Barclays sets up new office in Hong Kong November 24, 2010 BARCLAYS Wealth has set up a booking centre in Hong Kong, the firm announced yesterday, as part of its plans to quadruple assets under management and double its number of private bankers in Asia over the next four years. An undisclosed number of UK staff will temporarily relocate to help set up the booking centre, [...]
Incomes boost for US hopes November 24, 2010 Consumer growth could hold the key to a US recovery, a survey showed yesterday. Personal incomes were up 0.5 per cent in October according to the Personal Income and Outlays report compiled by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. “Growth in personal income is increasingly being driven by wages and salaries, rather than government transfers,” [...]
Success of ETFs among private investors hangs on regulation November 24, 2010 GIVEN that exchange-traded products (ETP) have been available in the UK for just over a decade, the speed at which they have managed to penetrate the private investor market can only be described as glacial. Around 85 per cent of the European ETP market is still institutional. Yet there are signs that private investors are [...]
Resolution replaces Citigroup as corporate broker November 24, 2010 RESOLUTION, the life funds group run by Clive Cowdery, ended its broking relationship with Citigroup today following the summer departure of Andrew Thompson, one of the bank’s most senior corporate brokers. Sources said that Resolution was “very much a relationship driven company” and that Thompson’s departure to Deutsche Bank was bound to make a major [...]
Sales of super-high heels lift sales at Kurt Geiger stores November 23, 2010 LUXURY shoe brand Kurt Geiger has reported a 25 per cent rise in turnover in the nine months to November this year, as ladies have flocked to buy its coveted 120mm-high heels. Sales of its highest heels quadrupled compared with a year earlier, it said in its third quarter trading update. Sales of red and [...]
French business growth slows November 23, 2010 There was mixed news for France yesterday as business leaders signalled a slight decline in the economic outlook, in spite of positive growth figures released by Markit (see left). While the French Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose above the Eurozone average in November, the INSEE business climate index fell to 100 points, down from 104 [...]
CONTAGION IS STILL A RISK FOR THE EURO November 23, 2010 BORIS SCHLOSSBERG DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT AFter several weeks of tense negotiations and turbulence in the credit markets, Ireland accepted a financial aid package from EU and the IMF. Although the size of the deal will not be known for days, analysts put the total at about €100bn – 40 per cent of the [...]
Low correlations and high liquidity ensure currency’s continued appeal November 23, 2010 FOR about a decade before the crisis, institutional investors were happy to accept that the currency markets were an area where active fund managers could add value. But they lost their faith in the asset class during 2008 when many currency managers lost money. Some of those managers who were running quantitative strategies and who [...]
Banking stocks fall on fears of Irish exposure November 22, 2010 BRITISH banking stocks fell yesterday on the back of uncertainty about their exposure to the Irish crisis. Barclays fell 2.7 per cent to 270.1p, while Lloyds dropped 5.8 per cent to 64p and RBS saw a 6.1 per cent fall to 40p. The falls in Lloyds and RBS stock were also exacerbated by the declaration [...]
Taylor Wimpey begins £250m bond offering November 22, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Taylor Wimpey rounded off its refinancing plan yesterday by announcing a new £100m debt facility and plans to sell £250m of five-year bonds. The news follows on from the firm’s £950m credit facility, which was announced last week as the last act by outgoing chief financial officer Chris Rickard. Prudential’s M&G UK Companies Financing [...]