China loosens credit rules to bolster flagging growth rates May 14, 2012 CHINESE authorities have cut the amount of money the country’s banks have to hold, in the hope of stimulating the economy and bolstering growth. The 50 basis point cut leaves the reserve ratio requirement at 20 per cent, effective from 18 May, allowing banks to boost lending by around 400-500bn yuan (£39.4bn to £49.2bn). Interest [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 14, 2012 Grant Thornton The professional services firm has appointed Andy Morgan as a partner in its London corporate finance team. Morgan is a technology expert and has over 17 years’ experience in mid-market mergers and acquisitions. He joins from PwC, where he led its UK technology, media and communications sector team. Mazars John McMahon has been [...]
THE TIPSTER Aviva shedding profits and chief execs May 14, 2012 TO lose a chief executive is always rather unfortunate, but Aviva’s long-suffering shareholders must be hoping that Andrew Moss’s departure will allow the company to begin a recovery operation, but any effort will be long and involved. A possible sale of the non-life insurance operations might help shore up the capital base, but the group’s [...]
FTSE dented by flailing Eurozone May 14, 2012 The FTSE 100 dipped in early trading as a breakdown of coalition talks in Greece sapped investor confidence along with more general fears over global growth. Talks to form a new government in Greece looked to have failed as left wing groups refused to join pro-bailout parties. EU ministers are meeting in Brussels later today [...]
Ally Financial’s ResCap is filing for bankruptcy May 13, 2012 ALLY Financial’s Residential Capital unit is nearing a bankruptcy filing, sources familiar with the situation said yesterday, in a move that could help the US taxpayer-owned car lender shed its troubled mortgage business but also spur drawn-out legal fights. The board of ResCap was set to meet late yesterday and a pre-arranged bankruptcy filing, where [...]
Murray has work cut out to win Olympic gold, warns Rusedski May 10, 2012 FORMER tennis star Greg Rusedski has warned Britain’s Andy Murray he faces a huge task to win gold at London 2012, in what he expects to be the most special and meaningful Olympic tournament yet. Hopes are high that Scot Murray will provide some home cheer in the men’s singles competition, to be held on [...]
City bonuses to crash to lowest level since 1998 May 9, 2012 CITY bonuses for the current financial year are set to collapse to the lowest level in fourteen years according to new analysis. For 2012/2013 performance-based bonuses are expected to total £2.3bn – a near 50 per cent crash from this year’s £4.4bn total and less than a fifth of the £11.6bn peak in 2007/08, according [...]
Clinton Cards collapses into administration May 9, 2012 CLINTON CARDS, the UK’s largest specialist greeting cards retailer, has been placed into administration by its largest supplier, putting more than 8,000 jobs at risk. Restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper were called in as administrators yesterday after Clinton’s banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, sold the company’s £35m of loans to US card retailer American [...]
Hunting shuffles the advisers May 8, 2012 OIL services group Hunting has ditched Jefferies Hoare Govett as a joint broker, replacing it with Deutsche Bank. The group’s decision is a blow for Jefferies, which had maintained that it would keep the majority of Hoare Govett’s broking clients following the switch from ownership by RBS. But the decision appears to have been made [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 8, 2012 Barclays Sharon Quinlan has been appointed head of structured property, London within Barclays’s debt finance team. She joins from Bank of Ireland, where she was head of business banking and responsible for running its UK commercial banking franchise. She takes over from Richard Payne, who will stay on as a consultant. PMB Holdings Ed Jones [...]