RBS steps up the search for a new chairman August 29, 2014 Royal Bank of Scotland has reportedly stepped up its search for a successor to chairman Sir Philip Hampton, hiring recruitment giant Egon Zehnder International to lead the hunt. Hampton will step down in 2015 after more than six years at the top of the bank, which is still 81 per cent owned by the government, [...]
London Report: FTSE is bolstered by doveish Bank data and thin trading August 13, 2014 THE FTSE yesterday ended slightly higher in thin trade, boosted by a doveish message from the Bank of England. Britain’s leading index closed 24.26 points higher, or 0.4 per cent, at 6,656.68 points after a choppy session marked by low trading activity. Shares in G4S, the world’s biggest security company, led advances, up 5.3 per [...]
Scottish businesses vote Yes for independence – the large and the small August 28, 2014 More than 200 Scottish business leaders yesterday published a letter in support of Scotland leaving the UK, one day after a rival group of 130 leaders had backed keeping the Union. The letter was signed by some prominent figures including Stagecoach chair Sir Brian Souter and the former boss of William Hill, Ralph Topping. But critics [...]
The financial A to Z of Scottish independence – CNBC Comment September 15, 2014 A new, independent Scotland might flummox a foreign visitor. So it’s lucky this financial A to Z has turned up – even if some say it’s a parody of the Better Together campaign. A: Alex – Scotland’s official unit of currency, though largely superseded by an informal bartering system, where one barrel of oil [...]
Banks dust off plans for Scottish independence as SNP coalition forecast raises referendum prospect February 4, 2015 Britain's high street banks are dusting off their contingency plans for Scottish independence, City A.M. understands, as the prospect of a coalition government including the Scottish Nationalists raises the chance of another referendum. Although the plan for Scotland to leave the UK was defeated in a vote in September, growing support for the SNP means [...]
Punch Taverns launches long-awaited £2.3bn debt deal August 18, 2014 BRITAIN’S second largest pub group yesterday launched a £2.3bn debt restructuring proposal, largely unchanged from the one announced in June and aims to reduce Punch’s debt by £600m, now with the support of 65 per cent of its lenders. After nearly 650 days of negotiations with lenders over how Punch could best secure the future [...]
Lloyds fined £226m by UK and US regulators for Libor manipulation July 28, 2014 Lloyds has become the latest bank to be fined for manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor). The benchmark interest rate determines the cost of a range of credit products which have a combined value of at least $350tn, but a number of banks have been charged with unlawfully tampering with it in order [...]
City Moves for 03 September 2014 | Who’s switching jobs September 2, 2014 Alvarez & Marsal Senthil Alagar has been appointed managing director in the professional services firm’s restructuring and turnaround team in London. He joins from Barclays, where he headed its UK & Ireland business support restructuring team. Alagar has also held roles at Bank of Scotland, PwC and EY. M&G Real Estate Steven Hollands has been [...]
General Election 2015: A Labour-SNP alliance could be a fillip for markets – but not for long April 7, 2015 Of all the possible outcomes of the General Election, one scenario in particular has concerned segments of the business and investor communities. A minority Labour government supported by SNP MPs is seen by some investment commentators as a challenging combination. Although Labour has ruled out a formal coalition, there may still be the possibility of [...]
Twin threats of Brexit and Scoxit will mar a good result for the City May 10, 2015 “Were you up for Balls?” Or more likely, “were you up in time for Balls?” Reminiscent of “were you up for Portillo in 1997?”, former shadow chancellor Ed Balls’s loss of his seat was one of the most memorable moments in an astonishing General Election which will have far reaching implications for the country. It [...]