New rules would be bad for London January 21, 2010 HOW predictable. No sooner was Barack Obama humiliated by the Massachusetts electorate earlier this week – his left-wing candidate lost Ted Kennedy’s ultra safe seat to a radical conservative – than he announces another war on Wall Street. It is easy to forget in Britain, where Obama remains extraordinarily popular, that his administration is no [...]
US banks reveal cost of repaying bailouts January 20, 2010 WALL Street’s major players revealed the full price of buying their way out of the US government bailout scheme yesterday. Bank of America joined Citigroup to see its bottom line pummeled after paying a hefty penalty to escape the $700bn state Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp) in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 20, 2010 Boylesports The Irish bookmaker has appointed Lee Richardson as its new chief executive. Richardson, who has a passion for restoring and driving classic cars in his spare time, joins from Canadian gaming software provider Chartwell Technology, where he led its licensing and marketing arm. He was also previously chief operating officer for Coral Eurobet, where [...]
US taxpayers cashing in on AIG bailout January 19, 2010 METLIFE is eyeing a $14bn (£8.56bn) bid for AIG’s American Life Insurance Co in a deal that could repay US taxpayers billions. The rescue of AIG has already reaped huge paper profits for the Federal Reserve and analysts say the sale could enable AIG to pay up to $9bn back into the public coffers. The [...]
Banking bosses divided over Tory plans for sector reform January 19, 2010 BANKING bosses are divided over George Osborne’s plans to overhaul regulation of the industry, City A.M. has learned. The shadow chancellor met twelve banking bosses for lunch yesterday for what one source at the meeting described as a “full and frank” exchange of views. Those in attendance included HSBC chairman Stephen Green, Barclays chairman Marcus [...]
Strong IBM result boosts tech shares January 19, 2010 US stocks rose broadly yesterday, lifting the Dow and the S&P 500 to fresh 15-month closing highs as investors bet a potential Republican victory in Massachusetts’ Senate race could stall Obama’s reform agenda. Wall Street also got a boost from technology shares, which rallied in anticipation of strong earnings from bellwether International Business Machines, which [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 18, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BUYOUTS AT 25-YEAR LOW DUE TO LACK OF CREDIT The number of private equity deals in the UK hit a 25-year low last year, as the credit crisis cut off the supply of cheap debt and dissuaded business owners from selling out. There were 117 private equity deals in 2009, fewer than half [...]
Virgin Money beefs up team for offensive January 18, 2010 Virgin Money has appointed three senior executives as part of its efforts to build a retail banking brand. Finlay Williamson, who was previously a finance director at Royal Bank of Scotland, becomes the group’s chief financial officer. Williamson takes the reins from Dave Dyer who is moving over to become international development director for the [...]
Top banks subpoenaed by regulator January 17, 2010 A LIST of top international banks has been subpoenaed by US regulators. Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital are all believed to have received subpoenas last month. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants to question them about the sale and marketing of synthetic collateralised debt obligations [...]
Obama’s tax risks new credit crunch January 14, 2010 IT is clear that Barack Obama’s latest scheme to tax the banks, just like Gordon Brown’s own super-tax, will go down well with the electorate. But both will do little to make the economy more stable and will hurt the very people they are meant to be helping. Obama wants a 0.15% annual levy on [...]