RBS nails down its Asian asset sell-off August 2, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland was closing in on a sale of its Asian assets yesterday, as it emerged Australian bank ANZ is likely to pay A$1.1bn (£549m) for its operations in six Asian areas. ANZ said yesterday talks are “progressing well” over an asset purchase, including RBS’ operations in Taiwan. RBS, which is set to [...]
FTSEputs in highest close in almost a year on bank gains September 14, 2009 THE UK benchmark share index closed up 0.2 per cent yesterday as buoyant banks and defensive stocks countered weak miners and oils, keeping the index above 5,000 amid optimism over the pace of the rally seen since March. The FTSE 100 closed up 7.38 points at 5,018.85, its highest closing level since late September 2008. [...]
EXCLUSIVE July 1, 2009 STANDARD Chartered, the emerging markets bank, is close to confirming acting chairman John Peace as its new chairman, sources said last night. The impending appointment, after a period of search led by consultants Egon Zehnder, means it is ever more likely that Win Bischoff, the 67 year-old former chairman of Citigroup, will take the job as chairman of Lloyds [...]
THE LONDON REPORT September 2, 2009 THE benchmark share index closed flat yesterday as a retreat in financials and miners, triggered by weak US data, was offset by stronger energy stocks, after a “giant” oil find by BP. The FTSE 100 index ended down 2.15 points at 4,817.55, after it fell 1.8 per cent on Tuesday. US private employers cut 298,000 [...]
THE LONDON REPORT September 2, 2009 THE benchmark share index closed flat yesterday as a retreat in financials and miners, triggered by weak US data, was offset by stronger energy stocks, after a “giant” oil find by BP. The FTSE 100 index ended down 2.15 points at 4,817.55, after it fell 1.8 per cent on Tuesday. US private employers cut 298,000 [...]
RBS Asia to be sold in chunks July 1, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland’s Asian assets look set to be divided up between Standard Chartered and Australia’s ANZ, despite the bank’s desire to offload the unit in one go. Standard Chartered, led by chief executive Peter Sands, is in talks to wrap up a deal for RBS’ units in China and India and is also [...]
Large caps break 5,000 as travel gets its day in the sun September 9, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended a week of waiting yesterday to pull itself above the 5,000 level by the close. The benchmark index rose by 1.2 per cent on the back of strong oil and bank stocks, as well as early gains on Wall Street. By the close the index was 56.96 points higher at 5,004.30, [...]
Not all banks were given state handouts August 4, 2009 ANOTHER day; another row about banking profits, bonuses and the future of the City. The nationalised Northern Rock’s numbers were poor as expected – but for some reason, the pundits are more concerned with banks that are doing reasonably well. And not any institution: they couldn’t care less about Standard Chartered, a well-managed group which [...]
Kraft’s Cadbury bid sparks a flurry of FTSEmerger hopes September 7, 2009 THE leading share index notched back up towards the 5,000-points mark yesterday, after a proposed bid for Cadbury by Kraft raised hopes of a more general pick-up in merger activity and lifted banks and commodity shares. The FTSE 100 rose 1.7 per cent to a close of 4,933.18, up 81.48 points, as it came close [...]
Glass heads race to be the new finance director at RBS July 5, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) is considering the appointment of Simon Glass to replace Guy Whittaker as finance director. Glass, who joined RBS as deputy finance director three months ago from Standard Chartered, is believed to be heading the race to succeed Whittaker, who will part company with the 70 per cent state-owned bank before [...]