Barclays will dump 7.5bn in risky assets September 16, 2009 BARCLAYS yesterday announced the sale of $12.3bn (£7.5bn) of credit market assets to a newly-established fund called Protium Finance, managed by former Barclays Capital (BarCap) employees, in a bid to reduce its credit market exposure. The deal, a complex piece of financial engineering, was well received by investors but slammed by some analysts and media [...]
Q & A September 16, 2009 Q.WHY HAS BARCLAYS SPUN OFF THESE ASSETS?A.According to Barclays finance director Chris Lucas, the sale will reduce the bank’s exposure to potential deterioration of the assets and give it access to “stable risk-adjusted returns for shareholders over time”. Q.DOES THE SALE REDUCE THE BANK’S RISK PROFILE?A.Not really. Although the bank will be less exposed to [...]
Crisis pushes jobless total to new peak September 16, 2009 THE percentage of UK adults who are unemployed has climbed to its highest level since 1996, reaching 7.9 per cent as the economic crisis continues to wreak havoc in the job market. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the jobless total rose by 210,000 in the three months to the end of July, to [...]
Blanchflower spat with King heats up September 16, 2009 DAVID Blanchflower, the former Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member who accused Mervyn King earlier this week of running the central bank with an “iron fist”, claimed yesterday that he was merely speaking out in the public interest. Blanchflower was responding to comments from King made during an evidence session at the Treasury [...]
US industrial output rises again September 16, 2009 US industrial production rose for a second straight month in August, reinforcing views the recession had ended, while a spike in petrol costs pushed up USinflation. A Federal Reserve report said industrial production increased 0.8 per cent after gaining one per cent in July. The data came a day after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said [...]
Weir loses its chief to Australia September 16, 2009 Engineering firm Weir Group yesterday said its finance director Keith Cochrane will replace outgoing chief executive Mark Selway on 2 November. Selway is stepping down to take up a new job in his native Australia. After eight years at Weir, Selway will become chief executive of Boral, Australia’s largest building and construction materials supplier. Weir’s [...]
Minister tells BBC to halt its expansion September 16, 2009 CULTURE Secretary Ben Bradshaw yesterday hit out at the BBC, saying its dramatic expansion needed to be stopped and its governing body should be reformed. Speaking at the Royal Television Society’s biennial conference in Cambridge, Bradshaw said the £5bn state-funded broadcaster had “probably reached the limits of expansion” and suggested its “multimedia empire” should be [...]
Bank of New York Mellon settles $22.5bn Russia case September 16, 2009 RUSSIA expects to get costs of at least $14m (£8.5m) in an out-of-court settlement of a $22.5bn lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon, finance minister Alexei Kudrin said yesterday. The deal should bring to an end Russia’s more than two-year quest for compensation from the bank over alleged laundering of $7bn from Russia in [...]
FSA and SECjoin forces to boost hedge fund rules September 16, 2009 THE TOP financial regulators in the UK and US, Hector Sants and Mary Schapiro, have joined forces to bring in new standardised hedge fund reporting rules between the nations. Sants, chief executive of the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Schapiro, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said in a joint statement [...]
THE ONLY WAY IS UP September 16, 2009 THE FTSE 100 hit its highest closing level in a year yesterday, as investors remained bullish about the pace of global recovery and appetite for risky assets showed no sign of diminishing. The index, led by banks and miners closed up 82 points, or 1.6 per cent, at 5,124.13 – its highest close since late [...]
