China faces 413m bank fraud August 5, 2009 China is dealing with its largest suspected bank fraud, after the chairman of a large property firm, Canton Properties, appeared in court yesterday facing allegations over a 4.8bn yuan (£413m) scam. Wang Sheng is believed to have obtained a number of illegal loans from Bank of Communications, a state controlled lender, 18.6 per cent owned [...]
Marsh & McLennan suffers on back of Kroll writedown August 5, 2009 MARSH & MCLENNAN (MMC), the world’s second largest global insurance broker, posted quarterly results in line with expectations yesterday and forecast improved profitability for its brokerage business. The US firm reported a second-quarter net loss, hurt by a $315m (£185m) charge on the restructuring of Kroll, its security consulting business. The firm posted a $193m [...]
HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS August 5, 2009 ITV IS SET to sell its social network Friends Reunited for just £25m to Brightsolid, a subsidiary of Beano publisher DC Thomson, having bought the site for £170m less than four years ago. The ailing broadcaster was last night thrashing out the terms of a deal with the Dundee-based publisher and hopes to announce the [...]
More rail chaos as drivers stage strike August 5, 2009 CITY workers are set for further commuting strife today, after talks between the RMT union and National Express East Anglia fell apart yesterday. A 48-hour walkout, the second in a set of four strikes planned over the summer, started at midnight last night. The East Anglia route is a major channel for City commuters, shuttling [...]
Loss for F&C as assets fall August 5, 2009 F&C ASSET Management said yesterday it swung to a pre-tax loss of £11.3m in the first half of the year, after client withdrawals from its funds ballooned to £3.3bn in the second quarter. The group held its interim dividend at 2p yesterday after reporting the loss, which compared to a £3.4m gain in the same [...]
Goldman pulls in $100m daily August 5, 2009 GOLDMAN Sachs traders in London and New York made revenues of more than $100m (£58.8m) on 46 days during the past quarter and lost money on just two days, the bank revealed last night in a regulatory filing. As market conditions improved during the period, it comfortably beat its record of making $100m a day on [...]
Bank of NY Mellon exits Tarp August 5, 2009 Bank of New York Mellon yesterday said it paid the US Treasury Department $136m (£80m) to redeem warrants to buy its stock, becoming the latest big lender to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp).
AIG rockets ahead of results August 5, 2009 Shares in American International Group yesterday soared ahead of its quarterly report tomorrow. The shares closed up 63 per cent to $22 (£13) as analysts forecast operating earnings could stabilise after five-straight quarterly losses and put faith in new chief executive, Robert Benmosche, who next Monday will become the fourth person in the last 14 [...]
CITY AM SHADOW MPC August 5, 2009 ALLISTER HEATH CITY A.M.The recession is coming to an end, even though money supply growth remains weak. The Bank should suspend its quantitative easing operations for the time being. SIMON WARD HENDERSON NEW STAR“Await more evidence before deciding on a further expansion of QE. The latest broad money numbers were disappointing but financial market behaviour [...]
Cisco systems profits nosedive August 5, 2009 Computer firm Cisco Systems last night said it saw its quarterly profits dive by 46 per cent as sales declined. For the three months to 25 July Cisco made a net profit of $1.1bn (£647m), compared with $2bn in the same period a year earlier. The firm said it was too soon to call a [...]
