CITY MOVES Who’s switching jobs September 21, 2009 Matrix Corporate CapitalThe broking and corporate advisory firm has appointed Oliver Hoare as head of pan-European large cap equity sales. Hoare, who will begin with full coverage of the UK market and then roll out his team’s service to continental Europe, brings over 20 years of experience to the role. He was most recently at [...]
RBS IN SHARE ISSUE PLAN TO RAISE 4BN September 20, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland is considering a share issue of £3bn-£4bn to reduce the government’s stake in the bank. The move would be a last-ditch bid to avoid seeing the government’s stake rise above 70 per cent following participation in the Asset Protection Scheme (APS). It would also see RBS joining Lloyds in the scramble [...]
Long-term incentives no panacea for City September 20, 2009 SLOWLY but surely, the US and the European positions on regulating bonuses are becoming more similar. At the risk of courting unpopularity, it is therefore worth injecting a few facts into a discussion which to date has been characterised by hysteria and demagoguery rather than reason. It is true and deplorable that some bankers were [...]
LLOYDS’ TOXIC DEBT PLAN HIT September 17, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group’s hopes of avoiding participation in the government’s Asset Protection Scheme (APS) were dashed yesterday, as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said the bank did not have sufficient capital to spurn the facility. FSA officials, who have been stress testing the bank, have told Lloyds that the level of capital it would have [...]
Trade credit claims are falling September 17, 2009 Insurance claims by suppliers over non-payment for their goods and services have fallen for the first time in a year, according to key data. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said the number of trade credit insurance claims in the second quarter of 2009 was 5,661, a fall of one per cent from the 5,702 [...]
M&Ain focus in Credit Suisse’s buyer/seller list September 17, 2009 KRAFT’S bid last week for UK confectionary giant Cadbury will be the first of many buyout attempts, according to a Credit Suisse analyst. The analyst at the Swiss bank Richard Kersley yesterday sent out a table of companies that he believes are the most likely to buy a rival and of those companies that look [...]
Q & A September 16, 2009 Q.WHY HAS BARCLAYS SPUN OFF THESE ASSETS?A.According to Barclays finance director Chris Lucas, the sale will reduce the bank’s exposure to potential deterioration of the assets and give it access to “stable risk-adjusted returns for shareholders over time”. Q.DOES THE SALE REDUCE THE BANK’S RISK PROFILE?A.Not really. Although the bank will be less exposed to [...]
Investment guru heads for RBS role September 15, 2009 ROBERT Waugh, the renowned fund manager at ScottishWidows Investment Partnership, is leaving the firm. Waugh, who has managed the UK equity team at the Lloyds Banking Group insurer for the last six years, is thought to be joining Royal Bank of Scotland. When he took over the UK fund range in 2003 it had a [...]
HOW HURDLES CAN SAVE THE BONUS September 15, 2009 DAVID MARDLEHEAD OF EUROPEAN VENTURE CAPITAL, TAYLOR WESSING THE City’s “bonus culture” has come in for criticism since the onset of the credit crunch. Traditional models of share-based remuneration, while encouraging long-term growth, have lost much of their appeal in an era of shrinking corporate valuations. But skilled people still need to be paid well. [...]
Lehman Bros bondholders may be owed up to 44bn September 14, 2009 THE trustee holders of collapsed Lehman Brothers’ senior bonds said the debt holders may be owed as much as $73bn (£44bn), after losing their investments when the bank filed for bankruptcy protection a year ago, according to court documents. Wilmington Trust Company claims that holders of the senior debt of the failed bank are estimated [...]