Pension firms are not completely trusted December 7, 2010 IN the latest YouGov SixthSense Pensions Report, two-thirds of YouGov respondents say they “do not have complete trust in pensions companies”. Meanwhile, of the companies mentioned in the survey, Scottish Widows were the most highly regarded – one in four respondents who know of the company ranked it as their number one pensions provider, leaving [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 7, 2010 Aviva Investors Aviva Investors has appointed a new client portfolio manager for fixed income, Raphaelle Moysan (pictured). She will be responsible for liaising with potential clients with a focus on fixed income and absolute return. She will be based in London and report to Anne-Sophie Girault, while also working with the fixed income teams globally. [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS December 2, 2010 MORGAN STANLEY UNVEILS GROWTH PLAN Morgan Stanley this week announced the launch of its new FTSE Defensive Digital Growth Plan, which lasts for six years. The plan offers a fixed return of 60 per cent at maturity if the FTSE 100 rises or even if it falls by less than 20 per cent over the [...]
Inflexion in £25.5m buyout of Asperity December 2, 2010 MID-MARKET private equity house Inflexion acquired Asperity Employee Benefits in a £25.5m buyout yesterday. Asperity, a market leader at providing employee benefits such as discount and reward schemes, has more than 500 clients including BSkyB, Aviva and Ladbrokes and attracts about £150m of retail spend through its platform each year. Inflexion co-founder John Hartz said [...]
CITY MOVES| WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 1, 2010 HSBC HSBC?has announced the appointment of Hossam Alsaady as head of its Saudi Arabia team within the London-based Middle East and North Africa division of its private banking business. Alsaady is moving over from his role at NCB Capital in Jeddah, where he has held several senior positions, most recently head of strategy. At HSBC, [...]
Hogg Robinson sees boost from recovery November 30, 2010 CORPORATE travel firm Hogg Robinson yesterday reported first-half profit more than doubled, adding its full-year outlook would see it finish ahead of market expectations. The firm said operating profit was £19.5m, up 73 per cent, from £11.3m last year, with an improving economy boosting business travel. Revenue was up nine per cent from £155.3m last [...]
Peel Hunt staff buyout from KBC completes November 29, 2010 BROKER Peel Hunt has started life as an independent entity after completing a buyout by its staff. The buyout from former owner KBC, a Belgian bancassurance firm, was completed on Friday and values the company at £74m – a third of the £218m KBC bought it for in 2001. Peel Hunt’s employees own 75 per [...]
Munich Re is exposed to €2.4bn of Irish bonds November 29, 2010 Munich Re is exposed to €2.4bn (£2bn) of Irish government bonds – around 1.2 per cent of its total non-linked assets (see chart above). However, exposure to the Irish crisis is not as bad as some feared, according to data from Nomura. Munich Re’s exposure is double the next most exposed insurer, ZFS, which has [...]
Irish insurers in ratings warning November 25, 2010 Five insurers in Ireland have been warned they face downgrades to their credit ratings by Standard & Poor’s following its decision to downgrade Ireland’s sovereign debt. The units are Allianz’s Irish general insurance business and its Worldwide Care business, along with Aviva Insurance Europe, Irish Life Assurance and finally RSA Insurance Ireland. The Irish-based insurers [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS November 25, 2010 TRYING TO TIME THE MARKET IS COSTLY Research commissioned by Barclays Wealth has revealed that investors’ habit of chasing performance is costing more than one percentage point a year in returns. The study, which analysed fund flows between 1992 and 2009, discovered that market timing decisions by retail investors (when investing in equity mutual funds) [...]