AXA earnings quadruple on gains from asset sales August 4, 2011 AXA, Europe’s second-biggest insurer, said yesterday that first-half net income quadrupled, beating forecasts, helped by €1.44bn in one-off gains related to asset sales. AXA said its net income for the six-month period rose to €3.999bn from €944m in a year-ago period that was depressed by a €1.478bn exceptional loss. The net result, boosted by gains [...]
Haste goes out on a high as business he rebuilt turns in solid performance August 4, 2011 RSA’s outgoing chief executive Andy Haste will be well remembered as the man who turned the British insurance company’s fortunes around. After taking on the floundering insurer in 2003, when its market value stood at £1bn, his eight years at the helm have proved ultimately successful. Faced with huge losses, Haste was quick to make [...]
ENTREPRENEURS NEWS | IN BRIEF July 31, 2011 YOUNG PEOPLE WANT TO BE ENTREPRENEURS Eight in ten young people want to become entrepreneurs. Britain is brimming with future entrepreneurs, a new study into young people’s ambitions has concluded. According to the survey of 2,000 youngsters, commissioned to support the Ambition AXA Awards, more than three-quarters of 11 to 18-year-olds (77 per cent) say [...]
LEGAL EAGLE SETS THE PACE IN THE STANDARD CHARTERED CITY RACE July 17, 2011 CAN ANYBODY stop Emily Wicks of Punter Southall? Not content with fitting in extra study on top of her long-hours day job at the law firm, Wicks runs an average of 80 miles a week and represents Great Britain at cross country. So it was no surprise that the trainee actuary won this year’s Standard [...]
REVEALED: THE CITY’S BEHIND-THE-SCENES BOARDROOM LUNCHES July 11, 2011 THE DAYS of conspicuous client entertainment are over, as the City’s fattest cats rein in their largesse in the fallout of the financial crisis. Or are they? Just days after the Bribery Act came into force, The Capitalist hears business is booming for a high-end catering service recreating City restaurants in the boardrooms of investment [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 6, 2011 Brooks Macdonald Asset Management The independent private client investment manager with £2.8bn of funds under management has appointed Richard Harley as an intermediary sales manager. Harley previously worked for Hornbuckle Mitchell, where he specialised in SIPP, SSAS and retirement options; prior to that, he worked for Friends Provident as an adviser and AXA Sun Life [...]
Resolution to close offices July 5, 2011 Insurance takeover specialist Resolution is to close two offices, affecting 295 jobs, as it integrates the three acquisitions it has made since it launched in 2008. The offices in Basingstoke and Manchester will shut by the end of 2012 as part of Resolution’s efforts to consolidate Friends Provident, Axa’s UK life business, and niche life [...]
Norwegian SWF invests in Paris July 5, 2011 Norway’s $584bn sovereign wealth fund has agreed to buy prime Paris property worth about $1bn in its second major European real estate investment in less than a year, it said yesterday. The sovereign wealth fund, which invests oil and gas revenues for future Norwegians, said it would pay €702.5m to purchase 50 per cent of [...]
Call to end referral fees July 4, 2011 Credit rating agency Moody’s yesterday urged UK motor insurers to follow AXA UK’s lead and stop taking referral fees from car injury claims. Moody’s said it believes AXA’s stance on referral fees was good for the industry and increased pressure on its peers to follow suit. The fees have led to a surge in personal [...]
Barclays offloads private equity assets for £460m June 30, 2011 BRITISH lender Barclays has sold a €520m (£460m) portfolio of private equity fund investments to French firm Axa Private Equity. Led by Bob Diamond, the bank is seeking to sure up its capital position in the face of tough new regulation. The lender said the portfolio included investments in private equity funds as well as [...]