FTSE boosted by strong results from UK companies and Greek debt rescue April 29, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index rose yesterday, buoyed by consensus beating results from UK corporates and as anxiety over the Eurozone’s debt crisis eased, though BP sank as a major oil spill worsens. The FTSE 100 closed up 31.23 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,617.84, but the index remains down 1.9 per cent on the [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS April 29, 2010 STATE-OWNED MORTGAGE LENDERS FAIL TO SATISFY State-owned mortgage providers are trailing behind smaller lenders and building societies for customer satisfaction, says a new survey from Which? Money. Bank of Scotland – part of Lloyds Banking Group – had the lowest score; just 41 per cent of customers were satisfied with the provider. Halifax (44 per [...]
Generating cash from caring April 29, 2010 IT’S NOT often that an entrepreneur comes up with a multi-million pound idea while out with his elderly aunts looking at care homes around the south of England. But that is what happened to ex-advertising whiz Mike Parsons. That was back in 1988. The dismal state of the care homes that he visited sparked an [...]
Barclays clocks largest UK exposure to Greece April 28, 2010 BARCLAYS is likely to be hit the hardest of all the UK banks in the event of a Greek debt default, according to estimates released yesterday. Analysts at Evolution Securities calculated Barclays’ exposure to Greek bonds at €4.6bn (£4.0bn), or 10 per cent of tangible net asset value (tNAV), due to Barclays Capital’s position as [...]
Boots tops reputation poll as banks languish April 28, 2010 Alliance Boots knocked Marks & Spencer off the top spot, in a survey of company reputation. The Reputation Institute’s UK Pulse Report 2010 ranked retail brands highly but the list of 140 firms made torrid reading for the finance industry. Royal Bank of Scotland languished at 138, with Lloyds at 136 and Barclays at 129. [...]
New volatility products help investors to hedge April 28, 2010 EUROPE’s sovereign debt crisis has gained momentum this week after Greece’s debt was downgraded to junk status. Similar to the financial shock in 2008, this has rocked global stock indices and volatility has spiked higher in recent days. Volatility indices, such as the Vix in the US and VSTOXX in Europe, measure the “fear” in [...]
FTSE drops after Spain downgrade April 28, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed lower yesterday, extending the previous session’s steep falls, after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s credit rating to AA, overshadowing strong corporate earnings. The FTSE 100 index closed down 16.91 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,586.61, after it tumbled 2.6 per cent on Tuesday — its biggest one-day [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 28, 2010 HSBC Private Bank The private bank has appointed Daniel Ellis as a managing director and head of the private bank investment group for the UK and Channel Islands, based in London. Ellis is currently head of structured products for HSBC Private Bank Suisse, having joined the group in 2001 to help build the ‘over the [...]
FTSE sees biggest fall in five months after S&P slashes rating on Greece April 27, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index dropped 2.6 per cent yesterday, the biggest fall in over five months as S&P downgrades for Greece and Portugal fuelled debt crisis contagion worries, smacking banks and commodity issues. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 150.33 points at 5,603.52, easily snapping an 88 point rally seen in the [...]
Barclays sells Africa custody unit April 27, 2010 Barclays said yesterday it would sell its African custody business to Standard Chartered, its emerging markets-focused rival. The bank, which did not disclose the value of the deal, said it had exited the global custody business outside Africa in 1998 and that the remaining African unit is profitable but “would benefit from the synergies a [...]