ignore media coverage. The prosecution’s case will be set out by Sasha Wass on Friday, and the trial is expected to last about two months.
Japan Airlines raises $8.5bn in top Asian float September 10, 2012 JAPAN Airlines, the carrier nationalised by the Japanese government in 2010, yesterday secured top price for its initial public offering, making it the second biggest float of the year after Facebook. The offering, which was six times oversubscribed by investors, was priced at ¥3,790 (£30.24), the upper limit of a range between ¥3,500 and ¥3,790. [...]
Nasdaq vows to stand by its Facebook plan September 10, 2012 NASDAQ yesterday vowed to stand by it $62m (£39m) compensation plan for firms harmed by a glitch in Facebook’s market debut and defend itself against any related lawsuits. The news came as Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz hampered the firm’s share price further by selling off more than $108m-worth of stock. Lee Shavel, Nasdaq’s chief financial [...]
