French bounce keeps Eurozone growth on track March 24, 2014 FRENCH firms have reported an unexpected burst of growth this month, while German companies suggested a slowdown in Europe’s powerhouse economy’s expansion. Purchasing managers’ indexes (PMI) from data firm Markit indicate that growth in the Eurozone is broadly unchanged from February: the headline PMI figure was down 0.1 points to 53.2 in March, marginally above [...]
If your assets are stuck in frozen exchange Vircurex, then Dogecoin may be the answer March 24, 2014 Vircurex is the latest Bitcoin exchange to struggle with insolvency, freezing Bitcoin and Litecoin accounts. The exchange has lost vast numbers of Bitcoin, and all incoming deposits will not be credited to users accounts "for the time being", according to an official statement. If this sounds familiar, it's because the news from Beijing based Vircurex [...]
City Moves for 21 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 20, 2014 Baker & McKenzie The law firm has announced the appointment of Steven Francis as a partner in its financial services group. He specialises in Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) enforcement work, non-contentious FCA compliance advice, financial crime, and corporate compliance issues. Francis was most recently at RPC, where he was a partner and head of its financial services and [...]
City Moves for 06 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 5, 2014 BNP Paribas The investment bank has appointed Stephanie Sfakianos as head of sustainable capital markets for fixed income. She was most recently its head of liability management, having joined the bank in 2002. Sfakianos previously held fixed income roles at Deutsche Bank and HSBC. Allen & Overy The law firm has hired Karan Dinamani as a partner [...]
CEO of disappearing Bitcoin exchange assures users he’s “still in Japan” February 26, 2014 After the highly popular Bitcoin exchange disappeared entirely yesterday, CEO Mark Karpeles has put an announcement on MtGox's site to "reassure everyone that I am still in Japan". Karpeles says that he is "working very hard with the support of different parties to find a solution to our recent issues." The Bitcoin exchange is alleged [...]
City Moves for 26 February 2014 | Who’s switching jobs February 25, 2014 Menzies Business Recovery The recovery and insolvency arm of Menzies has hired David Thurgood as a director. He joins from Grant Thornton, where he spent 30 years working on receiverships, administrations and liquidations. Aldermore Bank The bank has appointed Stuart Williams as a property development manager. He was most recently at Bridgebank Capital, where he [...]
MtGox’s mysterious website update February 25, 2014 Some keen eyes have spotted this change to the source code of MtGox's homepage. The website belongs to the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, which is thought to be facing some serious insolvency problems. An unverified document suggests that the company – originally a trading exchange for Magic: The Gathering cards – has lost as much [...]
Insolvency fees could be fixed February 17, 2014 INSOLVENCY practitioners trying to salvage value within collapsed firms will no longer be able to charge an hourly rate, to ensure creditors get a fair deal, under plans put out to consultation by the government yesterday. The Insolvency Service said fees should instead be flat-rate amounts or a percentage of the value the practitioners manage [...]
Male directors more likely to break rules February 13, 2014 More directors are being disqualified after their companies collapse, but the insolvency specialist Zolfo Cooper has warned that not enough execs are being banned for misconduct. The restructuring specialist said 235 directors were disqualified in the last three months of 2013, up from 181 in the previous quarter. 85 per cent of those banned were [...]
Relief for Austria as S&P rules out downgrade on banking woes February 11, 2014 AUSTRIA’S government will not face a downgrade if it takes over bad assets at broken bank Hypo Alpe Adria, credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s said today. The government had hoped other banks would back a so-called bad bank solution for the nationalised lender’s loans. But after the rest of the industry refused to join in, [...]