UK banks to see weak loan growth – Citigroup February 8, 2012 UK banks could see weak loan growth in 2012 as households and corporates cut debt levels amid a tough economic environment and regulators press them to raise capital ratios, Citigroup said. Citigroup analyst Andrew Coombs downgraded Royal Bank of Scotland Group to “neutral” from “buy,” and cut his price target on Lloyds Banking Group on [...]
BarCap is late entry onto the adviser list February 7, 2012 Barclays’ investment bank BarCap has been brought in as an adviser to Xstrata, writes David Hellier. Its appointment came late on Monday night, too late for the bank to be named in the official announcement yesterday. Its inclusion will help BarCap maintain its climb up the investment banking tables and comes after the bank’s US [...]
ADVISERS ON THE UK’S MEGA-MERGER February 7, 2012 Barclays Capital was a last minute entrant onto the adviser list, City A.M. learned yesterday. The Bob Diamond-led bank, which made it onto the Facebook IPO, declined to comment last night. BarCap’s inclusion came late on Monday night as the final touches were being put to the deal. Inclusion will help it maintain progress in [...]
Misys chief to leave as part of £2bn merger February 7, 2012 BANKING software groups Misys and Temenos said yesterday they had agreed some of the key terms of a possible £2bn all-share merger between the peers, a deal which would see Mike Lawrie relinquish his position as chief executive of Misys. Guy Dubois, currently chief executive of Temenos, will act as CEO of the combined group [...]
MPs waver over bashing bank bonuses February 7, 2012 CHANCELLOR George Osborne gave a confused view on the banker-bashing bonus debate yesterday, at first calling them “unacceptable” and then castigating others for creating an “anti-business culture”. Speaking at a dinner held by the Federation of Small Businesses, Osborne (pictured) said: “Of course rewards for failure are unacceptable – and those who believe in the [...]
BEHIND THE SCENES FOR OSCAR HIT’S LEGAL FIXER February 7, 2012 PAUL RENNEY, a lawyer at Keystone Law, almost collected the Bafta for The King’s Speech – except the film’s producers were faster out of their seats than he was. Renney, as the hit’s legal adviser, was a stand-in at the event for screenwriter David Seidler, who was “annoyed” at not being flown over from the [...]
FTSE flat as $90bn Glencore deal agreed February 7, 2012 The FTSE 100 was flat as further delays to Greek debt restructuring created more confidence sapping uncertainty – but the talk of the market was the agreed $90bn (£56bn) merger of Glencore and Xstrata. After rejecting a proposed new bailout deal which demands strict labour reforms and other austerity steps Greek leaders today meet in [...]
Westerman goes east in Goldman’s reshuffle February 6, 2012 FOLLOWING in the footsteps of Richard Campbell-Breeden (Asia) and Chris Barter (Moscow), Goldman Sachs is moving Matthew Westerman to Hong Kong to become co-head of its investment banking division for Asia outside of Japan. Westerman, whose recent deals include the Prada IPO and the HSBC rights issue, was recently global head of equity capital markets [...]
FTSE dips as Greece D-Day arrives February 6, 2012 The FTSE 100 slipped as the deadline for Greece to accept a new bailout or face a default which could trigger financial shockwaves across the globe arrived. Greece must tell the European Union by the end of today whether it accepts the stringent terms of a new bailout deal amid reports of divisions within the [...]
Truth about banker pay: It’s falling February 5, 2012 BRITISH investment bankers are braced for deep slashes to their pay packets after a slowdown in trading saw their US rivals cut bonuses by up to 30 per cent. Industry insiders say that UK bankers are looking at a pay cut of 20-50 per cent – in addition to thousands in job cuts – contrary [...]