CITY VIEWS: DO YOU AGREE THAT THE GOVERNMENT’S PRORITY SHOULD BE REDUCING THE DEFICIT? May 25, 2010 GABRIELLE MCADAMS | WILLIS “I agree with the majority of the cuts so far and I agree that dealing with the deficit should be one of the top priorities, but the government shouldn’t jeopardise things like health and transport.” ZADE ALRIFAI | AXA “The government’s priority should be the economy but cutting the deficit at [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 25, 2010 Electra Private Equity Electra has appointed Colette Bowe as chairman after three years on the board. Bowe, an economist, began her career at the Department of Trade and Industry and then became chief executive of the Personal Investment Authority and chairman of European asset management at Robert Fleming. She is currently a board member at [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 9, 2010 KPMG The accountancy firm has appointed Alastair McLeish as UK head of tax and pensions, effective from 1 July. McLeish joined KPMG’s Birmingham office in 1994 and was subsequently appointed in 2003 as head of the pensions advisory group, which he has built up since to encompass over 350 staff and 20 partners. Former UK [...]
France’s Axa disappoints investors with sales at low end of expectations May 6, 2010 France’s AXA disappointed investors yesterday, unveiling first-quarter revenue growth that failed to match the upswing at a raft of US, Swiss and German rivals. Insurers on both sides of the Atlantic have seen investment income shoot up in the first quarter on the back of buoyant financial markets, and many have also boosted sales of [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS May 4, 2010 EXPENSIVE AND ATTRACTIVE TRUSTS Stockbroking firm Killik & Co yesterday listed three listed investment trusts that it finds expensive and three that look attractive from a discount perspective. The expensive trusts are Better Capital, Polar Capital Technology and 3i Infrastructure while Utilico Emerging Markets, Acorn Income Fund and BlackRock New Energy are attractive. In terms [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS April 27, 2010 FUND MANAGERS BREAK DOWN THE WALLS Convergence between traditional asset managers and hedge fund managers is still an emerging trend although it has accelerated following the crisis, according to a new study called Breaking Down the Walls conducted jointly by Bank of New York Mellon and Greenwich Associates. It found that 52 per cent of [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 26, 2010 PricewaterhouseCoopers Bridget Jackson has joined the accountancy firm as director of corporate sustainability, leading the firm’s internal environmental, community and corporate sustainability strategy. Jackson has over twenty years of experience in international business and strategy consulting. She joins from management consulting firm Accenture. She will report directly to managing partner Richard Collier-Keywood. Resolution The investment [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 25, 2010 Bluefin Insurance Services The Axa-owned broker has hired a senior property team from risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage Aon. Ed Brown is the first member of the team to join Bluefin. He was formerly a client manager at Aon and now becomes an executive director in Bluefin’s real estate division. He will soon be [...]
Axa buys $1.9bn private equity funds from BoA April 22, 2010 AXA Private Equity yesterday bought a $1.9bn (£1.2bn) portfolio of private equity funds from Bank of America, one of the industry’s biggest-ever deals and a sign of returning confidence after the crisis. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Vincent Gombault, Axa Private Equity managing director for funds of funds, said the current environment [...]
IMF plan: the wrong kind of reform April 21, 2010 IT is a quote that sums up the new cross-party consensus on London’s financial services industry. Reacting to proposals from the International Monetary Fund, which would hit all financial firms – including hedge funds and insurance companies, not just banks – with two very large new taxes, Alistair Darling had this to say: “The recognition [...]