ABI director Kerrie Kelly leaves after just six months July 15, 2010 KERRIE Kelly has left as director general of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) after just six months in the role. Kelly is “stepping down from her role to return to Australia… for personal reasons”, according to the ABI. She joined the ABI to replace Stephen Hadrill, who left to join the Financial Reporting Council. [...]
Banks to skip bonus curbs, experts warn July 8, 2010 BANKS will easily sidestep the European Union’s crackdown on bonuses by raising base salaries and restructuring performance-related awards, consultants and senior politicians believe. The European Parliament yesterday waved through a punitive regime capping the cash portion of bonuses at 30 per cent and forcing banks to pay the rest in shares and contingent capital, with [...]
ISC rights issue inquiry to focus on demand side July 4, 2010 THE INSTITUTIONAL Shareholders Committee (ISC) has launched a consultation for its formal inquiry into rights issue fees, which it said would be complementary to a similar investigation announced by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) last month. The ISC’s inquiry, spearheaded by Doug Ferrans, said its own inquiry would focus on the demand for investment [...]
BA to offload pension risk to insurance firm July 1, 2010 BRITISH Airways said it had removed £1.3bn of pension risk in a deal with Goldman Sachs-owned insurance specialists Rothesay Life yesterday, removing another obstacle to its planned merger with Spanish airline Iberia. BA will pay Rothesay for insurance on 20 per cent of its exposure to the Airlines Pension Scheme, which provides defined benefit pensions [...]
Green bank to invest £25bn in renewables June 29, 2010 AMBITIOUS plans for the green equivalent of 3i, the infrastructure investment behemoth set up by the government after the Second World War, were unveiled yesterday. A commission led by former Merrill Lynch European chairman Bob Wigley said a green investment bank would quickly be able to plough up to £25bn annually into climate change-related technologies. [...]
Q&A: US FINANCIAL REFORM UNTANGLED June 27, 2010 Q. WHAT ARE THE ROOTS OF THE DODD-FRANK OVERHAUL? A. At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, US investment banks converted into holding companies so they could take emergency loans from the Federal Reserve, as well as taxpayer aid. Most of the capital distributed then has been repaid, but the public and politicians [...]
Lloyds misses brunt of £2bn levy on banks June 22, 2010 STATE-OWNED Lloyds Banking Group emerged as the relative winner from an annual £2bn levy on banks’ balance sheets announced yesterday. The tax will apply to British banks and building societies, such as Barclays and the Skipton, and the UK operations of foreign institutions like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. From January 2011, banks will be charged [...]
Osborne wins Square Mile’s quiet approval June 16, 2010 CITY figures cautiously welcomed chancellor George Osborne’s decision to restore financial regulation to the Bank of England last night, but urged him to think carefully about the shift. Osborne said oversight of UK-based high street lenders, investment banks, building societies and insurers would be the responsibility of a new body under the control of the [...]
TORIES: WE KNOW BP’S VALUE TO UK June 10, 2010 DAVID CAMERON, who is visiting troops in Afghanistan, asked chancellor George Osborne to phone BP chief executive Tony Hayward yesterday, amid concerns the government isn’t doing enough to counter Barack Obama’s increasingly vitriolic attacks on the embattled UK oil major. “I spoke on the phone to Tony Hayward today at the Prime Minister’s request. We [...]
City investors back inquiry on bank fees June 10, 2010 INVESTORS applauded the fresh inquiry into investment banks’ fees for advising on and underwriting equity issues announced by the Office of Fair Trading yesterday. Following worries over the spiralling cost of rights issues for companies, the OFT said it would investigate the level of competition in capital markets services and whether corporates were getting value [...]