UK trade gap widens March 9, 2010 THE UK’s goods trade deficit with the rest of the world has grown to its widest since August 2008, official figures have shown. Exports in January plummeted by almost 7 per cent leaving the deficit at £7.987bn compared with £7.01bn in December. The figures were disappointing because the weak pound was expected to boost exports. [...]
Turquoise expands bank share roster March 8, 2010 THE London Stock Exchange (LSE) yesterday sealed a deal with three leading banks to sell a nine per cent stake in Turquoise, the trading platform it bought at the end of last year. Barclays, JP Morgan Cazenove and Nomura have each snapped up three per cent of the venture, which was merged with the LSE’s [...]
Citi’s Shedlin joins rival bank March 8, 2010 Gary Shedlin, who was most recently chairman of Citigroup’s investment banking effort for financial institutions, is departing to join Morgan Stanley, a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman said. Shedlin in his new position with Morgan Stanley will be a vice chairman focused on financial institutions, spokeswoman Alyson Barnes said. His position will be a new one. While [...]
Alternative exchanges give traders an edge March 8, 2010 ANOTHER shake-up of London’s trading landscape is underway after the London Stock Exchange (LSE) announced on Monday that it would sell 9 per cent of Turquoise, its European trading facility, to three investment banks. Barclays, JP Morgan Cazenove and Nomura each bought a 3 per cent stake of Turquoise for £1m. The multiple owners of [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 7, 2010 Santander The Spanish banking group has appointed Damian McGann as head of business development in its corporate banking team. McGann has over 20 years of experience in the sector and joins from Lloyds Banking Group, where he previously headed up substantial businesses in the Midlands and Scotland. He will focus on a range of businesses, [...]
Greek bond sale buys time for the EU March 4, 2010 GREECE was forced to accept a crippling level of interest on its issue of a €5bn (£4.5bn) bond yesterday, ensuring that it was massively oversubscribed. Just 24 hours after the struggling country announced new austerity measures, national debt management boss Petros Christodoulou said the gilt sale was “going very well, beyond expectations”. The news sent [...]
China Development Bank to review Barclays tie-up March 4, 2010 CHINA Development Bank (CDB), a former policy lender that has become a commercial bank, yesterday said it will review its strategic tie-up with Barclays, including its equity stake in the British bank. “We are now reviewing our ties with Barclays,” China Development Bank president Jiang Chaoliang said on the sidelines of the Chinese People’s Political [...]
Why we need to balance the books March 3, 2010 IT is often forgotten that Britain has defaulted on its national debt in the past. The Great Conversion of 1932, after another economic and financial crisis, was a humiliating moment for what was then the British Empire. After much negotiating, the UK’s costly five per cent first world war bonds were turned into new, cheaper [...]
Employees reap a $4.9bn pay day March 3, 2010 STANDARD Chartered dished out a $4.9bn compensation package for its employees as it announced record profits. Its remuneration ratio is 32 per cent of its $15.2bn revenue – slightly down from the 34 per cent handed out the year before. It works out at $64,000 for each of its 77,000 staff. The amount given in [...]
CITY BROKER ISN’T JUST HORSING AROUND WITH NEW POLO VENTURE March 3, 2010 IT’S SET to be a good year for Daniel Fox-Davies, the jovial boss of City stockbroker Fox-Davies Capital. Foxy, you see, is a bit of a dark horse when it comes to his extra-curricular hobbies – along with running his oil and gas-focused brokerage, he spends much of his free time flying jets and helicopters, [...]