US to bring charges against three UK ex-traders in forex probe over roles in ‘The Cartel’ chatroom January 10, 2017 The US Department of Justice plans to charge three UK-based ex-traders later today as part of its forex investigation over their involvement in the so-called 'The Cartel' chat group. The trio of former traders concerned are Richard Usher, formerly from JP Morgan, Rohan Ramchandani, formerly from Citigroup, and Chris Ashton, formerly from Barclays. Meanwhile, Matt Gardiner, formerly from UBS, has been [...]
JP Morgan’s profit has dipped though it has still managed to beat analyst expectations in the first quarter April 13, 2016 JP Morgan has surprised investors with its latest results coming in ahead of expectations. Overall profits came in at $1.35 a per share, on revenue of $24.1bn (£16.92bn). Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $1.24 on revenue of $23.80bn, according to a Bloomberg poll. This time last year JP Morgan, the largest bank in [...]
US banking giants, including Goldman Sachs, forecast to announce revenue slide next week January 15, 2017 US earnings season might be about to prove that not all that glitters is Goldman, as the investment banking titan is predicted to announce a double digit slide in full-year revenues on Wednesday. Analysts have also forecast a slump in revenues for Morgan Stanley, which reports on Tuesday, and Citigroup, which reports on Wednesday. According to [...]
It looks like Snapchat will IPO on the NYSE January 30, 2017 Snapchat parent company Snap has chosen the New York Stock Exchange for its hotly-anticipated IPO, CNBC is reporting. The NYSE triumphed in the battle with Nasdaq for the hottest tech float in quite some time. Snap is expected to file publicly for the IPO as soon as this week, Recode has reported, going public as early as March. [...]
Banks and asset managers on the prowl for fintech firms with M&A (mergers and acquisitions) buying spree ahead April 7, 2017 Almost one in three banks and asset managers plan to buy a fintech firm in the next 18 months as firms prepare for an increasingly technology-focused future, a new survey showed. Some 31 per cent of financial services firms surveyed have plans to buy another firm, while almost half said they were collaborating or partnering [...]
Bunzl agrees $160m deal to buy not-for-resale US competitor March 1, 2017 Support services giant Bunzl has snapped up a US competitor labelled a "mini-Bunzl" in a deal understood to be worth around $160m (£129m). Diversified Distribution Systems (DDS), a distributor of not-for-resale items to retailers and other general distribution customers, primarily in North America, is a large purchase for the acquisitive Bunzl, which splashed out £184m during 2016. Analysts [...]
Do rising interest rates reduce returns on income investments? September 18, 2017 Many will remember to their cost the infamous “taper tantrum” in June 2013. It was the moment Ben Bernanke, the then Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, indicated that the quantitative easing (QE) would be scaled back, or tapered. The QE programme had fed money into the financial system to stimulate the economy following the [...]
How UK banks’ bonus rounds stacked up in 2016 February 24, 2017 Bad news if you're a UK-based banker: your bonus probably dropped this year. As bank results season came to a close, it turned out three out of the four major UK lenders shrank the size of their bonus pools this year – Lloyds was the only exception. RBS employees suffered the most, with their bonus [...]
Lloyd’s of London EU move shows the UK must win the battle for parallel Brexit talks March 31, 2017 Lloyd’s of London chairman John Nelson said last year the iconic insurance market would have to move part of its business out of the UK if it was not given guarantees about access to European markets. Those guarantees could not be made, so a move has now been confirmed. It’s important to note that the [...]
Accused ex-Barclays trader was given no legal guidance by employer, lawyer says January 11, 2017 The lawyer for an ex-Barclays trader facing forex-fixing claims in the US has hit back at the trader's former employer for not giving him enough guidance on the law. Chris Ashton was late last night charged by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) with conspiring to fix prices and rig bids in the foreign exchange [...]