Lagarde investigated by court August 4, 2011 Christine Lagarde, the newly-elected head of the International Monetary Fund, is to face a judicial inquiry into whether she was wrong to approve a large out of court settlement to a controversial French businessman, Bernard Tapie. Tapie, a close supporter of president Nicolas Sarkozy, was paid €285m (£249m) from the French state in 2008 to [...]
Lloyds shares suspended after 10pc fall August 4, 2011 TRADING in Lloyds shares had to be suspended for a five-minute time out yesterday as its stock plunged more than 10 per cent in a few minutes. The sell-off came after it revealed that it had dropped back into the red, booking a £3.3bn loss for the first half of this year. Investors’ fears were [...]
BNY to charge extra fee on cash as investors flee market August 4, 2011 US bank BNY Mellon yesterday said so many investors were storing short-term cash with it as they fled market turmoil that its balance sheet stability was under threat. The bank said it would levy a new charge on cash deposits higher than $50m (£30.6m) after a crash in market confidence saw investors making “extraordinarily high” [...]
Italy raids S&P and Moody’s August 4, 2011 IN a shock move, Italian police raided the offices of ratings agencies Standard & Poors and Moody’s and seized documents yesterday, accusing the firms of causing “anomalous” movements in Italian stock prices. Prosecutors said the raid was aimed at “verifying whether these agencies respect regulations as they carry out their work”. S&P in Italy said in a [...]
Osborne to get regular updates August 4, 2011 WHILE the crisis in world markets continues to worsen, Britain’s most senior politicians are away on holiday. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, is in Tuscany while chancellor George Osborne is in LA. Yesterday, Whitehall sources said neither was currently planning to cut their vacation short, although that could change should the situation deteriorate . An aide [...]
Vickers in Lloyds branch sale rethink August 4, 2011 THE Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) is preparing to drop one of its main demands regarding Lloyds’ sale of 632 branches, City A.M. has learned. The commission, headed by Sir John Vickers, is close to accepting that the bank should shrink the package of assets on sale despite having previously said that doing so would [...]
Talking growth, but preparing for crisis August 4, 2011 JUST over a month ago, Lloyds chief António Horta-Osório told investors to see his bank as a proxy for the UK economy. It would see a “long and slow recovery”, he said, as consumers gradually found jobs and paid off their debts. But prospects for the UK – and global – economy have only grown bleaker [...]
ING wavers on plans to float August 4, 2011 DUTCH bancassurer ING will not be launching a stock market flotation for its insurance operations any time soon and trade buyers are expressing interest, it said yesterday. European Commission regulators seeking payback for the state bailout the bank received in the financial crisis have insisted ING dispose of its €19bn (£16.6bn) insurance business by the [...]
Aldermore to raise new funds August 4, 2011 SME lender Aldermore is talking to potential investors as it seeks fresh growth capital, City A.M. understands. The two-year-old high street lender has hired corporate advisory firm Hawkpoint to help it raise new funds, and a number of private equity firms have been approached as a result. Aldermore is currently backed by private equity houses [...]
Forecast fears hit Inmarsat August 4, 2011 SATELLITE communications firm Inmarsat plunged nearly 20 per cent yesterday after ripping up its growth forecasts. The firm said a turndown in its maritime mobile satellite services (MSS) business, where customers are switching from voice calls to cheaper data services, means revenues will now be lower than the two to four per cent forecast. It [...]
