Gordon Castle: Let us whisky you away to Scotland March 8, 2015 It was here atop the snow-spattered hills of Speyside in the Scottish Highlands that King Macbeth was said to have met his violent end. According to legend, it was the future King Malcolm III who stabbed him in 1057 (he died several weeks later). Life in the valleys rising up either side of the river [...]
Exclusive: RBS is big loser of seven-day switching while Santander wins customers July 22, 2014 RBS is losing the battle for banking customers, City A.M. can reveal, shedding 171,400 customers through the seven-day switching system and gaining just 95,000 current account customers. Overall, RBS and NatWest have lost a net 76,200 through the system since it was launched last September, according to City A.M. calculations based on figures from survey firm [...]
Lloyds settlement latest example of the shadow regulatory state September 28, 2014 The announced settlement between the American and British authorities and Lloyds Banking Group, in which the bank will pay almost $370m to US and UK authorities, is the latest major fallout from claims that multiple international banks profited by manipulating the London Interbank Offer Rate (Libor), a key financial benchmark embedded in contracts around the [...]
Cenkos: A British banking model makes a comeback March 26, 2015 A boardroom chat between an Oxbridge-educated dealermaker who grew up on a Liverpool council estate and the former head of a scrap metal firm from Scotland is a scene only imagineable in a City of London boardroom. But the meeting between Avril Palmer-Baunack, former head of Universal Salvage, and Jim Durkin, chief executive of Cenkos [...]
Investec Comment: What the election could mean for SMEs May 4, 2015 THE RISE of smaller parties across the UK has made this the most difficult General Election to forecast in at least a generation. We know that the SNP is likely to make major gains across Scotland, winning upwards of 40 seats, mostly from Labour. An increased Ukip vote will likely hit the Conservatives harder than [...]
Three Lions ready to maul lowly Lithuania at Wembley March 26, 2015 BEN CLEMINSON PREVIEWS ENGLAND V LITHUANIA HARRY KANE will swap the white of Tottenham for that of England tonight after his displays this season prompted a well-earned international call-up. He responded to Roy Hodgson’s decision in emphatic style, scoring a hat-trick against Leicester, as Spurs maintained their push for European football next term. It was [...]
Debenhams refinances debts with £225m bond June 26, 2014 Department store Debenhams refinanced its debts yesterday after launching a £225m bond issue. The retailer has sold £225m of senior notes due in 2021 at a 5.25 per cent yield. This was more than the £200m it had planned to raise when it announced the bond issue last week. Chief executive Michael Sharp, said the [...]
Bank of Cyprus weighing float May 29, 2014 THE FORMER boss of Royal Bank of Scotland’s investment banking arm, John Hourican, is reported to be considering a London float for the Bank of Cyprus Group, of which he is chief executive. The float, if it goes ahead, is unlikely to happen for at least 12 months, according to Sky News reports. In March [...]
Photobox boss Stan Laurent: The man driving Moonpig’s growth story September 14, 2014 By the end of April, it became clear to Stan Laurent that London’s doors were effectively closed to new consumer-facing internet companies. There had just been the perfect storm of disastrous market debuts from Just Eat and AO World, along with two profit warnings from Asos that triggered a sell-off in shares of fellow fashion [...]
MPs line up to chair Parliament’s select committees: The races to watch June 11, 2015 Nominations for the chair of each of Parliament's select committees closed last night, with MPs lining up to take control of some of the most influential boards. A secret ballot, where each MP has one vote for each committee, will take place on 17 June, City A.M. has examined each of the declared candidates for six [...]