Barclays makes £2.5bn offer for its debt to boost capital December 6, 2011 BARCLAYS has made a £2.5bn offer to buy back its debt in order to bolster its capital levels. If taken up by holders of the bank’s bonds, the move could book Barclays a profit and reduce the amount of its debt that is non-compliant with new Basel III capital rules. The bank is offering a [...]
BoA Merrill Lynch wants little Osborne fallout December 6, 2011 LOSING a star banker is obviously never easy for an investment bank, dependent as it is on a raft of client relationships. But losing a banker amid speculation of a regulatory probe is especially problematic, since the bank is forced to keep a lid on the reasons for the departure until the regulatory issues have [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 4, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SURGE IN UK CORPORATE BONDS Sterling corporate bond issuance is soaring, but euro-denominated bond sales are at a six-year low – as more companies turn to the relative stability of the London market amid Europe’s financial turmoil. UK and international companies have sold more than $42bn worth of sterling-denominated bonds so far this [...]
Week ahead’s industrial data likely to be gloomy December 4, 2011 MANUFACTURING figures across Europe are released this week, and economists expect a gloomy outlook. October’s figures are expected to show an oncoming recession in the Eurozone and weakness in the surrounding economies. Barclays Capital predicts Italian industrial output – data out on Thursday – will be flat in the month to October, “consistent with a [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 4, 2011 Tenemos The banking software provider has appointed former SAP executive Dr Bernd-Michael Rumpf as global head of the company’s customer services group, reporting to chief executive Guy Dubois. Bernd-Michael previously spent 12 years at SAP, where his executive roles included head of field services and support. Prior to that, he was chief executive of SAP [...]
Barclays wealth to expand in Asia, US December 2, 2011 Barclays Wealth plans to add experienced bankers to its teams in Asia and the US as it aims to grow its worldwide assets by 70 per cent. The wealth management unit of Barclays hopes to take advantage of the increasing number of super-rich individuals in Asia, which is enjoying higher economic growth than the West. [...]
Banks fuel FTSE gains as investors eye US jobs data December 2, 2011 Banks helped lift the FTSE 100 this morning as a concerted effort by central banks to trigger easier credit among lenders continued to bolster investor sentiment. Despite grim manufacturing data from across the globe yesterday — and a bleak outlook given by Bank of England Governor Mervyn King — markets overall have responded positively to [...]
The wages of finance to fall by a third as regulation bites December 1, 2011 SALARIES in European investment banks will have to fall by as much as a third as institutions fight to retain their level of return on equity in the face of harsh new regulation, analysts at JP Morgan said yesterday. Banks are likely to cut compensation levels drastically from 2012 as they see their return on [...]
BP sells off Canadian assets December 1, 2011 BP has agreed to sell its Canadian natural gas liquids business to Plains All American Pipeline for $1.67bn, as it seeks to raise $45bn to pay for last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The business, which includes pipelines and processing stations that remove valuable crude-like liquids from gas, owns or has rights to more [...]
Property firm St Modwen sees big year December 1, 2011 PROPERTY regeneration company St Modwen expects its full-year results to buck the economic downturn, coming in at the upper end of forecasts. The company, which owns the Elephant and Castle and Edmonton Green shopping centres in London, said in a trading update that sales and buyer interest in its new sites have both been high, [...]