Acquisitions are back on the agenda this year March 14, 2010 M&A teams in investment banks all over London must be salivating at the prospect of a wave of new deals. Acquisitions are back on the agenda. In many ways it makes sense. Last year many companies re-trenched, rebuilt their balance sheets and hoped for the best. They have been hoarding cash but now wonder if [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 14, 2010 Coutts Private Office Rupert Allison has joined Coutts Private Office as senior client partner from after three years with HSBC private bank as a relationship manager/ director. At Coutts, Allison will advise high-net-worth individuals whose assets top £30m and will report to global head of Coutts private office, Duncan McIntyre. Allison also spent 15 years [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 11, 2010 Alexander Proudfoot The consultancy has hired a slew of City heavyweights to its new UK advisory board, chaired by Sir Patrick Brown, chair of the Go-Ahead Group. The board also includes Schroders chairman Michael Miles (pictured); AON UK chairman Paul Manduca; Regus Group chairman John Matthews; and Christopher Sheridan, a non-executive at Standard Bank. Lexicon [...]
Rules on pay disclosure to be tightened March 10, 2010 TENS of thousands of investment bankers could be forced to disclose the size of their pay packet, in a government move that will send shock waves through the City. City minister Lord Myners yesterday revealed government plans to further tighten policy proposals first put forward by Sir David Walker in a corporate governance report last [...]
CAUGHT IN THE THROES OF A NIGHT OF PASSION March 10, 2010 AS AN elite bunch of the City’s most successful ladies and gentlemen left the Mansion House last night after a fundraising “Passion and Performance” evening hosted by Lord Mayor Nick Anstee, they should have been justifiably proud. For between just 320 guests from blue-blooded institutions such as Barclays, Accenture, Linklaters, HSBC, RBS, Lloyds Banking Group, [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS BARCLAYS RIGHT TO TRY AND BUY AN AMERICAN BANK? March 10, 2010 CHRIS HARRIS| INSIDE INVESTMENT “What I think on the subject is that it seems like a good idea. Considering the fact that values at financial companies are depressed at the moment, it’s probably a good acquisition for Barclays.” RAPHAEL VIALLET | FIRST STATE INVESTMENTS “Barclays has already had some experience in this area and with [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS March 10, 2010 DEUTSCHE OFFERS INDONESIA ETF Deutsche Bank’s ETF division db x-trackers has launched the world’s first UCITS III-compliant China and Indonesia ETFs. Listed in Singapore, the China ETF tracks the CSI 300, which replicates the performance of A-shares that are listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen indexes. DB x-trackers is scheduled to launch the Indonesia ETF, [...]
Barclays on hunt to buy US banks March 9, 2010 BARCLAYS is seeking to buy a large US retail bank in a bid to bolster its high street presence in the US, bringing it in line with the booming performance of its investment banking division Barclays Capital. Antony Jenkins, chief executive of global retail banking, is heading up an internal team charged with building on [...]
FOREX FLASH March 9, 2010 Goldman upbeat on sterling The pound has been in retreat since yesterday, after trade data for January suggested that a weaker pound is not yet helping British exports. But this could be short-lived. Goldman Sachs economist Erik Nielsen thinks that the UK economy should emerge from recession before the Eurozone. Nielsen made the comments during [...]
Banks weigh on the FTSE as Credit Suisse warns of future funding crisis March 9, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed a touch lower yesterday, as a weakening in banks after a cautious research note from Credit Suisse slightly outpaced buoyant oil issues and drugmakers. The FTSE 100 ended down 4.42 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,602.30, having closed up 0.1 per cent on Monday, its highest close since 2 [...]