Spanish debt auctions revealed little about finances April 22, 2012 WHO ever said that debt auctions from Club Med countries were boring? Certainly nobody who follows the markets closely – these days, they are often the central economic event of a week. Take last week’s Spanish debt auctions, which ended up raising more questions than they answered. On Tuesday the precursor was an auction of 12 [...]
Insurers under fire over cost of policy changes April 15, 2012 INSURERS face a new threat to their profits after Which launched a campaign against the fees charged on car and home policies. The industry, parts of which paid out large sums last year following a string of natural disasters around the world, stands accused of charging “exorbitant fees” for simple changes to policies. Consumer group [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 15, 2012 Irwin Mitchell The UK solicitor firm has appointed Denny Payton as partner in its motor team. Payton has been a solicitor for over nineteen years and has extensive experience working for major insurers, corporate fleets and brokers. Her focus is on delivering outsourcing services to international clients. DLA Piper Prakash Paran has joined the law [...]
Capita snaps up Axa’s Bluefin benefits consultancy for £50m April 4, 2012 OUTSOURCING group Capita has bought an employee benefits business from insurance firm Axa for £50m on a cash-free and debt-free basis. Capita will take over Bluefin Corporate Consulting, which advises on pension enrolment and other employee benefits, while Axa will keep the Bluefin trading name and its insurance and wealth management arms. Axa said in [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 3, 2012 Post Office Virginia Holmes is joining the board of the Post Office as a non-executive director. Holmes has previously served as chief executive of AXA Investment Managers UK, and spent more than a decade with the Barclays Group, where she was ultimately managing director of Barclays Bank Trust Company. She currently sits on the board [...]
Resolution falls as breakup plan splits investors March 27, 2012 INVESTORS reacted badly to news that insurance firm Resolution plans to split itself in two, pushing shares in the FTSE 100 firm down by over five per cent. Resolution also shelved a promised £250m handout to shareholders because falling bond and stock prices had dented its finances. The developments signal a change in focus for the [...]
Resolution profit rises as it prepares split March 27, 2012 Insurer Resolution reported better-than-expected 2011 profit, helped by a one-off boost from outsourcing, and said it was working on a plan to split itself into two to make itself more attractive to investors. Resolution, created in 2008 to buy underperforming life insurers and merge them into a more profitable whole, made an operating profit of [...]
HSBC mulls a new asset sale to lift returns March 26, 2012 HSBC has begun talks about offloading its Mauritius retail banking and wealth management division as it continues to target better investor returns. The bank is believed to have received three approaches for the arm, the origins of which go back to the middle of the nineteenth century. Yesterday HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, confirmed it was [...]
Direct Line Group set to name Biggs as chairman March 20, 2012 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) has offered the role of chairman at Direct Line Group, its insurance unit, to Mike Biggs, a former finance director at Aviva. It is understood that Biggs has not yet formally accepted the job but he will be tempted by the chance to lead a firm that is set to [...]
Smarter choices on tax should be agreed on by all March 14, 2012 THE debate between the Occupy movement and its City neighbours was never clarified, but essentially was about bigger or smaller government. Not surprisingly those receiving benefits but not paying tax want more of both, while those paying the bills want less. Close proximity sadly did little to diminish the caricatures of greedy banker and welfare [...]