Stocks in London rise on end of US recession and miners October 29, 2009 BETTER-than-expected economic growth from the United States and gains in banks and miners pushed Britain’s leading share index 1.1 percent higher yesterday. The FTSE 100 closed up 57.30 points at 5,137.72, reversing earlier losses, as US data signalled the country had come out of recession. The index has gained 49 per cent since hitting a [...]
MetLife posts its third quarterly loss in a row October 29, 2009 METLIFE, the largest life insurer in the US, yesterday posted a quarterly loss, hurt by investment losses, some of which were tied to improvement in the company’s own credit spreads. The group’s operating results in the latest quarter matched Wall Street expectations and the results showed growth in sales across most of MetLife’s business operations, [...]
Money supply growth still disappointing October 29, 2009 WEAK growth in the broad money supply in September has raised further questions over the effectiveness of the Bank of England’s quantitative easing (QE) policy and raised the likelihood that the central bank may extend the programme further when it meets next week. Headline M4, the measure for money supply, grew by 0.8 per cent [...]
City Moves for 28 October 2009 | Who’s switching jobs October 27, 2009 GAMThe investment management firm has appointed Niall Gallagher as an investment director, effective from 2 November. Gallagher, who will be responsible for managing GAM’s European long-only equity strategies, previously managed pan-European and continental European equities at T. Rowe Price. He also formerly worked at BlackRock for nine years, having begun his career as an economist [...]
Osborne gets it wrong on cash bonuses October 26, 2009 AS bizarre policies go, the Tories’ latest thinking on bank bonuses takes some beating. For this year only, Britain’s commercial banks will not be allowed to pay more than a trivial bonus in cash – but they will be able to pay as many millions as they want in shares. The rule will only apply [...]
Secret French bank merger deal denied October 26, 2009 FRENCH bank Credit Agricole said it had no plans for talks on a merger with rival Société Générale and insurer Groupama, after reports that Agricole was studying such a deal. “Credit Agricole says it has not engaged Société Générale and Groupama in any talks and has no intention of doing so,” an Agricole spokeswoman said. [...]
Barclays seals deal to buy StanLife Bank October 26, 2009 BARCLAYS yesterday agreed to pay £226m for the banking division of Standard Life, allowing the Edinburgh-based life insurer to refocus on its core business. The relatively modest deal will add £5.5bn in deposits and 287,000 new accounts to Barclays’ massive base of 15m current account customers. The banking unit last year became a thorn in [...]
Home builder fears drag on Wall Street October 26, 2009 US stocks fell for a second straight session last night as investors ditched home builders and financials on fears that a federal home buyer tax credit might be phased out, while commodity shares succumbed to pressure from the higher US dollar. Trading was choppy. Stocks initially started on firmer footing, with indexes up more than [...]
PAY CUT FOR BOSSES OF JUST 1 PER CENT October 25, 2009 CHIEF executives of FTSE 100 companies saw their total pay cut by just 1.5 per cent over the past year to an average £3.3m despite cash bonuses falling by nearly a third, research released today shows. Income Data Services (IDS) found average bonuses for blue chip bosses remained above £500,000 even as corporate profits plunged [...]
Number of US banking failures surges through the 100 mark October 25, 2009 THE number of US banks going bust has passed 100 this year, the highest rate of failure in 17 years. The subprime crisis continues to wreak havoc, with US regulators shutting seven more banks over the weekend. Three banks in Florida alone were wound up bringing the total of failed lenders to 106 in 2009, [...]