Lloyds Bank raises £170m March 21, 2012 LLOYDS Banking Group has raised £170m through a new share issue as it looks to keep debtholders on its side. The money will be used to restart dividend payments on certain bonds, a practice that was suspended by the European Commission following the taxpayer bailout of the bank during the 2008 financial crisis. Lloyds, which [...]
FTSE buoyed by retailers as investors eye Budget March 21, 2012 THE FTSE 100 headed up in early trading as retailers regained some momentum while investors were turning their attention to the Chancellor’s budget speech. George Osborne is expected to rejig taxes while seeking to keep his austerity plan on track. However figures showing that that public sector net borrowing hit a record for February cast [...]
Banks and miners stall FTSE rally March 19, 2012 The FTSE 100 edged lower today as last week’s rally was ended by investors steering away from banking and energy stocks. Banks have led the market higher over recent sessions following a deal over Greek debt and improving market sentiment toward the stocks which have been hit by market volatility over the past year. They [...]
CITY CYCLISTS SHOW THEY CARE WITH OLYMPIAN CHARITY RIDE March 18, 2012 TEAMS from the City are signing up to CARE’s Gold Bike Ride supported by City A.M. on Saturday 23 June. The route will see cyclists ride a minimum of 65 miles and a maximum of 130 miles of the Olympic Road Race route a month before the nation’s competitors take to the saddle. A team [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 15, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES OSBORNE WEIGHS 50P TAX RATE CUT George Osborne is considering announcing a cut in the 50p top rate of income tax to 45p in his Budget next week, after the Liberal Democrats showed willingness to drop their resistance in return for a clampdown on tax avoidance by wealthy people. THOMAS COOK TURNS DOWN [...]
UBS slashes bonuses after a torrid year March 15, 2012 UBS slashed bonuses at its investment bank by nearly two-thirds after the rogue trading scandal which cost it SwFr1.8bn (£1.24bn). The total size of the bonus pool for investment bankers fell 60 per cent while Carsten Kengeter, the head of the division, waived his payout. Kengeter, who surprised some when he survived the top-level clear-out [...]
Greek bond yields remain highest in Eurozone March 12, 2012 Greece’s new bonds, issued following last week’s debt swap deal, have begun trading at high yields, suggesting that investors do not have confidence in the current rescue deal. Greece issued 20 new bonds to its investors on Monday, with early pricing showing bid yields ranged between 19.4 percent on the shortest duration debt maturing in [...]
Greece clinches vital debt deal March 8, 2012 THE VAST majority of private sector Greek bondholders agreed to take a massive writedown on their investments last night, opening the way for the second bailout to go ahead. Around 95 per cent of creditors said they will swap their holdings into a mixture of cash and long-term debt worth a fraction of the bonds’ face [...]
ING launches debt buyback to sell insurer March 8, 2012 ING has become the latest European bank to launch a buyback of its own debt in order to comply with EU regulations. The Dutch lender said it would tender an offer for €2.6bn (£2.2bn) of securities to prepare its insurance unit for a sale mandated by the European Commission on competition grounds. The bank needs [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 8, 2012 AFC Energy The developer of low-cost alkaline fuel cell technology has announced the appointment of Sir John Sunderland as non-executive director of the company. Sunderland has spent 40 years in leadership roles, best known as the former chief executive and later as chairman of Cadbury Schweppes. Currently Sunderland is a non-executive director of Barclays Bank, [...]