THE TIPSTER January 24, 2010 US PRESIDENT Obama’s plans for the banking sector are expected to continue to dominate this week and put further pressure on banks’ share prices across the world. This might make it well worth taking a short out on the UK banking sector. IG Index is offering a spread of 4,466-4,486. But downward pressure on share [...]
Shares fall as Obama wages war on Wall Street January 22, 2010 PRESIDENT Barack Obama launched his biggest attack yet on the banking sector, revealing plans for the toughest overhaul of Wall Street since the Great Depression. “If these folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have,” Obama said, as he told retail banks they would no longer be able to take risky bets [...]
New rules would be bad for London January 21, 2010 HOW predictable. No sooner was Barack Obama humiliated by the Massachusetts electorate earlier this week – his left-wing candidate lost Ted Kennedy’s ultra safe seat to a radical conservative – than he announces another war on Wall Street. It is easy to forget in Britain, where Obama remains extraordinarily popular, that his administration is no [...]
OBAMA’S PLAN | HOW IT COULD HIT THE CITY’S BIGGEST PLAYERS January 21, 2010 RBS Has a hedge fund and prop trading desk. As it is majority owned by the government, taxpayers will be the biggest losers if it is forced to close down profitable businesses. HSBC Expected to be one of the least affected banks. While it has a large US presence, its investment banking business is geographically [...]
Agius: banks face tsunami of pressure January 21, 2010 BARCLAYS chairman Marcus Agius yesterday hinted that the firm’s annual bonus round next month will see it concede in part to the “tsunami” of pressure faced by bankers in the wake of the economic crisis. “The architecture of our pay round will be very different to anything we have seen before, in accordance with the [...]
Lending restrictions in China turn the screw on the miners January 20, 2010 TOP shares recorded a three-week closing low yesterday as more signs of fiscal tightening in China hurt commodity stocks. The FTSE 100 closed down 92.34 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 5,420.80 – the lowest closing level since December 31, 2009. It posted its biggest one-day fall in a month. The index is up 57 [...]
Banks to cut bonus payments January 19, 2010 CREDIT Suisse yesterday became the first bank to pass on the UK 50 per cent bonus tax to staff. The top 400 UK bankers at the Swiss Institution will see their bonuses cut by more than a third. There will also be a five per cent cut in the global bonus pool, applicable to any [...]
Banking bosses divided over Tory plans for sector reform January 19, 2010 BANKING bosses are divided over George Osborne’s plans to overhaul regulation of the industry, City A.M. has learned. The shadow chancellor met twelve banking bosses for lunch yesterday for what one source at the meeting described as a “full and frank” exchange of views. Those in attendance included HSBC chairman Stephen Green, Barclays chairman Marcus [...]
Credit Suisse: Barclays needs extra capital January 19, 2010 BARCLAYS may have to raise £17bn of fresh capital under new proposals put forward by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, analysts at Credit Suisse warned yesterday. Analyst Jonathan Pierce said Barclays equity tier one capital ratio – which currently stands at 9.6 per cent – could feasibly fall to around five per cent under [...]
Britain is not heading for a hung parliament January 19, 2010 LAST year was tough for the banking industry, but it’s interesting to see which brands fared better than others. The two graphs show the proportion of positive responses each brand received out of the total responses for the set. Graph 1 tracks the three that did relatively well: Barclays, HSBC and National Savings and Investments. [...]