Enough is enough: HSBC chief bites back over mega-fines and regulation August 4, 2014 HSBC’S chairman launched an unprecedented attack yesterday on what he sees as a wave of conflicting and poorly designed regulations sweeping the world’s banking sector. Douglas Flint’s remarks are the latest sign of a growing frustration in the City over the sustained political pressure on the industry. Flint said that new red tape is undermining [...]
Sir Mike Rake in overdrive to chair roadside recovery firm RAC August 4, 2014 CBI president Sir Mike Rake is the frontrunner to become chairman of the RAC breakdown recovery service. The deputy chairman of Barclays is in talks for the role, ahead of the RAC’s potential £2bn stock market listing, according to Sky News. The breakdown service, owned by private equity group Carlyle, is expected to announce its [...]
Barclays’ dark pool still reeling from New York legal accusations August 4, 2014 Barclays’ private trading facility is still struggling to bounce back from claims in the US that it lied to investors, industry data showed yesterday. The British bank is fighting the claims, arguing it did not mislead investors and that the New York attorney general has got his facts wrong. Just 95.8m shares were traded on the Barclays [...]
City Moves for 05 August 2014 | Who’s switching jobs August 4, 2014 Invesco Perpetual The investment management firm has announced the appointment of Danielle Singer as senior client portfolio manager in its multi asset team. She was most recently strategist and director of the global investment solutions team at UBS. Standard Chartered Henrik Raber has been appointed head of capital markets at the bank. He joined Standard [...]
Barcelona back collective TV rights in La Liga August 4, 2014 Football clubs in the Spanish top flight are nearing an agreement to sell TV rights collectively, reports suggest. Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu told the Times that he expects to see a new deal come into place from the start of the 2016-17 season, and hopes it will see La Liga emulate the competitive [...]
HSBC profits fall as bank adds $194m to PPI costs August 4, 2014 HSBC has reported a fall in pre-tax profits of 12 per cent to $12.3bn for the first half of 2014, slightly below expectations and barely moving the bank's share price. Revenue also took a hit, falling by four per cent to $31.4bn. Pre-tax profit in Asia was particularly hard hit, falling by close to 15 [...]
HSBC expected to set aside extra £75m for PPI August 4, 2014 HSBC is readying itself for a second wave of charges as the industry's bill for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) swept past £23bn. The bank is expected set aside an extra £75m, with the exact amount given in its half-yearly results, released at 9:15 this morning. The extra funds put the total payments for [...]
The lamps go out: Start of First World War commemorated August 3, 2014 Today marks 100 years since Britain declared war on Germany and joined the hostilities of the First World War. Across London, tens of thousands of homes and businesses will mark the occasion by dimming their lights from 10pm until 11pm. It was 11pm on 4 August 1914 when the declaration of war was made. Some [...]
City Moves for 04 August 2014 | Who’s switching jobs August 3, 2014 Sovereign Land The retail and leisure developer and asset manager has announced the appointment of Thomas Mallindine as a senior asset manager. He previously worked at M&G Real Estate for five years, most recently as investment manager, retail and institutional funds. Kingston Smith & Partners The corporate recovery and insolvency arm of Kingston Smith, the accountancy [...]
Best of the Brokers for 04 August 2014 August 3, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BARCLAYS Berenberg has upgraded the bank’s rating to “hold”, saying it no longer has “enough downside to justify a sell recommendation”. The broker says Barclays has the potential to emerge as a long-term winner, but adds that it does not think the current [...]