BNP Paribas books 45pc rise in profit November 5, 2009 INVESTMENT banking and acquisitions helped France’s BNP Paribas to beat forecasts with higher third-quarter profits, but it was silent about whether it may buy parts of ailing British banks. Assets bought by BNP?from Fortis boosted the eurozone’s second-largest bank after Spain’s Santander, as well as taking investment banking and wealth management market share from rivals [...]
Quintain Estates joins rivals in property cash call frenzy November 5, 2009 PROPERTY developer Quintain Estates yesterday unveiled a fully underwritten £191.2m cash call to reduce its debt pile and fund construction projects. Quintain said the three-for-one rights issue of 390m shares would be priced at 49p – a 72 per cent discount to Wednesday’s closing price. The group said the net proceeds would be £183.5m after [...]
FINANCIAL TIMES November 5, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES LULA CALLS ON LEADERS TO ATTEND CLIMATE TALKSBrazil’s president has challenged other world leaders to attend next month’s climate talks in Copenhagen to break the deadlock in negotiations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the Financial Times he would speak to Barack Obama, US president, next week to [...]
Barclays bank staff revamp gathers pace November 5, 2009 FORMER Citigroup banker Tom King – due to join Barclays Capital next month – is set to become head of investment banking for Europe, the MiddleEast, and Africa. In the latest move in Barclays’ recent management shake-up, King will report to Barclays Capital’s head of global investment banking, Hugh “Skip” McGee. The role is currently [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 5, 2009 Association of British InsurersThe ABI has appointed Kerrie Kelly, currently chief executive of the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), as its new director general, effective from next February. Kelly has led the ICA since 2006, having formerly been CEO of the country’s Financial Planning Association. She is currently a non-executive director at HSBC in Australia, [...]
The City lawyer who argues that banking has become even riskier November 4, 2009 T o David Morley, the phrase “it is better to travel than to arrive” must sound pretty strange, an expression invented only for those unfortunate souls who have not learnt to move at speed. For Morley, who joined top law firm Allen & Overy in 1980 and has led it as senior partner since last [...]
THE LONDON REPORT November 4, 2009 LONDON’S leading shares ended 1.4 per cent higher yesterday, boosted by a rebound from miners and banks, with retailers Next and Marks & Spencer also higher after posting forecast-beating figures. At the close, the FTSE 100 was up 70.68 points at 5,107.89, recouping all of Tuesday’s losses when the index fell 1.3 per cent to [...]
Why insider trading is hard to prove November 3, 2009 LAST month, the FBI smashed an alleged $20m insider trading scheme centring on the New York hedge fund Galleon, when they raided its offices and arrested billionaire financier Raj Rajaratnam and five accused accomplices. In the wake of criticism of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in this country over its percveived toothlessness, the regulator is [...]
Banking shake-up gives the markets a case of the jitters November 3, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index fell to its lowest closing level in a month yesterday, led down by banks after shake-ups at Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds and poor results from Swiss peer UBS The FTSE 100 closed 67.29 points or 1.3 per cent weaker at 5,037.21, having surrendered the 5,000 level for the first [...]
How brand perceptions differ across the pond November 3, 2009 HOW different are British and American perceptions of the same brands? We took a quick look at the BrandIndex UK and US scores of three pairs of brands. Not surprisingly, American Airlines did better in America (average for the last year, plus 14) than in the UK (plus 6), and British Airways did better in [...]