UK banks might look cheap, but pick carefully September 20, 2010 UK BANKING stocks rallied last week after the announcement of the Basel III banking reforms. But although the sector has avoided further bank-bashing, much of the detail has yet to emerge and a jumpy market should make for fruitful autumn trading. New capital ratio requirements made most of the Basel III headlines, with Tier 1 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 19, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph CHEYNE CAPITAL SHUTS EQUITY FUND AFTER POOR PERFORMANCE London-based hedge fund Cheyne Capital has closed a much-heralded equities fund only a year after it opened. The fund, which it is believed was equivalent to around 1 per cent of the approximate £5bn Cheyne has under management, closed after a dissapointing [...]
Commission prepares to reveal agenda September 19, 2010 SIR John Vickers, the chairman of the government’s independent commission on banking, has privately outlined his desire to tone down the “fictional and emotive” nature of the banking debate ahead of the release of an issues paper this week. Vickers, the former boss of the Office of Fair Trading, believes that presenting a logical and [...]
Ireland slams IMF speculation as tension looms over its budget September 19, 2010 IRELAND’S finance ministry and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have sought to calm markets after a report on the possibility of an IMF bailout spooked investors. The cost of insuring Irish sovereign debt against default hit a record high and the Irish/German spread reached a euro lifetime peak after the Irish Independent newspaper said Ireland [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 19, 2010 DTZ The property advisory group has appointed Hugh Radford as head of UK retail – a division whose clients include the Crown Estate, Land Securities, Hermes, Aviva and Henderson. It is also currently leasing Westfield’s newest shopping centre development at Stratford. Radford has been a director at DTZ since 2007, when the firm acquired retail [...]
Aviva hunts for Sharman’s replacement September 16, 2010 INSURANCE group Aviva has begun its search for a new chairman in time for Colin Sharman’s planned departure in 2013, people close to the company confirmed yesterday. Potential candidates for the job include former Aviva chief executive Richard Harvey, outgoing Barclays chief executive John Varley and ex-financial services minister Paul Myners. Myners declined to comment, [...]
Don’t get caught out by CGT September 16, 2010 BRITONS are set to waste over half a billion pounds this tax year in unnecessary capital gains tax (CGT) payments, research from unbiased.co.uk revealed earlier this week. The professional advice website said that UK taxpayers will waste £552m by not being CGT-efficient and warned that the capital gains tax rate rise to 28 per cent [...]
EU wages war on derivatives September 15, 2010 RADICAL curbs on short selling and derivatives trading proposed by the European Commission to bring the multi-trillion dollar industry in from “Wild West territory” were condemned as costly and potentially uncompetitive by hedge funds yesterday. The proposals, released to coincide with the collapse of Lehman Brothers two years ago, require increased disclosure of short selling [...]
Lloyds launches a thirty-year sterling bond September 15, 2010 LLOYDS Banking Group launched a rare 30-year senior sterling bond yesterday, capitalising on the upbeat tone of the credit markets and on demand from pension funds and insurers for long-dated sterling assets. The bond deal is the bank’s first ever sterling issue with a 30-year maturity, an official with the bank said. Initial guidance on [...]
Be ready to leap when the market turns September 15, 2010 THE popular obsession with City pay has not gone away, as was in evidence recently when the news that Bob Diamond will become CEO of Barclays was accompanied by lurid headlines about the “bonus banker”. City remuneration might be a dog-whistle issue for tabloids, but it’s also a big issue for everybody who works here, [...]