C&W reveals 60m AXA deal December 2, 2009 Cable and Wireless Worldwide yesterday announced a six-year, £60m telephony transformation contract to take on the management of the entire AXA UK telephony estate. The estate, which spans 30 sites around the UK, encompasses 3,000 telephone agents and 12,000 users in total. Cable and Wireless said the deal would enable AXA to deliver an improved, [...]
Xenophobic energy sales patter is a load of hot air November 25, 2009 BRITISH Gas was this week attempting to make a virtue of accuracy in its billing systems with a series of newspaper advertisements as it attempts to lure new customers with the promise of scrapping estimated monthly bills in favour of a new, more transparent system. Ironic then that just hours before the launch at least [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 12, 2009 Daiwa SecuritiesThe investment banking group has appointed Masami Tada as its new chairman and chief executive for Europe and the Middle East. Tada joined the group in 1978 and has held a number of prominent roles in both Japan and Europe, most recently at the financial consulting and investment advisory arm, Daiwa Fund Consulting. The [...]
THE LONDON REPORT November 9, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index hit its highest closing level in more than two weeks yesterday as the G20’s pledge to keep stimulus in place bolstered investors’ risk appetite, with miners and oil stocks leading the charge. The FTSE 100 closed up 92.46 points, or 1.8 per cent, at 5,235.18, the highest close since 23 October, [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 9, 2009 SVG Investment ManagersAdam Steiner has been promoted to chief executive of the investment management firm from his previous position as head of research. Steiner replaces Tony Dalwood, who formerly co-founded the firm’s public equities team with him in 2002 and has now been appointed as chief executive of SVG Advisers and chairman of the SVG [...]
DOW SURGES TO THIRTEEN MONTH HIGH November 9, 2009 GLOBALmarkets rallied yesterday after investors were buoyed by an improving global economy, as gold surged and the dollar weakened. A broad rally in the US sent the Dow to its highest close in thirteen months, after the Group of 20 ministers in Scotland pledged to keep interest rates low throughout the major world economies at [...]
Axa Asia arm shuns a 6bn break up bid November 9, 2009 AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (Axa APH) yesterday rejected an A$11bn (£6.1bn) break-up bid from Australian wealth management firm AMP and its parent company Axa, frustrating the French insurer’s hopes of aggressively increasing its footprint in Asia. The news came as Axa, chaired by Henri de Castries, said it plans to raise €2bn (£1.8bn) in a [...]
Axa to launch 2bn cash call November 8, 2009 Insurance giant AXA is plotting a €2bn (£1.8bn) rights issue to fund potential acquisitions. It is believed that bankers BNP Paribas and HSBC have been hired to work on the capital raising. Earlier this year Axa’s senior management said that the company did not need to tap shareholders for money – but the fresh equity [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 25, 2009 AvivaThe insurer has appointed Patrick Regan as its new chief financial officer, effective from February next year. Regan is currently group chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Willis Group Holdings, the insurance broker. He has also previously held positions within the industry as group financial controller at RSA and as finance and claims [...]
Axa looks to offload its stake in Chinese Taikang Life arm October 22, 2009 FRENCH insurer AXA has started the ball rolling on a Chinese asset sale that could raise as much as $1bn (£604m). Axa will sell the 15.6 per cent Taikang Life Insurance Company stake it took on when it bought Swiss group Winterthur in 2006. The group has enlisted US investment bank Morgan Stanley to advise [...]