Disorderly Grexit may hurt insurers’ ratings June 20, 2012 EUROPE’S insurance sector should be able to withstand a Greek exit from the euro, according to a new report from rating agency Fitch, provided that the exit is “orderly”. “Most major European insurers have negligible direct exposure to the sovereign debt of Greece – typically less than one per cent of shareholders’ equity,” Chris Waterman, [...]
Former Lloyds director to head Bank of Ireland June 20, 2012 BANK of Ireland announced yesterday that former Lloyds Banking Group executive Archie Kane is to be its next governor. Kane retired from Lloyds last year after holding the position of group executive director for insurance and Scotland. “Bank of Ireland has made a lot of progress in raising capital whilst remaining in private ownership,” he [...]
Greece hurt by transparency in bond markets June 18, 2012 INVESTORS are now better placed to identify risky government debt thanks to the growth in the sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) market, a new report has found. However, that has had a negative impact on debt-laden governments as investors find it easier to see when a state like Greece is struggling, according to the International [...]
Labrokes betting on success June 18, 2012 OVER the coming months, Ladbrokes will be looking for favourable odds. The UK’s largest betting company is likely to benefit from a year packed with international sporting events. A heavily criticised decision to walk away from acquiring 888 Holdings may be a gamble set to pay off. The stock is on an uptrend, so a [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 13, 2012 Kleinwort Benson Clive Wright has been appointed head of private wealth management offshore at the private bank. He will report to Stephen Rothwell, head of private wealth management. Wright joined in January 2012 from Deutsche Bank, where he was head of its private wealth management division. Credit Agricole Xavier Musca has been appointed executive vice [...]
Greeks cut off by ship insurer June 12, 2012 A SECOND major shipping insurer has stopped selling cover to Greek shipping firms, it emerged yesterday. French giant Coface has followed the world’s largest trade credit insurer Euler Hermes in suspending cover to the country’s exporters because of the risk of doing business in the debt-laden nation. Greek development minister Yiannos Stournaras has taken the unusual [...]
German banks hit by Moody’s downgrades June 6, 2012 MOODY’S downgraded seven German banks yesterday, including the country’s second-biggest lender Commerzbank, saying that they are holding risky assets equal to three times their capital base. The agency slashed credit ratings mostly for regional banks due to low earnings combined with large holdings of “vulnerable” assets. It highlighted exposure to global shipping, commercial real estate, [...]
Car insurers set to face inquiry over charges May 31, 2012 THE car insurance industry is set to be investigated by the competition watchdog after it used the cost of repairs and replacement vehicles to jack up premiums by £225m a year. Insurers compete in a “dysfunctional” manner, said the Office of Fair Trading, as it referred the sector to the Competition Commission. The OFT said [...]
S&P shifts insurers’ ratings rule May 31, 2012 Standard & Poor’s will change the way it assigns global ratings to insurers, in part to increase the consideration of country risk in the way a company is evaluated, the credit ratings agency said yesterday. The changes will apply to all insurance lines except bond and mortgage. In a statement, S&P analysts said the “significant [...]
Eurozone optimists are suffering from cognitive dissonance May 30, 2012 MY abiding memory of the credit crisis was the delusion that continued to grip the City and Wall Street long after it became apparent to objective observers that a terrible recession was about to begin. Most people kept their heads firmly in the sand when HSBC’s US sub-prime unit reported losses, for example, or when [...]