Sinking bank values mean it could be game on for Co-op June 24, 2012 THE Co-op is back in the game. Its groundbreaking bid for 632 Lloyds branches looked like it was on the brink of being knocked out when, in April, the mutual lost its hold on exclusive talks. Now, however, it is competing again after some canny negotiating with Lloyds, 41 per cent taxpayer owned, and because [...]
You can bank on Tesco to become competitive in financial services August 6, 2012 TESCO has had a challenging 2012 to date. We saw the rebasing of group earnings in January; an unwelcome slowdown in trading at loss-making Fresh & Easy in the US; decelerating trading conditions in Central Europe; and impacts from restrictions on large store opening hours in South Korea – its most significant market outside the [...]
BANK SHARES PLUNGE AS SCANDALS SPREAD June 28, 2012 AROUND £3.7bn was wiped off the value of Barclays’ shares yesterday as anti-fraud investigators looked into the interest rates scandal and George Osborne said the bank’s executives should “pay the price”. Barclays’ shares fell up to 18 per cent as chief executive Bob Diamond and chairman Marcus Agius were left clinging on to their jobs. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 4, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES VW to buy rest of Porsche for €4.46bn Volkswagen has agreed to buy the remaining half of Porsche’s carmaking operations that it does not already own for €4.46bn. The two car groups yesterday finalised plans to speed up the creation of the combined car group. The integration will take effect from 1 August. [...]
Fragile networks: Why the RBS computer glitch could happen anywhere July 10, 2012 RECENT events have been catastrophic for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). A computer glitch caused complete mayhem in its subsidiaries, leading to a collapse in the payments systems. Money was not processed, 17m customers were unable to access their accounts and pay their bills. An incident of this magnitude must surely have been caused by a [...]
RBS names adviser on Direct Line IPO May 30, 2012 Royal Bank of Scotland has picked UBS to help with the listing of its Direct Line insurance arm this year, one of the biggest planned listings in London, people familiar with the matter said. RBS has said it wanted to list a minority stake in Direct Line in the fourth quarter. The eurozone crisis and [...]
RBS calls for more freedom for turnaround plan May 30, 2012 Royal Bank of Scotland’s chief executive needs to be given the freedom to complete his five-year turnaround plan without excessive interference, the part-nationalised UK bank’s chairman said. “There are … still risks on the horizon and the task of rebuilding RBS has some way to go,” Philip Hampton said on Wednesday at the bank’s annual [...]
FTSE up fourth day but rally may end soon May 29, 2012 BRITAIN’S main share index rose for the fourth consecutive day yesterday on hopes of new measures to tackle Europe’s economic crisis, although traders said the rally could be short-lived due to persistent fears over the region’s debt troubles. The benchmark FTSE 100 closed up 34.80 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 5,391.14 points – its [...]
Charges after protesters set up camp outside Bank of England May 13, 2012 SIX people have been charged after an Occupy protest that sprang up near the Bank of England. Four people were charged with public order offences and two with obstructing a police officer and are due to appear in court next Monday, City of London Police said. The demonstration attracted around 300 people and lasted for [...]
RBS M&A team to be spun off into boutique advisory unit April 30, 2012 Royal Bank of Scotland’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) business will be spun off into a boutique advisory firm run by some of its current staff, the bank’s chief executive for the Middle East and Africa said. “The M&A bankers plan to form a boutique business,” Simon Penney said in Dubai. “It’s not clear as to [...]