Banks warned: UK stress tests will be tougher October 27, 2014 British banks received the thumbs up from European authorities yesterday as the big four all passed continent-wide stress tests – but the Bank of England warned UK institutions they are not yet in the clear. The European Banking Authority (EBA) tested 123 banks’ capital buffers against a fictional crash, with a jump in unemployment, a [...]
City Moves for 10 October 2014 | Who’s switching jobs October 22, 2014 Innesco John Heawood has been appointed non-executive chairman of the marketing communications agency. Heawood is former group executive director for UK property at Segro, partner at DTZ Debenham Tie Leung and managing director of the Ashtenne Industrial Fund. KPMG The professional services firm has appointed Neill Thomas as head of corporate finance and Andrew Nicholson [...]
African Barrick Gold soars on cheerful HSBC outlook February 10, 2014 All that glitters certainly is gold for African Barrick Gold, the FTSE 250-quoted miner that soared over eight per cent this morning. As well as benefitting from a rise in the yellow metal price today, the company was given a boost by an upgrade from HSBC. This is an encouraging sign for ABG after a [...]
Challenger bank Aldermore says IPO will still happen as lending lifts November 10, 2014 Challenger bank Aldermore, which pulled the plug on a planned London Stock Exchange listing last month, has posted promising third quarter results. Aldermore's total lending rose by 10 per cent in the third quarter, taking it to a 30 per cent increase since the beginning of 2014. This helped lift third quarter pre-tax profit [...]
Challenger bank Aldermore posts third quarter results: Sees lending, profit increase November 10, 2014 Challenger bank Aldermore, who pulled the plug on a planned London Stock Exchange listing last month, has posted promising third quarter results. Aldermore's total lending rose by 10 percent in the third quarter, taking it to a 30 percent increase since the beginning of 2014. This helped lift third quarter pretax profit to almost [...]
Forex rigging scandal – a timeline of the banking probe November 12, 2014 Spring 2008 Bank of England’s foreign exchange joint standing committee’s (chief dealers sub-group) starts to raise concerns about the capacity to fix FX benchmarks June 2013 The Financial Conduct Authority launches a preliminary investigation into claims banks were rigging the FX rate to benefit at the expense of clients October 2013 The Financial [...]
FTSE declines after banks fined over forex manipulation – London Report November 12, 2014 BRITAIN’S top equity index fell yesterday, hit by disappointing corporate updates and a decline in bank shares, after regulators imposed fines to settle allegations of foreign exchange malpractice. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index, which had risen for the last five sessions in a row, closed down 0.3 per cent at 6,611.04 points. The index held [...]
Co-operative Bank to speed up toxic loans sell off after failing Bank of England stress tests December 16, 2014 The Co-operative Bank was the only lender to fail the Bank of England’s stress tests yesterday. As a result, it is accelerating its plan to sell off or run down a £6.6bn book of bad loans from the pre-crash era. Eight high street institutions’ finances were tested to see how they would cope with a hypothetical [...]
City Moves for 12 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 11, 2014 Castle Harbour The financial services firm has appointed Eric Daniel to co-manage a new convertible bond fund. Daniel was formerly head of equity derivatives and convertible bond sales at Citigroup in Paris. He will run the Castle Harbour R&D Pure Global Convertibles Fund. Canaccord Genuity Nishad Vallonthaiel has been appointed head of electronic and programme [...]
Hong Kong protests hit Asian markets September 29, 2014 Demonstrators thronged outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong yesterday as the protest against the Chinese for free elections continued. The unrest has hit stocks for Asia-focused banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered as well as miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. It is likely to escalate tomorrow, which is China’s National Day holiday.