INVESTMENT BANK | OF THE YEAR September 21, 2011 JP MORGAN CAZENOVE JP Morgan Cazenove has performed the most consistently of the shortlisted banks, said the judges, pointing to its strong year for M&A, pulling off deals such as AT&T’s $39bn acquisition of T-Mobile USA. SHORTLIST Evercore Bank of America Merrill Lynch Barclays Capital Goldman Sachs
MARKETING CAMPAIGN | OF THE YEAR September 21, 2011 NATWEST NatWest had the “most visible” campaign: a marketing drive that repaired its own – and the banking sector’s – image with its “Helpful Banking” ads by M&C Saatchi promising to serve its customers better. SHORTLIST American Express Barclays Stockbrokers LOCOG Microsoft
Lehman drops Barclays litigation September 21, 2011 Lehman Brothers Holdings said it will drop its appeal of a bankruptcy court’s ruling upholding Barclays’ purchase of its North American business in 2008. In a statement, Lehman said yesterday it will drop its challenge of Judge James Peck’s February ruling denying its attempt to overturn the sale, which was completed in the hectic days [...]
MEET THE JUDGES September 21, 2011 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. Allister joined City A.M. as editor in early 2008. He chaired our panel of judges. SIR MARTIN SORRELL WPP Sir Martin is the co-founder and chief executive of WPP, the world’s largest communications company. SIMON MACKENZIE-SMITH BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH Simon is chairman of UK & Ireland corporate and [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 21, 2011 BlackRock David Snowdon has joined the investment manager’s Defined Contribution business to focus on business development by taking the BlackRock proposition to market and building relationships with DC clients. Snowdon joins from Barclays, where he spent six years as an employee benefit consultant, responsible for providing advice to and developing relationships with corporate clients. Prior [...]
This year’s hot sectors: risk and compliance September 21, 2011 WE’VE been told that the boom years are over. The fast-growth sectors of City employment have ground to a halt. New job opportunities will be fewer and far between. Well, that is unless you work in risk and compliance: the fallout from the credit crunch has given a new lease of life to these sticklers [...]
ClearStream to be sold to Bard in £43m move to extend heart products September 20, 2011 MEDICAL device maker ClearStream Technologies said it has agreed to be bought by New Jersey-based CR Bard for about £43.8m in cash. The company, whose medical devices are used to clear blocks in the coronary and peripheral arteries, said the offer had been pitched at 85p a share, at a premium of 84 per cent [...]
German confidence falls as Eurozone crisis bites September 20, 2011 THE GERMAN economy is set to worsen, if the indicator of economic sentiment published yesterday by the Centre for European Economic Research is correct. Sentiment dropped 5.7 per cent in September compared with August. That is the seventh consecutive monthly fall in the Zew index, and takes it to -43.3 points, a level last seen [...]
S&P downgrades Italy while Greek aid talks drag on September 19, 2011 ITALY suffered a shock downgrade from Standard & Poor’s late last night, which the ratings agency blamed on the political squabbling that is preventing the government from reacting properly to its financial woes. S&P said the downgrade by one notch to A/A-1 also comes with a negative outlook, warning that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s austerity [...]
Lloyds begins hunt for new finance chief September 19, 2011 LLOYDS has kicked off the search to replace its chief financial officer Tim Tookey after he quit to move back into the insurance industry at Friends Life. Tookey’s departure makes him the third executive to fall by the wayside during chief executive during Horta-Osório’s seven-month tenure, completing a clean-out of the executive board that was [...]