Insurers agree to stop sharing prices January 13, 2011 SEVEN insurance groups including Aviva and Axa Insurance UK agreed to stop sharing motor policy pricing data using an Experian tool after the UK regulator said it could limit competition. The tool, Whatif? Private Motor, allowed insurers to access the pricing information supplied by competitors to brokers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said in [...]
AXA fund raises €350m to finance property loans January 4, 2011 REAL estate asset manager Axa Real Estate has raised €350m (£300m) in the first close of its commercial property debt fund to take advantage of the shortage of bank loans to the sector. The firm is targeting a final level of €1bn for the fund, to add to €1.15bn in existing commitments it has gained [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 3, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CHINA TRAVEL GROUP PULLS OUT OF AIM Et-China.com International Holdings, the Chinese travel specialist, will today become the first company to quit Aim this year. Shares in the company, which raised £4.4m at 127p a share when it joined Aim in August 2007, were suspended at 103 1/2p in July because of its [...]
The City is back but under new management December 21, 2010 BRITAIN’S financial landscape has been transformed since we last shone a light on the City’s most powerful figures two years ago. The City A.M./CityJet Power Hundred 2011 list ranks the most influential figures in UK finance as we head into the new year. It should be no surprise that it is very different from 2009. [...]
KKR’s £1bn bid for Perpetual is called off December 20, 2010 AUSTRALIAN wealth manager Perpetual has called off talks with private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts over a $1.7bn (£1.09bn) takeover saying the approach undervalued the company, knocking its shares down by nearly 15 per cent. KKR made an indicative bid of A$38 to A$40 per Perpetual share in October, eyeing a slice of the $1.2 [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 16, 2010 Bluefin Wealth Management Bluefin Wealth Management, a subsidiary of AXA, has appointed two new financial planners in its London office. Geoffrey Winchester (pictured) joins the firm from St James’s Place Wealth Management, where he was consulting on wealth management and has previously worked at Edward Jones and HSBC as a stockbroker. Paul Bradley joins Bluefin [...]
CREDIT SUISSE December 13, 2010 James Leigh-Pemberton, 54, is managing director and chief executive of Credit Suisse UK, a role he took over in July 2008. He is responsible for developing the bank’s client relationships in private banking, investment banking and asset management in the UK. He also serves as a member of the firm’s Europe Middle East and Africa [...]
Hit the powder, not your wallet this ski season December 2, 2010 AA THE snow settles in London and the transport system goes into an adolescent sulk, many of us have started thinking about places where the white stuff is more welcome. With many resorts reporting bumper snowfalls, it is beginning to look like yet another excellent ski season for the Alps. Time to get out the [...]
Munich Re is exposed to €2.4bn of Irish bonds November 29, 2010 Munich Re is exposed to €2.4bn (£2bn) of Irish government bonds – around 1.2 per cent of its total non-linked assets (see chart above). However, exposure to the Irish crisis is not as bad as some feared, according to data from Nomura. Munich Re’s exposure is double the next most exposed insurer, ZFS, which has [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS November 29, 2010 RESOLUTION JP Morgan has started coverage of the insurance group with an “underweight” rating and a target price of 254p. The broker believes the firm’s main strength is its excess capital that allows it to make purchases without equity financing, but adds that a share buyback would be more productive. It sees the earnings potential [...]