New Zealand quake payout may top $6bn February 22, 2011 LONDON insurers were facing the prospect of further large losses yesterday after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake devastated New Zealand’s largest south island city Christchurch. The quake, the country’s worst natural disaster in 80 years, struck the busy business district at lunchtime leaving hundreds trapped by fallen buildings and at least 75 dead. Sources close to [...]
Lloyds must pay £500m in refunds February 21, 2011 BRITISH bank Lloyds will take a £500m provision after reaching a deal with the Financial Services Authority which will see it give partial refunds to 300,000 mortgage customers. Lloyds, the UK’s biggest retail bank, said it had reached a voluntary agreement with the FSA over initiating a customer review and contact programme with regard to [...]
Worries over banks and oil weigh on FTSE February 21, 2011 Nervousness over oil supply as violent crackdowns on protests in Libya continued combined with worries over banks’ liquidity to keep the FTSE in the red today. The FTSE 100 declined from about 9:00am and it finished 1.12 per cent down at 6,014.8. “Only a handful of blue-chips registered a positive change for the day – [...]
Agius: 50p tax makes it harder to keep talent in London February 15, 2011 THE 50p top tax rate makes it harder to retain talent in London, Barclays chairman Marcus Agius told City A.M. yesterday. He also said the bank’s “regretted losses” – staff that it has lost despite efforts to prevent them leaving – have risen, adding: “Competition for talent is fierce.” UK banks face a particularly difficult struggle to [...]
Lloyd’s insurer Jubilee reviews growth options February 15, 2011 Lloyd’s of London insurer Jubilee Group became the focus of M&A speculation yesterday after admitting it had appointed Jardine Lloyd Thompson Advisory to review its business. A Jubilee spokesman said JLT was “looking at a number of options to facilitate future growth.” He would not comment on speculation that a number of firms, including independent [...]
Broker team buys its way out of Brewin February 15, 2011 THE CORPORATE advisory and broking team of financial services group Brewin Dolphin has bought its way out of the company to set up a new firm. The asset manager agreed to sell the unit, which sees the departure of 55 professionals, in a deal worth £5m. The team has now established a joint venture with [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 15, 2011 Barclays Sally Bott has joined the bank as group human resources director and member of the executive committee. Bott will start her role in April, replacing Cathy Turner. She joins from BP, where she was HR director, and has also recently served as a non-exec board member at UBS. Before this, she was managing director [...]
Commodities dent FTSE 100 despite strong banking stocks February 15, 2011 BRITAIN’S s top share index closed lower yesterday as strength in banking stocks, inspired by forecast-busting results from Barclays, was outweighed by a broad retreat in the mining sector on commodity price wobbles. The FTSE 100 index closed down 23.01 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 6,037.08. The FTSE 250, FTSE 350 and AIM 100 [...]
Advisers line up for the biggest deal in town February 14, 2011 WHEN you’re trying to build up a franchise in mergers and acquisitions, there’s nothing better than being signed up to work on one of the biggest deals in town. So naturally Barclays Capital and RBC Capital Markets were as pleased as punch to be advising the London Stock Exchange on its £4.3bn merger with Canada’s [...]
Insurer JLT to shun City skyscrapers February 13, 2011 INSURANCE broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson is close to signing for office space in a new development at 80 Fenchurch Street, industry sources have told City A.M. The insurance firm, which is currently based at 6 Crutched Friars, had been linked with flagship City towers including the Cheesegrater, but is now understood to have ruled out [...]