FTSE resilient despite Greek deal fears March 7, 2012 The FTSE 100 proved resilient this morning as strong corporate results shored up the index despite falls on other markets across the globe. European shares overall steadied after two straight days of losses as investors braced for news on whether Greece would succeed in restructuring its huge debt pile. The Greek bond swap deal must [...]
HSBC sells insurance business for £518m March 7, 2012 HSBC has agreed to sell its general insurance businesses to French insurer AXA Group and Australia’s QBE Insurance Group for £581m in cash, as Europe’s biggest bank moves ahead with its plan to divest non-core assets. The deal, the latest in a series of cost cutting initiatives under new HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver, includes 10-year [...]
HSBC near sale of its insurance arm to rivals for £1bn February 29, 2012 HSBC is about to complete a £1bn deal to sell its general insurance arm to rivals AXA and QBE, according to reports. Under the deal French insurance giant AXA would take over HSBC’s business in Mexico and Asia, excluding Hong Kong. Australian firm QBE would then take over the Hang Seng operation in Hong Kong [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 26, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES WELLS FARGO EYES EUROPEAN BANK ASSETS TO POWER EXPANSION PLANS Wells Fargo plans to increase the size of its wealth management and insurance divisions through acquisitions as well as buying more assets from shrinking European banks, its chief executive says. John Stumpf, whose bank’s market capitalisation is bigger than that of any other [...]
Terrier(ble) returns hound many funds February 22, 2012 Bestinvest throws a spaniel in the works – revealing once again the managers chasing their own tail INVESTING in stock markets has been challenging for investors, with so many ways to access various investments. Fund groups and brokers are also continuously promoting new fund launches, providing a wide array of choice, but this often means [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 20, 2012 Rowanmoor Pensions Rowanmoor Pensions, the independent small self-administered scheme provider and self-invested personal pensions operator, has appointed Martin Stead as a regulated consultant in its consultancy team. Stead joins from AXA Wealth, where he was a financial planning manager in the company’s Bancassurance division. Prior to AXA Wealth, Stead was a corporate relationship manager at [...]
AXA income up 50pc due to disposals February 16, 2012 AXA, Europe’s second-biggest insurer, yesterday announced that full-year 2011 net income rose by 49 per cent, mainly due to asset sales. Earnings rose to €4.32bn (£3.58bn) last year, assisted by €2.3bn of income from the sale of its stake in Chinese insurer Taikang Life and other disposals in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Total revenue [...]
Cameron calls on insurers to cut premiums February 13, 2012 DAVID Cameron will today announce plans to reduce insurance premiums by cutting red tape, reducing legal bills and tackling the high number of spurious claims. Proposals include a plan to reduce the number of whiplash claims by enforcing a higher evidence threshold for injuries and cutting the £1,200 fee that lawyers can earn for small [...]
France and Belgium end shorting ban February 13, 2012 REGULATORS in France and Belgium have finally lifted the bans on the short-selling of certain financial stocks, six months after they were introduced as markets plunged on Eurozone debt fears. The separate decisions, by French watchdog AMF and Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), come after a boost to market sentiment and are expected [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 7, 2012 Qatar Financial Centre Authority Bob Wigley, chairman of Yell Group and former chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East and Africa, has been appointed as a non-executive director of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority. In the new role, Wigley, who was appointed as an ambassador for UK business by David Cameron in 2011, will promote [...]