Russia’s Tinkov sees London listing of TCS price at top end October 22, 2013 RUSSIAN entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov’s consumer credit firm TCS priced its London listing at the top of a target range yesterday, with shares gaining five per cent on debut as investors bet on its ability to capitalise on households’ growing appetite for debt. TCS Holding Group, owner of Tinkoff Credit Systems, has challenged state-controlled banks and [...]
Alternative finance could liberate UK SMEs if regulators lift the speed limit October 21, 2013 THE ARGUMENT about banks and the adequacy (or not) of their lending to small businesses has raged on for about four years. It is a length of time comparable with the duration of the First World War, and this is a depressingly appropriate comparison. For all the thousands of rhetorical shells fired by both sides [...]
Banks’ PPI crisis eases at last as complaints fall October 16, 2013 THE WORST of the payments protection insurance (PPI) crisis appears to be over for Britain’s banks as the City watchdog yesterday published numbers showing a fall in complaints. A total of 2.9m complaints were made in the first six months of 2013, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), down 500,000 on the previous six-month [...]
Financial services complaints fall by 500,000 in six months as Barclays receives over 370,000 October 16, 2013 Consumer complaints to the financial conduct authority (FCA) have dropped by 500,000 between the second half of 2012 and the first half of 2013. Ian McConnell, financial services partner at PwC, says that the fall is "encouraging" and shows "that the issues faced by the financial services industry are being dealt with." McConnell says the [...]
Russian credit card firm plans London listing October 3, 2013 RUSSIAN credit card supplier TCS Group yesterday became the latest overseas company to tap London’s burgeoning initial public offering (IPO) market with plans to raise up to $750m (£464m) in a float. TCS, which owns top three Russian credit card issuer Tinkoff Credit Systems, said it will use the cash to help boost its expanding [...]
Insolvency hits 12-month low as firms thrive September 29, 2013 BUSINESS insolvencies fell in August compared with the same month in 2012, marking 12 months of falling insolvency rates, according to data out today from credit information firm Experian. A total of 1,632 firms failed in the month, down on the 1,723 that failed in August 2012, and the 12th month in a row that [...]
BlackRock study highlights pain of QE for insurers September 25, 2013 A study by asset management firm BlackRock has found that uncertainty around Quantitative Easing (QE) is "hurting insurers' income streams and driving them into riskier assets". 73 per cent of insurers say that low yields are largest driver of change for industry, whilst 80 per cent say that change is needed to produce adequate shareholder [...]
Dealmaker of the year September 15, 2013 There’s been a lack of mergers and acquisitions so far this year but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some exciting deals for bankers to get a buzz from. From innovative rights issues to a resurgence of flotations, with a few traditional acquisitions and sales thrown in, the year has been a lively one for [...]
Artificially limiting rises in house prices will do more harm than good September 15, 2013 ECONOMISTS should be humbled by Friedrich Hayek’s famous plea: “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” If only government and central banks – and those who lobby them – realised how little good came from their proposed interventions, and how [...]
Bottom Line: Don’t get overexcited at the first signs of life September 8, 2013 THERE’S two ways to look at London’s initial public offering (IPO) market in light of the torrent of floats (about 15 at the last count) coming to market. One, that this is the natural release of pent up demand as market sentiment improves. Or two, that slightly frothy markets have got everyone a bit too [...]