Klein earned $10m from Lehman deal August 30, 2010 FORMER Citigroup high-flyer Michael Klein pocketed $10m (£6.4m) as a flat fee for helping Barclays buy Lehman Brothers’ US brokerage at the height of the financial crisis. The investment banker’s pay deal, revealed during the ongoing legal wrangle between the two sides regarding the takeover, was described as being “of great interest” by bankruptcy judge [...]
Get on your bike to avoid Tube congestion August 30, 2010 ANYONE who works in the Square Mile will know how empty it can feel in August as City workers – myself included – decamp for a well earned break. And yet, somehow, this summer downturn appears to have no impact whatsoever on the overcrowded tubes, trains and buses bringing commuters into the City at rush-hour. [...]
PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR August 30, 2010 IT’S been another tough year in the City. Stock markets are still nervy, the recovery is by no means secure and a double-dip is on many people’s cards. But it is hard times that form characters. Our five nominees for Personality of the Year have proved their mettle over the past 12 months. One is [...]
S&P CASTS DOUBT ON BANK REVIVAL August 26, 2010 RATING agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) cast doubt on the strength of the UK banking sector’s recovery yesterday, saying lenders had been buoyed by a rising economic tide. The claim, made after this month’s bumper first-half earnings season, was immediately rebuffed by banking industry figures. While institutions realise they have been helped by an improving [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS August 26, 2010 RECESSION FLAT SHARE ANYONE? According to a new survey by easyroommate.co.uk there has been a surge in the number of people looking for flat shares in the wake of the recession. It found that flat sharing was up 59,000 since the start of the crunch and now the total number of people who flat share [...]
Watchdog slaps £1.6m fine on SocGen August 25, 2010 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulator fined French bank Societe Generale £1.575m yesterday for failing to provide accurate transaction reports. The fine handed out to SocGen, which in 2008 lost around €5bn (£4.1bn) in a trading scandal, follows previous penalties handed out to Barclays, Credit Suisse and Commerzbank for similar failings. The FSA said that [...]
Getting a grip on listed products August 25, 2010 TOO much choice can be a problem for investors these days. Online consumer champion Which? singled out structured products as being some of the most confusing instruments on offer and was particularly unhappy about their lack of transparency, particularly when it comes to counterparty risk. The UK Structured Products Association hit back at the research [...]
FTSE hits seven-week closing low as fears over recovery’s strength intensify August 25, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index fell to a seven-week closing low yesterday on growing unease that the global economy may slip back into another recession following further weak economic data from the United States. New orders for long-lasting US made goods rose far less than expected in July and, excluding transportation equipment, posted their largest decline [...]
TRADERS SEX UP THE DULL WORLD OF FOREX August 23, 2010 THE THINGS that bored traders get up to when they get a minute, eh? The Capitalist chances upon an, err, enterprising website set up by a pair of forex traders, who claim to have cracked the conundrum of how to dispense a barrage of information to their peers while simultaneously holding their interest – by [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 23, 2010 Future Group The media business has appointed former ITN chief executive Mark Wood as chief executive of its UK business. Wood, who stood down from ITN last year, has been a non-executive director at Future since April 2009. He will leave the board on taking up his new post at the end of the month. [...]