GOVERNANCE TRAINSPOTTERS GET KNICKERS IN A TWIST OVER FLINT September 27, 2010 IT’S been a tiring week for HSBC, which is currently juggling the handling of a full-scale management game of musical chairs, the fallout from its leaky succession-planning AND a band of disgruntled sticklers for corporate governance among its shareholder base. So it’ll come as a welcome surprise for the bank to learn that a conservative [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 27, 2010 London Stock Exchange The exchange has named Paolo Scaroni (pictured), the chief executive of Italian oil and gas group Eni and one of its non-executive directors, as its new deputy chairman. The LSE also said Massimo Tononi has joined the board as a non-executive director. Tononi was a partner at Goldman Sachs until July this [...]
The Square Mile’s retail revolution September 27, 2010 IN the thrust and frenzy of City life, it’s crucial to have somewhere you can take yourself for a bit of quiet repose, if only while you wolf down a sandwich at lunchtime. Problem is, such spaces are rather thin on the ground in the Square Mile – but in a month’s time, one of [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 26, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES GOLD SALES AT EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANKS DRAW TO HALT Europe’s central banks have all but halted sales of their gold reserves, ending a run of large disposals each year for more than a decade. The central banks of the eurozone plus Sweden and Switzerland are bound by the Central Bank Gold Agreement, which [...]
Coup at HSBC September 23, 2010 HSBC CHIEF executive Michael Geoghegan is set to step down from his role before the end of the year to make way for investment banker Stuart Gulliver, after a boardroom coup that will rock the banking sector. Geoghegan’s ego will be dealt a further blow with the appointment of HSBC’s finance director Douglas Flint as [...]
HSBC’s spectacular boardroom row September 23, 2010 BIG companies need to get their PR in order. BP’s reaction to its oil spill was all over the place at first, with its CEO Tony Hayward repeatedly putting his foot in it; the Prudential failed to communicate adequately to the media and shareholders during its hopelessly mismanaged bid for AIA. Now, disappointingly, it is [...]
FTSE 100 gets a US boost to close at a four-month high September 20, 2010 Britain’s leading share index extended early gains to close strongly yesterday, after US market bulls helped London to its highest close since late April. The FTSE 100 closed up 94.09 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 5,602.54, more than reversing the 0.6 per cent decline in Friday’s session after risk appetite made a strong return. [...]
Unilateral rule making will harm City September 20, 2010 PERCHED at a regulatory crossroads, the government is on the verge of decisions that will shape the UK economy’s competitiveness for generations to come. That much was clear from the opening day of the City Week financial services forum yesterday, where financial services doyens united in a call to policymakers to think long and hard [...]
Brit recommends CVC and Apollo bid September 19, 2010 BRIT Insurance has recommended shareholders accept an £850m offer after buyout firm CVC Capital Partners on Friday agreed to link up with original bidder Apollo Management. Lloyd’s of London insurers, which offer cover against large-scale risks such as natural disasters, have emerged as potential takeover targets because cyclically low insurance prices have weighed heavily on [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS September 16, 2010 HALF OF WOMEN WITHOUT A PENSION Almost half of all British women of working age do not have any pension provision, a study conducted by Baring Asset Management showed earlier this week. The total number of women who have yet to retire without a pension is increasing year-on-year. Equally shocking, a fifth of all working [...]