FTSE 100 flat despite Lonmin losses August 20, 2012 Britain’s leading share index opened flat this morning, despite widening losses in mining shares, tracking a decline in the price of copper. Beleaguered platinum producer Lonmin continued another day of losses, with the shares down more than 3.5 per cent. The mining company today issued an ultimatum to the striking workers. Defence group Chemring was [...]
FTSE 100 flat despite Lonmin losses August 20, 2012 Britain’s leading share index opened flat this morning, despite widening losses in mining shares, tracking a decline in the price of copper. Beleaguered platinum producer Lonmin continued another day of losses, with the shares down more than 3.5 per cent. The mining company today issued an ultimatum to the striking workers. Defence group Chemring was [...]
Barclays takes PingIt to Africa August 19, 2012 Barclays is to launch an international version of its PingIt smartphone app in Kenya this week before expanding to other African countries later this year. The Pingit app allows UK users to link their mobile number to their bank account and then send cash to any other registered user using a five-digit PIN code. Barclays [...]
MPs hit back at critics of Bob Diamond report August 19, 2012 THE WAR of words between MPs and former Barclays bosses escalated yesterday as furious parliamentarians defended their report into the bank’s Libor manipulation and their criticism of Bob Diamond. Former Barclays director Sir Nigel Rudd expressed shock at the accusations that Diamond had been dishonest with the Treasury Select Committee (TSC), saying the damning report [...]
Virgin Money aims for 5m bank customers by end of the year August 19, 2012 VIRGIN MONEY said yesterday it is on course to reach 5m customers by the end of the year as it reaps the benefit of rival banks’ scandals and payment problems. Virgin, which had around 4m customers after it spent £747m buying Northern Rock from the government in November, said that since the January merger it [...]
City Moves Who’s switching jobs August 19, 2012 Savills Ray Clement has been appointed head of hotels for Asia Pacific at the real estate advisory firm. He was previously a director in the hotels team at CBRE. Clement has been in the hotels business for over 15 years, and has worked on hotel sales transactions in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Australia. Coutts [...]
FTSE 100 boosted by financials August 17, 2012 The blue chip index opened up this morning, tracking gains in the US and Asia, driven by upbeat comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel over tackling the Eurozone debt crisis. Miner Centamin led the risers, up four per cent in early trading, as investors reacted positively to news of a record amount of gold it [...]
FTSE 100 flat on worries over retail sales data August 16, 2012 The blue chip index was flat in early trade, having closed modestly down on Wednesday, as investors were cautious ahead of the release of UK retail sales data. Gold producer African Barrick Gold was the top FTSE 250 riser, up almost 10 per cent on speculation parent company Barrick Gold could sell its 74 per [...]
How have the bank‘s top brass been hit? August 15, 2012 Nobody at the top of Standard Chartered has resigned over the Iranian sanction-breaching charges – a stark contrast with the outcome of Barclays’ LIBOR scandal. Peter Sands initially responded slowly to last week’s allegations. The chief executive was on holiday and taken by surprise. But since then he has impressed analysts and investors by flying [...]
Seven lenders subpoenaed in Libor probe August 15, 2012 SEVEN banks have been subpoenaed by US authorities as part of an investigation into possible manipulation of the Libor interest rate, it was revealed last night. JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Barclays will have to face questions from a joint probe by New York and Connecticut investigators after receiving subpoenas in recent weeks. Britain’s [...]