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, [...]
FTSE rises as commodities and financials set the pace March 3, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading shares gained 0.9 per cent yesterday, boosted by strength in miners and oils, banks and life insurers, as upbeat US data lifted Wall Street. At the close, the FTSE 100 was 49.15 points higher at 5,533.21, ending at a seven-week peak on its fourth straight session of gains. “All the figures were pretty [...]
Barclays sells Deb Group March 2, 2010 Barclays Private Equity will sell Deb Group, to Charterhouse. The deal worth £325m is a boost for the buy-out arm of the UK bank as it gears up for its next round of fundraising and plans to spin out as an independent house.
Foreign firms boost cash to buy UK peers March 2, 2010 THE amount of money spent by overseas firms on acquiring UK companies surged in the fourth quarter of last year to £13.8bn from £4bn in the previous three months, official data showed yesterday. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed however that the number of transactions had remained broadly unchanged, Significant acquisitions of UK?firms [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 2, 2010 HAYS Numis Securities reiterates its “sell” rating on Hays citing another set of earnings downgrades post its half year results. Following a tough period of trading, the business faces additional UK public sector pressures which could lead it to lag a wider staffing recovery. While the dividend yield remains attractive it prefers Hays’ rivals. HSBC [...]
Gains in banking shares lead the FTSE to a six-week high March 2, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index hit a six-week closing high yesterday and rose for a third straight session, led by banks with HSBC firmer after the previous session’s post results sell-off. The FTSE 100 closed up 78.12 points, or 1.45 per cent, at 5,484.06, its highest closing level since January 19, after climbing 1 per cent [...]
HSBC director set for £10m pay windfall March 1, 2010 HSBC’s investment banking chief Stuart Gulliver is set to pocket a bumper payout of over £10m, after profits at the global banking and markets arm jumped threefold to $10.48bn (£7bn) during the 2009 financial year. Gulliver, 50, who joined HSBC from university 30 years ago, will receive a bonus of £9m in deferred stock, as [...]