CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 8, 2012 AFC Energy The developer of low-cost alkaline fuel cell technology has announced the appointment of Sir John Sunderland as non-executive director of the company. Sunderland has spent 40 years in leadership roles, best known as the former chief executive and later as chairman of Cadbury Schweppes. Currently Sunderland is a non-executive director of Barclays Bank, [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 5, 2012 Warburg Pincus The private equity firm focused on growth investing has announced the appointment of Francesco Granata as an executive-in-residence, focusing on the healthcare sector. Granata will be based in Warburg Pincus’ London office, and will help the firm assess new investments in the biopharmaceutical sector. He has over 35 years experience in the pharmaceutical [...]
CPP loses Barclaycard amid mis-selling probe February 15, 2012 CREDIT card insurer CPP has lost its contract with Barclaycard as a regulatory probe in sales practices continues to damage the company. Barclaycard had already suspended some sales of CPP products last year but will now end all other sales within the next six months. The Financial Services Authority has been investigating the insurer since [...]
Royal Bank of Canada hit by CFTC’s futures lawsuit April 2, 2012 THE US futures regulator yesterday accused the Royal Bank of Canada of running a “massive” multi-hundred-million-dollar trading scheme to gain lucrative Canadian tax benefits. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s civil lawsuit alleges that a small group of senior RBC employees created and managed a “wash trading” strategy in which they improperly coordinated to allow subsidiaries of [...]
Three graduates share their experiences May 28, 2012 MARK TAPLEY An investment veteran recalls his CFA journey I FINISHED my MBA at the London Business School in 1974 and joined JP Morgan in New York. As a trainee, one of the first things the firm did was to slap a CFA application form on my desk. There was, of course, overlap between my [...]
UBS slashes bonuses after a torrid year March 15, 2012 UBS slashed bonuses at its investment bank by nearly two-thirds after the rogue trading scandal which cost it SwFr1.8bn (£1.24bn). The total size of the bonus pool for investment bankers fell 60 per cent while Carsten Kengeter, the head of the division, waived his payout. Kengeter, who surprised some when he survived the top-level clear-out [...]
Cassin moves from adviser to finance head at the data firm March 1, 2012 BRIAN Cassin (pictured inset) is to leave Greenhill after 14 years at the end of April. And though the jump from investment bank to UK-listed data specialist Experian will be a change of pace, it won’t be a total culture shock for the Irish-born banker. Cassin has spent years advising the company, working with predecessor GUS [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 21, 2012 ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT Peel Hunt has downgraded its recommendation on the asset manager from “buy” to “hold” but upgraded its estimates and target price on the stock, with the latter climbing from 270p to 280p. The broker says strong performances in its key equity funds have led to upgrades of 2012 and 2013 estimates by [...]
NAB to cut 1,400 UK jobs April 30, 2012 National Australia Bank will cut 1,400 jobs in the UK and take charges of $740m(£454.4m) after deciding it was too hard to sell or expand its UK banking business in a depressed market, it said as it flagged a record first-half cash profit. After a review of its UK unit, which comprises over 335 Clydesdale [...]
CPP future still at risk as banks withdraw backing February 26, 2012 TROUBLED credit card insurer CPP faces the loss of its banking facilities unless it can reassure lenders that its business is secure. Barclays, Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are considering whether to withdraw financial backing from the York-based firm when the existing arrangement ends next year. The firm currently has borrowings of around [...]