RBS boss makes loss on shares September 19, 2011 Royal Bank of Scotland head of global banking and markets John Hourican has sold 1.1m of his shares in the bank at a rate of just 24p. Shares in the bailed-out bank were worth 44p last year when Hourican received a massive share bonus. But he was forced to hold on to them for six [...]
Calls for foreign cash transparency September 19, 2011 More US companies are being asked to reveal how much cash they hold overseas by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Income earned abroad is taxed at rates of up to 35 per cent when it is brought back into the US, prompting many firms to leave it sitting in foreign accounts. Companies are not [...]
Tycoon ends £1.5bn case against bank September 19, 2011 VINCENT Tchenguiz has settled his £1.5bn lawsuit against collapsed Icelandic bank Kaupthing in a confidential deal he branded “mutually acceptable”. It is understood the property tycoon will regain control of assets put forward as securities for a series of loans, which had been effectively frozen by the bank’s administrators. He is now likely to press [...]
Hugh Osmond looks to a new Horizon September 19, 2011 HUGH Osmond is considering the creation of another shell company following the early success of Horizon, the listed vehicle he has used to buy the power business APR Energy. Yesterday shares in the newly-listed APR Energy started trading on the stock market following Horizon’s acquisition of APR Energy earlier in the year. Horizon initially raised [...]
News International ready to pay £3m to family of Milly Dowler September 19, 2011 THE FAMILY of the murdered schoolgirl whose phone was hacked by News of the World journalists are close to finalising a record £3m payout from the paper’s owner. Milly Dowler’s parents are understood to be ready to accept the mammoth sum from Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper business, with a sizable portion earmarked for a charity. Sources close [...]
It’s time to quit investment banking September 19, 2011 UBS SHOULD quit investment banking. Not because it is inherently risky, nor because regulators or politicians say so. It should shut – or at least dramatically shrink – the investment bank because it isn’t very good. Consider this: since the start of 2009, the investment bank at UBS has only posted a pre-tax operating profit [...]
UBS executive Kengeter hits out at media September 19, 2011 UBS’s investment banking chief Carsten Kengeter has blamed the media for providing “ill-informed” coverage of the lender’s losses from its “rogue” trading fiasco. In a letter sent to employees of the battered division yesterday, he wrote: “Do not be distracted by the often ill-informed media commentary around this event. It will fade quickly as the [...]
Oh for the days of the Warburg powerhouse September 19, 2011 EVEN before the discovery of the rogue trades at UBS last week, there had been much discussion about the future of the Swiss-based bank’s investment arm. Sceptics say that UBS, which owns the Warburg name that was such a powerhouse in London until its sale to Swiss Bank (itself later taken over by UBS) in [...]
Credit Suisse to settle tax case September 19, 2011 CREDIT Suisse is to pay a fine of €150m (£130.5m) to end an investigation of its employees in Düsseldorf over allegations they helped citizens dodge taxes. Switzerland’s banking secrecy rules, which have been used by foreigners to hide money, have come under pressure in recent years as their cash-strapped governments try to crack down on [...]
Swiss reject ban on risky banks September 19, 2011 THE Swiss parliament narrowly rejected a bid yesterday to ban risky investment banking at its big lenders, put forward by in response to UBS’s statement it had lost $2.3bn (£1.47bn) on unauthorised trades. Social Democrat Susanne Leutenegger Oberholzer yesterday asked parliament to discuss a ban on investment banking as part of a debate on tough [...]
