Dentons to merge with US law firm May 26, 2010 DENTON Wilde Sapte and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (SNR) yesterday agreed to merge, creating a £500m law firm with over 1,400 lawyers. Management boards at both firms recommended to their respective partnerships that the two businesses be combined. The merger, if it wins approval from a partnership vote held early next month, will see the [...]
Bank lending weak from deleveraging May 26, 2010 MORTGAGE lending slumped in April to its lowest monthly level since February 2001 and the number of mortgage approvals only inched higher in what is typically a strong month for the housing market, fresh statistics from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) showed yesterday. Banks’ net mortgage lending fell to £1.8bn in April compared with £2.3bn [...]
Markets in turmoil May 25, 2010 SHARES worldwide plunged yesterday as fears that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis would lead to a fresh collapse in the banking sector, and rising tensions between North and South Korea took their toll on jittery investors. The FTSE 100 index plummeted, ending the day 2.5 per cent lower at 4,940.68, below the psychologically important 5,000 level [...]
EX-SEYMOUR PIERCE BOSS COMES OFF THE SLOPES AND BACK TO CITY May 25, 2010 IT was only going to be a matter of time before Richard Feigen popped his head back over the proverbial parapet after resigning from broker Seymour Pierce at the turn of the year. Feigen, one of the best-known corporate financiers in the City, handed in his notice in January following a month-long internal investigation at [...]
Bleak picture in UK markets as shares tumble on Eurozone and Korea fears May 25, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading shares tumbled yesterday, laid low by big falls from banks and commodity issues as ongoing euro zone debt contagion fears and rising tensions in Korea kept investors wary. By the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 128.93 points, or 2.5 per cent, at 4,940.68, having touched an eight-and-a-half month low of 4,898.49 [...]
Miners and banks help FTSE overturn three days of losses May 24, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares broke a three-day losing streak yesterday as miners spurred by upbeat comments from China, outpaced falls in oils led by BP as concerns lingered over the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. The FTSE 100 ended 6.68 points or 0.1 per cent higher at 5,026.44, in choppy trade. The index is down more [...]
BarCap expects to shed private equity business by the autumn May 23, 2010 BARCLAYS CAPITAL is expecting to shed its private equity arm by the autumn while at the same time raising £1.8bn from an independent fund, it is understood. The move is thought to have been agreed at Barclays Private Equity’s annual meeting and will see the business spun off from its parent company with no further [...]
Wealthy are pessimistic on growth ahead May 23, 2010 WEALTHY investors in the UK are among the most pessimistic in the world, according to a survey by Barclays Wealth due to be published today. Just 16 per cent of people in the UK with more than £1m to invest believe the global economy will grow in the next five years, compared to four in [...]
ATM inventor dies after illness May 20, 2010 JOHN SHEPHERD-BARON, the man who invented the ATM machine, has died at the age of 84. He initially came up with the idea for the cash machine in 1965 and while at De La Rue Instruments, he installed the first ATM machine at a Barclays bank in Enfield in 1967.
Aldermore: Businesses are being failed by big banks May 20, 2010 ALDERMORE, the lender created from the ashes of Ruffler Bank, has warned that small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are being suffocated because they cannot access credit. The institution, which was reinvigorated when it was taken over by private equity group AnaCap last year, fired a broadside at the likes of Barclays and HSBC when it [...]