Sir Bobby Charlton chats to insurers at Lloyd’s of London January 9, 2013 FORMER England and Manchester United footballer Sir Bobby Charlton was spotted in the City this week. The football legend was at the Lloyd’s of London building to announce the launch of a £1m research fund for global landmine charity Find a Better Way. Charlton set up the charity after a visit to Cambodia, with the [...]
Ex-HBOS staff charged over £35m of loans January 8, 2013 FORMER senior bankers at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) were yesterday charged with corruption over £35m of loans made while they were at the bank. Lynden Scourfield, 50, and Mark Dobson, 52 are among eight people accused of making the fraudulent business loans through a turnaround consultancy in exchange for “high-value gifts” between 2003 and [...]
Lords leader quits to return to business January 7, 2013 LORD Strathclyde, Leader of the House of Lords, resigned yesterday after 25 continuous years on the Conservative front bench. The hereditary peer, 52, said he took the surprise decision to quit the cabinet halfway through this parliament so he can pursue a second career in business before it is too late. “I started my life in [...]
Ex-Treasury minister Sassoon steps into a top role at Jardine January 3, 2013 FORMER Treasury minister Lord Sassoon has re-entered the private sector by taking a senior job at Asia-focused conglomerate Jardine Matheson. Sassoon will take up his new executive role, based in London, on 14 January. He is also being lined up to take board seats on the firm’s other listed companies, which include insurance group Jardine [...]
Markets fly but hangover feared January 2, 2013 MARKETS around the world rallied yesterday after the US agreed an eleventh-hour deal to limit fiscal cliff tax increases and spending cuts, giving equities a much needed boost. The deal averted sharp rises in income-tax for a majority of Americans, but failed to reach any conclusion over cutting the budget deficit, leading analysts to warn the [...]
The optimists come out to play for the first day of 2013 January 2, 2013 For those hardy souls returning to work yesterday after the Christmas break the financial markets provided some welcome and slightly unexpected cheer. Talks in the US aimed at averting a stalemate on the so-called fiscal cliff succeeded (just) and a bill that many Republicans dislike because it contains too few spending cuts passed through the [...]
UK firms look to more upbeat 2013 economy January 2, 2013 BUSINESS expects the UK’s bumpy economic ride to stabilise into growth during 2013, according to two surveys out this morning. Company directors are far more optimistic than 12 months ago, according to a poll from the Institute of Directors (IoD). The number of directors who thought 2013 would be better than 2012 surged ahead of [...]
Three trading resolutions for 2013 January 1, 2013 SUCCESSFUL traders constantly learn and try to improve. The New Year is a great time to reflect on how you could erase some of your bad trading habits, and here are some pearls of wisdom from three respected traders. RESEARCH DEEPLY There were periods of low volatility in 2012, making opportunities hard to find. As [...]
Ten top City of London givers December 20, 2012 MICHAEL SPENCER BROKING The Icap Charity Day celebrated its 20th anniversary this December, raising £11m for charities in the process. The annual pre-Christmas event is a celebrity-studded occasion on which all revenues and commissions from the world’s leading interdealer broker are donated. Chief executive Michael Spencer has played a major role in the success of [...]
Insurers count the cost of Superstorm Sandy December 20, 2012 Two British insurers this morning said they would take a combined hit of around $300m (£185m) from Superstorm Sandy. Insurer Amlin estimated its losses from Sandy at around £145m while rival Lancashire estimated a hit of between $40m and $60m, both companies said today. Yesterday, the Lloyd’s of London insurance market said that Sandy claims [...]