Merkel blasts banks for their role in Greek tragedy February 17, 2010 German chancellor Angela Merkel rounded on investment banks yesterday as Goldman Sachs’ alleged complicity in covering up the size of Greece’s deficit came under scrutiny. She said: “It’s a scandal if it turned out that the same banks that brought us to the brink of the abyss helped fake the statistics.” She failed to name [...]
Shares rise as HP results beat expectations February 17, 2010 Hewlett-Packard shares jumped as it posted expectation-beating results yesterday. The figures were based on strong server and personal computer sales and a resurgence in its printing business. The company has raised its full-year outlook. Shares in the US technology company climbed 1.1 per cent in after-hours trading yesterday. For 2010, HP forecast earnings of $4.37 [...]
ING in the red after state aid payments February 17, 2010 DUTCH bancassurance group ING yesterday blamed hefty state aid repayments enforced by the European Commission for pushing it heavily into the red over the fourth quarter, as it unveiled a wide-ranging pay review for its executive staff. ING, which is required to sell or spin off its insurance business by the end of 2013 under [...]
BNP Paribas sees lower bad debts as quarterly profit rises February 17, 2010 France’s biggest listed bank BNP Paribas forecast a drop in bad debt charges and was upbeat on its prospects for 2010 despite the economic uncertainty clouding the global finance sector. “I remain quite confident about this year,” said chief executive Baudouin Prot as BNP posted a forecast-beating fourth quarter net profit of €1.36bn (£1.18bn). Profits [...]
Lloyds seeks buyers for its €1bn Irish Halifax deposits February 17, 2010 LLOYDS Banking Group has put its Halifax retail banking assets in the Republic of Ireland up for sale as it gives up its attempt to break into the tough local market. Earlier this week the bank said it would close 44 branches and lay off 750 staff by July. Its Irish intermediary business, which sells [...]
Unemployment dips but claimants surge February 17, 2010 UNEMPLOYMENT has fallen slightly but the number of benefits claimants has gone up, official figures have shown. Total unemployment stood at 2.46m for the three months to December, down 3,000 on the figure for the previous quarter. The rate of unemployment was unchanged at 7.8 per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said yesterday. [...]
MPC in unanimous decision to pause QE programmes February 17, 2010 THE Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was united in its decision to pause its quantitative easing programme earlier this month, but minutes of the meeting indicated that for some members, the decision was a difficult one. The minutes showed that all nine members voted in favour of holding rates at 0.5 per cent and [...]
CITY VIEWS: WILL UNEMPLOYMENT CONTINUE RISING? February 17, 2010 GRAHAM WOOD | LINEDATA SERVICES “Unemployment will go up because the effects of the recession on the manufacturing sector still haven’t come through. This year’s graduates will be competing with graduates from last year and there are not enough jobs to soak this up. It’s going to be hard.” BRET JACKSON | CORNHILL CAPITAL “It [...]
Insurance on the rebound, L&G predicts February 17, 2010 INSURER Legal & General yesterday brought good cheer to the market despite posting a 6.6 per cent fall in worldwide sales, as it announced a strapping performance from its fund management arm and predicted a surge in new business in 2010. L&G said worldwide new business sales dropped to £1.39bn, from £1.49bn in 2008, though [...]
Sell into strength as concerns remain February 17, 2010 UNCERTAINTY has haunted Legal & General (L&G) for the past year, and yesterday’s interim update did little to change this. Shares in the UK’s fifth-biggest life assurer, long touted as a takeover target, closed at 76.35p, over three times its all-time low of 21p last year when it cut its dividend for the first time [...]
