UKFI close to naming chair July 26, 2009 UK FINANCIAL Investments (UKFI) – the body which manages the government’s stakes in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland – will have a new chairman within weeks, sources said yesterday. The Treasury is leading the search for a candidate to chair UKFI and is believed to have placed Sir David Cooksey, a former [...]
Meet the deal-maker extraordinaire who hopes the crisis will end in 2010 July 26, 2009 It is hard to escape the feeling that Slaughter and May’s Nigel Boardman is ever so slightly bored. Given that he is London’s top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) lawyer, and that we are still in the midst of a bitter recession which has led to a dramatic reduction in deal-making, this is not exactly surprising. [...]
Lloyd’s of London review will focus on whether to launch new global markets July 21, 2009 LLOYD’S of London is considering launching a raft of new insurance markets around the world in its landmark strategic review. The move could capitalise on the near-failure of US rival AIG and boost the group’s global presence. Sean McGovern, the market’s general counsel who is heading up the review, one of the biggest in Lloyds’s [...]
Cable would carve up rescued lenders July 20, 2009 AS Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne was laying out his blueprint for regulatory reform, Liberal Democrat counterpart Vince Cable was proposing his own solutions to the financial crisis, including the break-up of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group. Speaking at the London Stock Exchange, Cable said: “The Lloyds-HBOS merger should be unscrambled … [...]
Sandler new candidate for Lloyds chair July 19, 2009 RON Sandler, the man parachuted in to Northern Rock by the government to turn the stricken mortage lender around, has emerged as a surprise candidate to succeed Sir Victor Blank as chairman of Lloyds Banking Group. The bank, which is 43 per cent owned by the taxpayer, has drawn up a shortlist of names for [...]
Miners, banks and oil groups emerge as stars of the index July 14, 2009 LONDON’S top share index closed up 0.9 per cent yesterday, led by miners, banks and oil producers as impressive corporate data from the United States outweighed mixed economic figures. The FTSE ended 35.55 points higher at 4,237.68, extending Monday’s 1.8 per cent gains. The index has risen more than 23 per cent since hitting a [...]
Calls for Lloyd’s of London to widen brokers’ access July 12, 2009 STUART Reid, boss of insurance broking giant Bluefin, has urged Lloyd’s of London to widen access for brokers to its insurance marketplace as part of its strategic review. Reid has said enabling all brokerages to do business with Lloyd’s syndicates, rather than a select group, would allow consumers and businesses around the world to get [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 9, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMESSTRATEGIC REVAMP FOR LLOYD’SLloyd’s of London has begun the biggest strategic review it has undertaken this decade in an attempt to ensure the more than 320-year-old insurance market does not fail in exploiting the gaps in the market thrown up by the financial crisis. The institution, which deals in insurance risks from all over the [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 8, 2009 Collins StewartThe investment banking group has appointed Simon Whittley as an intermediary sales manager to its wealth management division. Whittley will be responsible for increasing referral business from law firms, accountants, independent financial advisers and trust companies. He previously worked at Credit Suisse Private Bank, Arbuthnot Latham Investment Management and Close Wealth Management. HSBCAndrew Keen has [...]
SLICE OF OLD-BOY STYLE HITS CITY FINE WINING AND DINING CIRCUIT July 8, 2009 NOT so long ago, City types were busy bemoaning the lack of decent restaurants on their patch. But now, just weeks after the Galvin brothers announced they were opening a new pad near Spitalfields market, I hear there’s a new eatery coming to town, courtesy of Simon Parker Bowles, former brother-in-law to Camilla, Duchess of [...]