Government told to face up to failings over Equitable Life at the High Court July 21, 2009 THE GOVERNMENT was yesterday told it can not “evade reality” over its obligations to victims of the Equitable Life crisis. The criticism, made by a group of policyholders who lost out due to the near-collapse of the firm, came at the start of a landmark High Court case. The Equitable Members Action Group of 21,000 [...]
CIT warns of bankruptcy risk July 21, 2009 CIT GROUP yesterday warned it could still file for bankruptcy if a cash tender offer for its outstanding notes fails, one day after securing $3bn (£1.8bn) in emergency financing from its bondholders. The 101-year-old company, which lends to nearly a million small and mid-sized businesses, also forecast a second-quarter loss of more than $1.5bn. In [...]
Hedgie assets up $100bn on stellar gains July 21, 2009 HEDGE funds assets grew for the first time in a year in the second quarter, according to data released yesterday, on the back of improved investment performance and a reduction in client withdrawals. Hedge funds controlled $1.43 trillion (£871bn) in assets at the end of the quarter, up $100bn from a quarter before, according to [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE THE CONSERVATIVES RIGHT TO PROMISE TO ABOLISH THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY? July 21, 2009 SANDY BRUCE COMMERZBANK“No. I don’t really see what is wrong with the FSA in its current form. There has to be some kind of impartiality there and the FSA is external to the government. This is probably more about David Cameron’s need to try to drum up votes, taking advantage of the fact so many [...]
CHIP’S DOWN July 21, 2009 SINGAPORE’S Temasek yesterday said Charles (Chip) Goodyear, the former boss of BHP Billiton, had decided not to become chief executive of the state investment firm due to differences over strategy. The shock announcement, less than six months after Goodyear accepted the post, comes after severe criticism of the fund which has been hammered by its [...]
Credit spreads at pre-Lehman levels as US sentiment boosted by CIT rescue July 21, 2009 EUROPEAN credit derivatives continued their revival yesterday, with spreads on the Markit iTraxx index reaching levels last seen prior to the collapse last year of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers. The series 11 Markit iTraxx Europe index, tracking the cost of insuring against default on 125 investment-grade borrowers, reached 101/102 basis points yesterday afternoon, [...]
Supermarkets that reacted to slump are strongest July 21, 2009 THE usual assumption is that the stock market is a “leading indicator” for economic confidence. But as today’s cut of YouGov data shows, it doesn’t lead public sentiment, but is actually behind. The graph shows the BrandIndex scores for public perception of “value for money” (rolling monthly average) for Waitrose, J Sainsbury and M&S, alongside [...]
Client inflows boost revival at BlackRock July 21, 2009 US ASSET manager BlackRock suffered a 20 per cent fall in second-quarter profit compared to last year, but saw results improve from the first three months of the year, it said yesterday. The firm, which will become the world’s largest asset manager upon completion of its $13.5bn (£8.2bn) acquisition of Barclays Global Investors (BGI), said [...]
DOES NEXT’S PROFIT UPGRADES BOOST YOUR FAITH IN RETAIL ? July 21, 2009 RICHARD HUNTER HARGREAVES LANSDOWNEIn the midst of the current economic malaise, Next has been making outstanding progress. The early indications from its current summer sales are encouraging, whilst overall sales are in positive territory – almost inevitably helped along by a decent contribution from the Directory business. Meanwhile, the recent bout of good weather has [...]
IG Group directors demand higher pay after profits rise July 21, 2009 SPREADBETTING firm IG Group said yesterday that it will ask shareholders to approve increases in its directors’ pay packages, as it reported a 30 per cent hike in its full-year profits, driven by new account openings. The company said that its directors’ basic pay has “fallen into the bottom quartile in most relevant surveys”, due [...]
