Google in talks to invest in Bloomberg rival Symphony October 5, 2015 Google has reportedly entered into talks with Goldman Sachs-backed startup Symphony Communication for a round of fundraising. The talks are ongoing and no terms have been finalised, a source told Reuters. Earlier today the Wall Street Journal reported people familiar with the matter said Google had invested in a new round of funding for Symphony, valuing the [...]
PMQs descends into mud-slinging match as Cameron and Miliband attempt to distance themselves from HSBC tax taint February 11, 2015 HSBC dominated Prime Minister's Questions today as David Cameron and Ed Miliband traded insults over which party had closest ties to those clients on the list of alleged tax evaders. The two took turns to sling mud at each other over the matter, with the Labour leader describing his counterpart as a "dodgy Prime [...]
Countryside Properties eyes up £1bn return to the stock market September 28, 2015 Housebuilder Countryside Properties is planning to return to the stock market with a £1bn float, over 10 years since it delisted. The company was bought for £222m in 2005 by a joint venture between HBOS, now Lloyds Banking Group, and the founder Alan Cherry. It was subsequently bought by US private equity firm Oaktree Capital [...]
Best of the Brokers for 1 October 2015 October 1, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com HSBC HOLDINGS UBS upgraded the bank from “neutral” to “buy”, and lowered the target price from 595p to 550p, reflecting earnings downgrades. The broker said it believes the relative risk/reward balance on the shares has shifted to the upside. It added: “While [...]
Barclays, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Lloyds and RBS credit ratings slashed as states promise no more bailouts February 3, 2015 Britain’s biggest banks saw their credit ratings chopped back last night by Standard and Poor’s, as the agency believes the government is serious in its promise to let bad banks fail. While ratings are normally cut when a firm performs poorly, in this case the move reflects the shift in risk from the taxpayer and [...]
HSBC takes responsibility after report claims it helped clients hide millions of pounds from tax authorities February 8, 2015 HSBC has been accused of helping clients to hide huge sums of money from tax collectors, according to documents obtained by French newspaper Le Monde. Thousands of pages spanning from 2005 to 2007 show how the Swiss arm of the world’s second largest bank not only failed to identify and report clients evading taxes, [...]
Top banks could face millions in new PPI claims over commission August 10, 2015 Britain’s top banks are facing further fall out from the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI). The latest potential threat comes from a case brought by lecturer Susan Plevin, over a loan and PPI policy taken out in 2006. She was unaware that more than 70 per cent of the commission she paid on the [...]
More than half of Asian millionaire business-owners are women – so why can’t we do the same thing here? December 11, 2015 Earlier this week a report suggested that the UK is actually struggling when it comes to supporting its female entrepreneurs. Just over a quarter (28 per cent) of owners of businesses worth more than $1m (£635,000) are women, compared with 38 per cent in the US. In fact, out of seven countries featured in the [...]
HSBC share price closes 4.6 per cent lower after full-year profits tank due to “challenging year” February 23, 2015 HSBC ended the day with its shares at 577p, 4.6 per cent lower than Friday's closing price. Having announced that profits fell 17 per cent during 2014, it admitted its US arm had also been subpoenaed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC said wanted to see documents relating to its precious metals [...]
HMRC faces HSBC tax evasion grilling in parliament after it is revealed Swiss arm helped clients hide millions February 9, 2015 Tax bosses will be grilled by MPs on Wednesday over a swathe of leaked HSBC documents showing the bank's Swiss arm helped clients around the world dodge taxes. But HSBC's bosses will avoid a public hearing, because it is too close to the election to schedule new hearings. Margaret Hodge MP chairs the Public Accounts [...]