Banks brace for new wave of swaps claims January 27, 2013 THE FINANCE watchdog will this week lay out the process for firms to apply for compensation if they think they were mis-sold interest rate swap products, opening the door for potentially billions of pounds of claims. Small firms argue they have lost out, sometimes to the tune of millions of pounds, by splitting a fixed [...]
Italy’s Monte dei Paschi seeks new investor to revive lender January 27, 2013 ITALIAN bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena is seeking a financial investor to help revive the ailing lender and will remove a current cap on voting rights to help raise €1bn (£822.5m), its chairman has said. “I would like to have a long-term financial investor,” Alessandro Profumo told Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore [...]
Barclays mulls bond issuance January 27, 2013 Barclays is expected to launch a new bond in the coming months in response to the Bank of England’s demands that the UK’s biggest banks shore up their finances. The Bank believes the institutions are underestimating the amount of capital they need by tens of billions of pounds. Barclays issued a contingent convertible (coco) bond [...]
China open to more trading January 27, 2013 FIVE foreign banks are now allowed to trade China’s stock index futures, it emerged over the weekend, as the country takes another step in opening up to international investors. The Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors programme is being run by the China Financial Future Exchange and allows foreigners to trade shares and bonds in the country. [...]
Budget watchdog chief cannot match doppelgänger’s accuracy January 27, 2013 The Capitalist spent the weekend juggling the two greatest pleasures this world has to offer: watching high quality tennis and reading the latest report from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR). So while most of the world was wowed by Novak Djokovic’s performance in the Australian Open final, we had other things on our mind. [...]
Blankfein’s snowy beard is a standout success at Davos January 27, 2013 IT is more subtle than Ben Bernanke’s and, according to Christine Harper of Bloomberg, less dark than its owner would like. But Lloyd Blankfein’s beard managed to catch everyone’s attention in Davos, even against the wintry backdrop. Blankfein told CNBC he was extending his holiday look, a laidback sentiment for the head of an investment [...]
Sale of UK air traffic attracts interest from 3i January 27, 2013 LISTED private equity firm 3i has entered the fray to snap up a minority stake in the UK’s air traffic control agency amid an ownership shake up at the air controller, it emerged yesterday. 3i, led by chief executive Simon Borrows, is understood to have registered its interest in bidding for a 12 per cent [...]
Beijing bidder eyes up Sutton & East Surrey Water auction January 27, 2013 SUTTON & East Surrey Water (SESW) has become the latest bit of British infrastructure to attract bid interest from China. Beijing Water Authority, one of the world’s biggest water companies, has hired HSBC to help it prepare a bid for the utility, according to the Sunday Times. Current owner Icon Infrastructure expects to take final [...]
Sportingbet’s board set for £10m payday January 27, 2013 BOARD members of online bookie Sportingbet are set to cash in almost £10m between them when the company completes its £485m sale to William Hill and GVC Holdings. The seven board members are due to receive exit payments, bonuses and share options valued at around £9.6m when the deal completes in mid-March. Chief executive Andy [...]
RIM hoping that new BlackBerry will bear fruit January 27, 2013 THE long-awaited next generation of BlackBerry smartphones will be unveiled this week, in a make or break moment for manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM). The Canadian company will unveil two new devices running BlackBerry 10, the first major overhaul to its software in years. The much-needed upgrade has been beset by technical delays while RIM [...]
