JP Morgan gets new LNG deal in energy focus March 31, 2010 JP MORGAN has ventured further into the energy industry by signing an agreement with Chieniere Energy, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer. The agreement will give JP Morgan’s clients access to its Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana. It is understood the two will share profits from shipping the fuel on behalf of their clients. “Working [...]
Northern Rock head is making a small fortune March 31, 2010 THE head of nationalised bank Northern Rock was paid an astounding £1.3m in 2009, despite the group recording a loss of £257m last year. Gary Hoffman’s basic £700,000 salary was boosted by pension payments and the second tranche of a 1.2m compensation package for incentives lost when he left Barclays in 2008, according to the [...]
Barclays seals purchase of Citi credit card arm March 31, 2010 BARCLAYS has successfully completed its acquisition of rival Citibank’s Italian credit card business, allowing it to take control of the divison’s 197,000-odd credit card accounts and €234m (£208.3m) of assets. Barclays said yesterday that its path had been cleared to complete the deal, originally announced last month, following receipt of competition clearance and consultation with [...]
Miners and banks boost FTSE 100 March 31, 2010 STRONGER miners and banking stocks outweighed falls from defensive stocks to leave Britain’s top share index slightly higher by the close yesterday while BSkyB gained after an expected pay-TV review from Ofcom. The FTSE 100 index ended 7.32 points, or 0.1 per cent, higher at 5,679.64 having closed 0.7 per cent lower on Tuesday and [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 31, 2010 RBC Wealth Management The wealth manager, part of the Royal Bank of Canada, has appointed Sarah Macdonald as a director, focusing on UK entrepreneurial clients. Macdonald has worked for over a decade in the financial services industry at both Barclays Wealth and Morgan Stanley. She specialises in advising high net worth clients on asset management [...]
Providers make a dash for share of ETC market March 31, 2010 WHEN it was announced at the end of last year that investment vehicles traded on exchanges, mostly in the form of index-tracking funds, had passed the $1 trillion mark globally, it was a sign that listed products were growing in popularity. But while exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have made their mark already here in Europe, it [...]
RBS hit with £29m fine for price sharing March 30, 2010 Royal Bank of Scotland has been slapped with a £29m fine after being caught attempting to share loan prices with its biggest rival. The move backfired when Barclays staff shopped the RBS workers to the regulator. The Office of Fair Trading said RBS executives broke competition law by giving their counterparts at Barclays information on [...]
Investec buys up remainder of Rensburg March 30, 2010 SOUTH African bank Investec yesterday said it will stump up a hefty premium to acquire the remainder of Rensburg Sheppards, the fund manager in which it already holds a 47 per cent stake. Investec, which merged its private-client stockbroking business Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite with Rensburg in 2005, will pay 1.63 new shares of its own [...]
FTSE 100 is dragged down by banks despite healthy UK economic recovery March 30, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index ended 0.7 per cent lower yesterday, dragged down by banks, which extended the previous session’s losses, in thin trading ahead of the Easter break. The FTSE 100 index ended down 38.34 points at 5,672.32, having closed above 5,700 for the last three sessions. The index hit a 21-month intra-day peak at [...]
Calvert verdict convinces City FSA has teeth March 30, 2010 THE recent conviction of Malcolm Calvert was the third successful criminal prosecution of insider dealing brought by the FSA and two further such prosecutions are ongoing. Significantly, the first FSA insider dealing criminal prosecution was not until 2008 and it is evident they the regulator is now intent on ramping up criminal prosecutions and have [...]