Barclays appoints Antony Jenkins as chief executive August 30, 2012 Barclays today named retail boss Antony Jenkins as its new chief executive, handing an insider the task of helping to repair the damage caused by a rate-rigging scandal. Softly spoken Jenkins, brought in six years ago to turn around the bank’s credit card business, replaces Bob Diamond, who built up Barclays’ thriving investment bank but [...]
Barclays faces SFO probe over Qatar payments August 29, 2012 THE SERIOUS Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating payments between Qatar and Barclays, the bank confirmed yesterday. Barclays said it is complying with the fraud squad’s probe, which is in its early stages. The SFO investigation is separate to the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) inquiry that began in July, which relates to fees paid to the [...]
Miners weighed down by copper price slip as quiet FTSE ends lower August 29, 2012 BRITAIN’S blue chip shares fell yesterday in very light trade as uncertainty over the outlook for the global economy and the next moves by central banks prompted many investors to stick to the sidelines. Miners were the standout fallers, off 2.2 per cent, weighed down by a drop in the copper price. Global growth worries [...]
FTSE 100 lower on worries over global economy August 29, 2012 The UK’s blue chip index opened lower this morning, with concerns over the health of the global economy and falling metal prices dragging shares down. Russian oil and gas company Ruspetro led the fallers, shedding 8.41 per cent in early trading as investors reacted negatively to news that it swung to a loss in the [...]
Everything Everywhere teams up with MasterCard on digital wallet August 28, 2012 MASTERCARD yesterday announced a five year deal with the UK’s biggest mobile phone operator Everything Everywhere to develop contactless mobile phone payment systems for the network’s 27m customers. The duo will kick off the deal by launching a pre-paid digital wallet, allowing customers to transfer money from a bank account to a mobile phone for [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching Jobs August 28, 2012 Ludgate Investments The private equity investor has appointed Dr Bernard Bulkin and Ekaterina Sharashidze as non-executive directors. Bulkin joins from Vantage Point Capital Partners. In addition to his extensive investment experience, Bulkin is a professorial fellow at Cambridge University. Sharashidze has over 15 years’ experience in private equity and joins from Samena Capital, where she [...]
FTSE 100 lower on Eurozone uncertainty August 28, 2012 The headline index opened lower on the first business day after the summer bank holiday, thanks to gloomy economic news from Germany and uncertainty over the European Central Bank’s plans to contain the debt crisis. Specialist chemicals maker Yule Catto was the strongest riser this morning, up 6.35 per cent on the back of announcing [...]
AOL to buy back $600m in stock August 27, 2012 AOL said yesterday it will buy back $600m (£390m) of stock and pay a dividend of $5.15 per share as part of its plan to return shareholders $1bn that it received by selling patents to Microsoft. The company has been aggressively giving back to investors in recent months. It won a bitter proxy battle against [...]
Bob Diamond’s fiercest critic threatened by act of sabotage August 23, 2012 BANK-BOTHERING Labour MP John Mann won few friends in the City establishment with his robust denunciations of Bob Diamond during July’s hearings into Barclays’ abuse of the Libor rate. But the star of the Treasury select committee (who describes himself in press releases as “Outspoken Labour MP John Mann”) yesterday revealed that he had a [...]
FTSE 100 up on stimulus hopes August 23, 2012 The headline index opened higher this morning on hopes of fresh stimulus from China and the US. The US Federal Reserve suggested last night that another round of stimulus could be likely if the economy doesn’t recover soon. Headline mining shares led the index up, with Allied Gold Mining adding 4.33 per cent in early [...]