ECB criticised for bank loans January 2, 2012 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank has crossed the line into propping up insolvent banks, according to a former member of its governing council, Nout Wellink (pictured). The one-time governor of Holland’s Central Bank told a Dutch magazine that the decision to extend three-year loans to banks is a shift from boosting liquidity, which is in the [...]
La Senza set for administration December 23, 2011 La Senza has said that it intends to enter administration. The lingerie chain said “trading conditions” had taken their toll. An administrator will now be chosen within 10 days, in accordance with the UK Insolvency Act. The retailer, which has 2,600 UK staff at 146 stores and 18 concessions, said it continued to trade as [...]
Call to clean up insolvency fees December 21, 2011 Insolvency professionals will have to answer to a new independent watchdog if the industry does not tackle excessive fees and overhaul its own regulations, the government said yesterday. Insolvency minister Ed Davey said charges need to be more transparent, possibly through a new law if the sector fails to clean up its own act. A [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 19, 2011 Standard Life Charles Guay has been appointed as president and chief executive of Standard Life Canada. He will start on 1 February 2012 to replace Joseph Iannicelli, and is joining from National Bank of Canada, where he is senior vice president, strategies, marketing and investment solutions, wealth management. He additionally holds the role of president [...]
RAPID RESPONSES December 18, 2011 Fire and ice Benny Peiser argues “the green agenda will remain firmly on ice for the rest of this decade”. [Durban’s climate conference puts green deal on ice, last Wednesday]. What’s true for inter-governmental climate treaties may also be coming true for the green energy movement, as governments realise they can’t afford the costly subsidies [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 15, 2011 Smith & Williamson Finbarr O’Connell, the former managing partner of turnaround specialist Re10, has joined the accountancy and investment management group as a director, bringing the total number of staff in the restructuring and recovery team to 70. O’Connell is a past president of the Insolvency Practitioners’ Association and has 25 years’ restructuring and turnaround [...]
Ross bails Cosalt out – until his offer ends December 7, 2011 DAVID Ross, chairman of safety gear supplier Cosalt, rode to the loss-making company’s rescue yesterday with a deal to provide it with £5m of emergency working capital to keep it afloat. Ross, whose grandfather founded Cosalt a century ago, has made the funds available from his Oval investment vehicle but warned that he would only [...]
Poor Britons turn to pricey payday loans December 7, 2011 THE DIRE state of many Britons’ personal finances has been underlined by new research that shows 3.5m people are considering taking out payday loans over the next six months. Concern over personal debt has reached the highest level since insolvency body R3 began making records, it said yesterday as it warned of “zombie debtors” who [...]
Commodities drag FTSE 100 down as euphoria wears off December 1, 2011 THE UK’s leading share index closed lower yesterday, led by weaker commodity prices, as earlier gains were reversed in tandem with a weaker showing on Wall Street as Wednesday’s boost from central bank intervention moves proved short-lived. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 16.08 points or 0.3 per cent at 5,489.34, just [...]
HOPING FOR A CHANGE IN ECB POLICIES November 28, 2011 EQUITY markets bounced back yesterday, but last week was another grim period. Anyone hoping for an equity market rally into Thanksgiving will have been severely disappointed. The major stock indices across Europe, the US and Asian Pacific countries all fell sharply, with many breaking below significant support levels. From a technical perspective, last week’s sell-off [...]