FTSE buoyed by upbeat corporate results April 26, 2011 Strong corporate results and positive broker research buoyed the FTSE today, leading the market to its highest close in more than two months. The FTSE 100 closed 0.9 per cent higher at 6.069.36 in low volumes following the long Easter weekend and ahead of a second four-day weekend to celebrate the Royal wedding and Mayday. [...]
The man who wants to get the SFO ready for business March 21, 2011 The country’s top fraudbuster Richard Alderman may be retiring next year but after arresting Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz he has very publicly taken on the fight of his life. Earlier this month, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), of which the 58-year-old Alderman is the director, briefly arrested and questioned the billionaire brothers along with seven [...]
Changing times: moving on from Mayfair March 17, 2011 PRICES of the Monopoly board favourite Mayfair, as well as other prime favourites, have rocketed to near 2007 levels (see graph below), leading to the emergence of alternative investment hotspots. Marylebone is being hailed as the new Mayfair, with residential favourites Pimlico, Hampstead and Fulham hot on its heels. Mayfair prices have been drastically pushed [...]
BarCap set to gain broking mandate at 3i March 8, 2011 BARCLAYS Bank’s fast growing equities business BarCap was last night said to be close to winning an important new broking appointment at the international private equity group 3i. 3i has been conducting a regular review of its brokers, which are currently Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JP?Morgan. The group, whose chief executive is Michael [...]
The City is back but under new management December 21, 2010 BRITAIN’S financial landscape has been transformed since we last shone a light on the City’s most powerful figures two years ago. The City A.M./CityJet Power Hundred 2011 list ranks the most influential figures in UK finance as we head into the new year. It should be no surprise that it is very different from 2009. [...]
Steady income and performance to boost investment trusts’ popularity November 16, 2010 AFTER a decade in the financial wilderness, investment trusts are emerging, blinking, back into the mainstream. Tainted by the split-cap scandal at the end of the Nineties, investors have favoured their open-ended cousins for the past decade. Yet investment trusts have, on the whole, outperformed the FTSE All Share and the FTSE World ex UK [...]
EX-SEYMOUR PIERCE BOSS TO LAUNCH NEW ADVISORY VENTURE November 1, 2010 A FEW short months ago, this column brought you murmurs that corporate financier Richard Feigen – who resigned as managing director of broker Seymour Pierce at the beginning of the year after an internal investigation, admitting that errors had occurred in a transaction he was overseeing – was mulling a return to the City. Fast [...]
Ex-Goldman banker tipped for HSBC September 7, 2010 FORMER Goldman Sachs investment banker John Thornton was yesterday touted as the most likely candidate to step into Stephen Green’s shoes, after the HSBC chairman accepted the role of trade and investment minister in the coalition government. Green is due to step down before the year is out to fill the last remaining vacancy in [...]
How to find the perfect Maldives August 1, 2010 BEST FOR: SPA COCOA ISLAND Voted best hotel spa in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean in this year’s Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Awards, Cocoa Island is the go-to resort for spa aficionados. The whole island is effortlessly chic with a neutral, natural vibe. Locally-sourced thatching and bleached driftwood blends seamlessly into the [...]
HISTORIC FINANCIAL REFORM BILL PASSED July 15, 2010 US LAWMAKERS last night passed a landmark financial reform bill allowing the broadest overhaul of rules governing America’s largest financial institutions since the 1930s. The Senate approved the bill by a 60 to 39 vote last night and will now send it to President Barack Obama to sign into law next week. The bill, which [...]