British insurers want regulators to concentrate less on banking October 11, 2012 BRITISH insurers yesterday called on regulators to appoint more senior figures with industry expertise, in an attempt to correct a perceived obsession with the banking sector. The pressure comes as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) prepares to split into two new bodies: the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. “It is absolutely vital the [new [...]
Kenmare hit by weak markets October 11, 2012 FTSE 250-listed mining and exploration company Kenmare Resources said yesterday its outlook had been affected by softer markets, although it was confident of a pick-up. In an interim management statement, it said output from mining operations improved in the third quarter, with 229,100 tonnes of heavy concentrate produced, a 16 per cent increase from the [...]
Polar Capital boosted by inflows October 11, 2012 Polar Capital, the Aim-listed asset manager, yesterday said it had boosted assets under management 34.5 per cent over the past 12 months. The manager took its asset base to $5.3bn (£3.3bn) on the back of $405m of inflows in the first half of this year, of which $31m came in the last quarter. Polar focuses [...]
UK to back corruption rules October 11, 2012 Passenger numbers continued to increase at BAA-owned airports in September, the company said yesterday, with Heathrow, Europe’s busiest, handling 6.3m passengers up 0.6 per cent from a year ago. BAA’s four other airports – Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow and Aberdeen – saw 9.2m passengers in total, the same number as September 2011. Strong traffic from emerging [...]
Mobile banker Monitise builds up momentum October 11, 2012 FAST-GROWING mobile payments firm Monitise said yesterday it has seen continued momentum in recent months and announced that user numbers had quadrupled in the last year to 17m. The company, which David Cameron singled out in his Tory conference keynote speech on Wednesday as an example of British entrepreneurial spirit, said trading was in line [...]
Setback for Apple as court throws out injunction on Samsung phone October 11, 2012 A US appeals court yesterday overturned a preliminary injunction on the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone, dealing a setback to Apple in its battle against Google’s increasingly popular mobile software. Apple, whose shares fell two per cent yesterday, is waging war on several fronts against Google, whose Android software powers many of Samsung’s devices. [...]
Bank of America Merrill Lynch rejigs financial advisory team October 11, 2012 BANK of America Merrill Lynch has reshuffled the senior ranks of its team advising financial institutions on mergers and financing in Europe, as it renews efforts to bring in more investment banking fees from that industry. Henrietta Baldock, who had already been in charge of the European financial institutions group (FIG) since 2009, will now [...]
Siemens boss says job cuts may be necessary in cash saving drive October 11, 2012 GERMAN industrial giant Siemens opened the possibility of cutting jobs as part of a cost-saving drive to enable it to compete with its rivals, its chief executive said yesterday, with business proving tougher than expected. “As a leading company, we want to be better than the competitors. We don’t want to bob along somewhere in [...]
Maria Miller clears Global Radio’s GMG takeover in blow to Bauer October 11, 2012 GLOBAL RADIO’S takeover of GMG Radio, the owner of the Smooth and Real stations, was cleared by culture secretary Maria Miller yesterday, in a significant victory for Britain’s biggest commercial radio operator after former culture head Jeremy Hunt had ordered an investigation into the deal. The acquisition, which has an estimated value of £70m and will [...]
GlaxoSmithKline to reveal more drug secrets from clinical trials October 11, 2012 GLAXOSMITHKLINE, criticised in the past for keeping important information about its medicines to itself, is to lift the lid on more of its drug data secrets. Three months after GSK was fined $3bn (£1.8bn) for fraud in the US, where prosecutors accused it of concealing safety issues, chief executive Andrew Witty said yesterday that detailed [...]
