Cameron’s kowtow: Submission is not the route to success in China October 22, 2015 It was 2012 when I was first asked to make a bribe in China, just shy of a year after moving there. On the counsel of a business licence consultant, I was “advised” to offer remuneration to a mid-ranking member of the local Communist Party Neighbourhood Committee for swaying a potential decision in our favour. [...]
FTSE 100 underperforms European counterparts, including German Dax and French Cac October 22, 2015 Basic resources were sharply higher on Thursday, with Glencore and BHP Billiton among the risers, helping the FTSE 100 end the session slightly higher. However, the UKs main index lagged behind its European counterparts. While the FTSE 100 slipped during the day to a low of 6,321 points, it closed 0.44 per cent higher at 6,376 points. [...]
CMA rejects bank break-ups – but this one chart suggests big lenders are ripping customers off October 22, 2015 The competition watchdog may have ruled out breaking up Britain's biggest banks this morning – but this one chart shows customers are paying more money for poorer services from the "Big Four". The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) compared satisfaction ratings from the consumer group Which? with personal current account prices at different banks. They [...]
Sense of deja vu engulfs Barclays boardroom over ringfencing waiver October 22, 2015 When George Santayana uttered his famous quote about people who fail to learn from history being doomed to repeat it, he wasn’t thinking about Britain’s banks. Shame: his words might echo pretty loudly around Barclays’ boardroom right now. Little more than three years after the bank’s chief executive fell on his sword and its chairman made way [...]
Competition and Markets Authority rejects calls to break up big banks in retail banking review October 22, 2015 The competition watchdog has ruled out breaking up Britain’s biggest banks and defended so-called free banking practices. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the preliminary results of its 18-month investigation into the retail banking sector this morning. The watchdog launched the investigation over concerns the “Big Four” banks – Lloyds, RBS, HSBC and Barclays [...]
Bank of England’s new stress test: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, RBS, Santander UK and Standard Chartered to face risk tests twice a year October 21, 2015 The Bank of England has today announced that it will apply new stress tests to Britain's biggest banks and building societies over the next three years, taking into account both domestic and global risks. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, RBS, Santander UK and Standard Chartered will face at least two stress tests per year under the [...]
City Moves for 21 October 2015 | Who’s switching jobs October 20, 2015 RO REAL ESTATE The commercial property investment and development firm has appointed Nick Moore as senior investment manager. He joins from Lloyds, where he was director in its real estate division. Moore has 15 years’ experience in commercial real estate and has also held roles at PRUPIM, Warner Estates and DTZ. WILLIAM BLAIR Michael Collinson [...]
FTSE dragged downwards by mining stocks – London Report October 20, 2015 REPORTS of a slowing Chinese economy yesterday hit mining stocks, dragging down the blue-chip FTSE 100 index. The index closed 0.4 per cent down at 6,352 points, led lower by mining company Anglo American which dropped by 7.37 per cent. Despite a rally of around five per cent so far in October, the FTSE 100 [...]
Barclays settles US mortgage claims for $325m with National Credit Union October 19, 2015 Barclays has agreed to pay $325m (£210m) to settle two civil lawsuits with the National Credit Union in the US relating to mortgages. The bank will include the provision in its third-quarter results, due at the end of October. The claims are related to residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) sponsored or underwritten by the bank between 2005 [...]
Best of the Brokers for 19 October 2015 October 18, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com The miner’s third quarter results were “modestly disappointing”, analysts at Canaccord Genuity said, with reduced full year production guidance in alumina, diamonds and titanium dioxide feedstock. Iron ore shipments, mined copper production and aluminium were all below Canaccord forecasts. The analysts held their [...]