Libor manipulation scandal is a disastrous own goal for City June 27, 2012 WHAT preposterous emails. What were these traders thinking? That they would get away with it? Barclays and the entire banking industry have been badly damaged by the Libor manipulation scandal – and this time it is entirely a crisis of their own making. This is not like some previous rounds of banker-bashing, where lenders were [...]
Libor: the vital number for every banker June 27, 2012 Q What is Libor? A The London interbank offered rate (Libor) is set daily for 10 major currencies and for 15 borrowing periods, ranging from overnight loans to 12 months. It is set by the British Bankers’ Association, after speaking to 16 banks and studying their data on the cost and price of lending to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 27, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Hague presses for audit on EU law William Hague, the foreign secretary, wants to launch a comprehensive audit of the impact of European Union law on Britain this summer, an exercise that could fuel a Conservative drive to repatriate powers from Brussels. 4,000 firms under tax investigation More than 4,000 companies are under [...]
NBNK will close as Co-op wins Lloyds branches June 27, 2012 BANK buyout vehicle NBNK will be shut down after Lloyds finally agreed an outline deal to sell 632 branches to the Co-operative. Lord Levene’s group said there were no other assets to target just hours after it updated the market on a new offer for the Project Verde business. Lloyds yesterday said it had reached [...]
Kerviel faces five-year sentence June 27, 2012 Former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel should serve five years in prison for his role in France’s biggest-ever rogue trading scandal, a state prosecutor told a Paris court yesterday. Kerviel is appealing a three-year jail sentence handed down in 2010, as well as an order to repay SocGen €4.9bn (£3.9bn) lost by the French bank [...]
SEC charges Harbinger’s Falcone June 27, 2012 US securities regulators yesterday charged billionaire hedge fund manager Philip Falcone and his firm Harbinger Capital Partners with a raft of illegal actions, including market manipulation and misappropriating client assets. The Securities and Exchange Commission also yesterday charged Peter Jenson, Harbinger’s former chief operating officer, with aiding and abetting the misappropriations scheme. Harbinger also settled [...]
Santander UK rating under review June 27, 2012 Credit rating agency Moody’s last night placed its rating for Santander UK under review for a possible downgrade. Moody’s said its review would focus on “the independence and resilience of the UK bank’s franchise and financial strength in the event that the creditworthiness of the parent is further affected and its ratings lowered.”
Glencore and Xstrata race to repair merger June 27, 2012 GLENCORE’S merger with Xstrata was on the rocks yesterday as the two firms scrambled to appease irate investors over the share ratio and pay packages linked to the deal. Mining group Xstrata yesterday rewrote its bonus rules for top staff to try and soothe shareholder anger at a £173m payday if the deal goes through, [...]
ADVISERS GLENSTRATA MERGER June 27, 2012 LAZARD NICHOLAS SHOTT SPIRO YOUAKIM CHARLIE FOREMAN “Three cheers for the Qataris,” crowed one Xstrata shareholder yesterday after the Qatar Investment Authority made a surprise demand for better terms for its stake in the mining group. The Lazard bankers advising the QIA, which has quietly built up an 11 per cent holding in Xstrata over [...]
Google takes on rivals with Nexus 7 tablet June 27, 2012 GOOGLE last night unveiled its first own-branded tablet, putting it in direct battle with giants Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. The Nexus 7, developed with Taiwanese firm Asus, is a seven-inch tablet with a front-facing camera built around Android software. Google, which is already taking advance orders for the device, will sell an 8GB version from [...]
