UK rate rise delay now expected by markets April 12, 2011 YESTERDAY’S drop in the consumer price index (CPI) inflation figure for March, from 4.4 to 4 per cent, surprised the markets. This sent sterling tumbling as expectations of a May rate rise evaporated. Weak retail figures compounded the gloomy outlook for the pound. Many traders seem to have been tipped off prior to the announcement, [...]
ITV CREWS CATCH BANKERS ON CAMERA FOR NEW LEGAL DRAMA April 11, 2011 LUNCHBREAKS for the employees of Bank of New York Mellon Asset Management will never be the same again, after ITV rolled into the firm’s neighbourhood last Thursday to film its new legal drama The Jury. The ITV camera crews have been filming on location just a stone’s throw from BNY Mellon’s Queen Victoria Street HQ [...]
Banks told to “ring fence” retail arms April 11, 2011 Top banks should shield their retail operations from riskier investment banking activities and hold more capital to protect taxpayers in the event of another financial crisis, a report said. Radical shake-up proposals outlined appear harshest for Lloyds Banking Group, which may be forced to sell hundreds more branches in addition to the 600 already on [...]
Boris favours ring-fencing of UK banks April 10, 2011 LONDON mayor Boris Johnson, a staunch defender of the City, has said that he supports a form of ring-fencing, or subsidiarisation, of banks’ activities to promote financial stability. The mayor was speaking a day before the publication of an interim report by the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), which will release its initial findings this [...]
ICB has to strike a difficult balance April 10, 2011 With such a broad mandate to recommend how to promote greater financial stability and competition within UK banking, the Independent Commission on Banking has a wide range of options to choose from. And while the level of concern within UK-based banks is understandable, it is important to remember that the paper is merely an interim [...]
WHY BICK’S CHILEAN MINOR HAS X APPEAL April 10, 2011 CHARLIE Bick, the teenage son of Square1 Consulting’s chairman David Bick, looks set to follow in the footsteps of fellow Old Harrovian James Blunt, as his appearances on the Chilean X Factor are winning him an army of female fans. Charlie, 19, entered Chile’s first X Factor contest after his host family in Santiago – [...]
Glencore to trade in London from 24 May April 7, 2011 Shares of global commodities trader Glencore International are set to start trading in London on May 24 and in Hong Kong on May 25, the Ming Pao newspaper reported. Glencore was expected to kick off its initial public offering in Hong Kong on May 13, the newspaper reported, citing market sources. The global commodities trader [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 6, 2011 SWIP William Low has been appointed as head of global equities at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership’s (SWIP) International Equities team. Low, who joins from a 15-year tenure as director and portfolio manager at Blackrock, will be based in SWIP’s Edinburgh office and will be responsible for driving the firm’s global equity strategy across a range [...]
COMING SOON TO AN OLD PUB NEAR YOU… A BRAND NEW WAITROSE April 5, 2011 WAITROSE wants to grow – but Britain seems strangely bereft of suitable sites for the grocer, which is fighting a bitter convenience store war with its bigger rivals. So a desperate Waitrose has launched a highly unorthodox appeal to landlords to help it out. All sites and all properties will be considered, says the grocer [...]
Nomos leads the Russian IPO charge April 5, 2011 THE charge of Russian companies looking to London to go public picked up yesterday, as mid-size bank Nomos confirmed plans to float 20 per cent of its stock and several more issuers eyed talks with investors. The easing of market volatility, which spiked last month on fears of a nuclear crisis in Japan and unrest [...]