UK banks face another mis-selling scandal August 21, 2013 The Financial Conduct Authority is preparing to set out a compensation scheme for consumers who bought identity theft and credit card protection from York-based life assistance company CPP, Sky News was first to report. British banks will again be hit by a mis-selling scandal, which could see them lose up to £1.5bn. Around a dozen [...]
City Moves for 21 August 2013 | Who’s switching jobs August 20, 2013 DUAL The underwriting arm of Hyperion Insurance Group has announced the appointment of Damian Crowe as a senior underwriter in its financial institutions division. Crowe was most recently at Chartis UK, where he was a senior underwriter in its financial lines division. Prior to that, he was a broker at FirstCity Partnership. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 20 August 2013 August 19, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES US top trade official presses Japan The top US trade official Michael Froman pressed Japan to open up its car and insurance markets as transpacific trade talks reach a critical stage, with negotiators trying to seal a deal by the end of the year. Race for Africa investment tax deals The surge in [...]
CVC carries on spending with €600m buy August 19, 2013 CVC CAPITAL Partners, one of the world’s biggest private equity firms, yesterday said it had snapped up a controlling stake in online payment system Skrill for €600m (£511m), its second buy of the week. It will buy the stake from Bahrain-based alternative investor Investcorp, which originally backed Skrill in March 2007 with €25m. The deal [...]
UK life insurance market falls August 19, 2013 Britons shunned life insurance following the credit crunch, according to a report out today. Gross written premiums in the UK’s life insurance category fell by 57 per cent between 2007 and 2012, according to a new report by data provider Timetric. Despite regaining momentum in 2012, the report finds that the sector will grow by [...]
City Moves for 14 August 2013 | Who’s switching jobs August 13, 2013 Aviva Investors The asset management business has announced the appointment of Sunita Kara as portfolio manager for European high yield. Kara has over 14 years’ experience in the investment industry. She was most recently at Baring Asset Management, where she was global high yield portfolio manager. Prior to that, she was a senior credit analyst [...]
British insurer Resolution posts better-than-expected results on strong UK growth August 13, 2013 UK life insurance company Resolution Limited has announced it made a pre-tax operating profit of £191m (£182m expected by Credit Suisse analysts) and operating earnings per share of 13.26p in the first half of the year, up 17 per cent from the same period the year before (release). The company said the value of new [...]
Former RBS chief executive gives blessing to successor Ross McEwan August 2, 2013 The Royal Bank of Scotland has formally announced the appointment of Ross McEwan to the position of chief executive alongside its half yearly results including a pre-tax profit of £1.4bn (full results). McEwan, head of RBS’s retail arm, will begin working from 1 October 2013. Chairman Philip Hampton said he has already become a “champion” [...]
CPP secures £36m lifeline deal July 31, 2013 York-based credit card insurer CPP, which sells card protection on behalf of major lenders such as HSBC, yesterday agreed a new refinancing package which will secure its future. CPP, which was fined £10.5m by the Financial Services Authority last year for “widespread” mis-selling, has secured a £13m credit facility from its lenders, expiring in July [...]
Hamstringing banks with higher capital requirements will not stop the next crisis July 30, 2013 GREAT fallacies periodically grip the British establishment and cause enormous harm to the economy. The last big one was the obsession with joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism at the end of the 1980s. Now we have the regulative fallacy. The great and the good are in its grip. They identified banks and excessive debt [...]