Big four banks slash 250,000 jobs since crisis March 4, 2014 BRITAIN’S biggest banks have cut their headcount by 200,000 since the crisis, their latest figures show, and expect to cut at least 50,000 more over the coming years as new technologies reduce the need for front-line staff. The big four have slashed their workforce, cutting costs and selling off overseas units in a bid to [...]
Standard Chartered slashes top bosses’ payout and bonus pool March 4, 2014 STANDARD Chartered is set to announce today that it has cut its bonus fund from £840m to £720m this year and slashed a payout to top bosses at the bank. Chief executive Peter Sands and chairman of the bank Sir John Peace are keen to avoid negative publicity around bonus payouts, as other banks including [...]
Premier Foods secures £1.1bn refinancing deal March 4, 2014 PREMIER FOODS announced it has sealed a £1.1bn refinancing package yesterday, in a major feat for the food company that it says will help “liberate” it from its past and ease its debt-pile. The company behind Mr Kipling cakes and Ambrosia custard confirmed plans to raise £353m via a placing and a rights issue, and [...]
Glencore beats forecasts with £7.9bn earnings March 4, 2014 INTEGRATED miner-trader Glencore Xstrata yesterday pleased investors and analysts with consensus-busting earnings, in its first full-year results since the completion of its merger. Adjusted earnings of $13.1bn (£7.86bn) were flat but beat company-compiled estimates by seven per cent and Barclays forecasts by five per cent. Core profit from Glencore’s trading arm rose 17 per cent, [...]
Best of the Brokers for 5 March 2014 March 4, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com TESCO Cantor Fitzgerald has cut the supermarket from “hold” to “sell” and slashed its target from 333p to 282p. The broker thinks rivals can easily beat Tesco’s recent price promises, meaning the firm erodes its margins in the UK to little benefit. Cantor [...]
How 4 banks are cutting quarter of a million staff March 4, 2014 The true scale of British banks’ world-dominating ambitions in the boom years and devastating collapse in the crisis is still only now becoming clear – the latest figures show the big four banks have cut 200,000 jobs since the credit crunch struck. And another 50,000 or more are set to be cut in the next [...]
Bank use of Funding for Lending surges but business loans drop March 3, 2014 USE OF the Funding for Lending Scheme by banks surged in the last part of 2013, with nearly half of the borrowings made so far coming in the year’s final quarter. Banks drew down £18.79bn in the final three months of the year, out of £41.92bn in the six quarters the scheme has been active. [...]
City Moves for 04 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 3, 2014 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer The law firm has named London-based corporate partner Martin Nelson-Jones as co-head of its infrastructure and transport sector group. He joined in 1991 and became a partner in 2001. BNY Mellon The investment management firm has announced the appointment of Frank La Salla as chief executive of its alternative investment services business. He [...]
Barclays brokers leapfrog over Citi March 2, 2014 BARCLAYS overtook rival Citigroup in the FTSE 100 broker rankings for the first time last quarter after winning a contract to be broker for catering giant Compass Group. The bank’s corporate brokers were appointed to work with the catering company last month, helping take its tally of FTSE 100 customers to 17 from 16. The [...]
Lloyds outstrips other big banks in UK’s mortgage lending boom February 27, 2014 LLOYDS is the driving force behind Britain’s mortgage boom, financing the recovery in house buying activity, the big four banks’ 2013 financial reports reveal. In stark contrast to Lloyds’ surging lending data, the other major banks cut lending or held relatively flat. Lloyds’ gross new mortgage lending came in at £36.9bn in 2013, up 40 [...]