World Cup is insured for over £6.2bn June 7, 2010 WHILE football fans across the world prepare for the elation and heart-break of the World Cup, insurers are ready for an even higher-stakes tournament. The month-long finals have been insured for £6.2bn according to Lloyds of London, the world’s biggest insurance market. The vast sum is made up of thousands of policies taken out by [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 7, 2010 Barclays Wealth. The wealth manager has appointed Aaron Gurwitz as chief investment officer and head of research, economics and strategy and Kevin Gardiner as head of global investment strategy. Gurwitz, pictured, joined the firm in 2008 as part of the Lehman Brothers acquisition, having previously worked for PIM and Goldman Sachs. Gardiner joined last year [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 6, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CROP SQUEEZE TO LIFT ORANGE JUICE PRICE The price of orange juice will rise in coming months as Brazil’s citrus crop, the world’s largest, sees its worst harvest in seven years because of bad weather and diseases, according to Cutrale of Brazil, the leading orange juice producer. Orange juice is a $20bn industry [...]
Greek economy kept afloat by shipping trade June 6, 2010 MANY of the headlines about the UK and Greek economies have, perhaps understandably, painted a bleak picture of harsh financial realities in both countries. Clearly the UK Government and the Greek administration face a period of painful fiscal tightening as they balance the books and reassure international investors. Therefore, in this challenging period, the top [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 3, 2010 Financial times TNK-BP STEP UP SALE OF GAS FIELD TNK-BP, BP’s Russian joint oil venture, ratcheted up the pressure for a sale of its vast Kovykta gas field on Thursday, announcing that it was pushing the unit that owns the licence to the field into bankruptcy. The move raises the stakes over the future of [...]
Choosing the right lender is crucial in a tough market June 3, 2010 HOUSES are selling like hotcakes thanks to fierce competition among buyers. The latest monthly survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showed that houses are shifting quicker than new ones could come on to the market, despite the number of new sellers increasing. Even the dreaded gazumping is back. In such a market, [...]
The grocer who says this year will test retailers as well as shoppers May 31, 2010 Much like the rest of the country, the chief executive of the country’s third largest supermarket group is trying to make up his mind about the coalition government. At the start of the election campaign Sainsbury’s boss Justin King was one of many who backed Tory plans to scrap national insurance hikes for employers, a [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 31, 2010 Sainsbury’s Finance The supermarket personal finance business yesterday said interim chief executive David Fisher has been appointed as its new permanent chief. Fisher, who has been in the interim role for five months, joined the group in January from Lloyds Banking Group, where he was group HR director for HBOS. He spent a total of [...]
Lloyd’s firms launch BP legal action May 26, 2010 BP’S woes worsened yesterday when syndicates in the Lloyds of London insurance market launched legal action to stop the oil giant claiming against its Gulf of Mexico spill. The FTSE 100 oil major is trying to claim up to $700m (£487m) for cleanup costs and damage lawsuits resulting from the crude haemorrhaged by its Deepwater [...]
BP May 26, 2010 LLOYD’S of London syndicates are taking BP to court to stop it from claiming on cover held by rig operator Transocean. But the oil spill is a drop in the ocean compared to other disasters. This year is set to be a relatively quiet year for the insurance market. These syndicates are only launching legal [...]