Standard Life share price rockets on £2.2bn deal with Manulife September 4, 2014 Standard Life received a bullish response yesterday from markets and analysts to the sale of its Canadian business for C$4bn (£2.2bn), as shares sky-rocketed and analysts upgraded forecasts after the mega deal. Shares in the huge FTSE 100 listed insurance and investment firm surged by nearly 11 per cent in early trading, before finishing [...]
Goldman Sachs to issue $500m Islamic bond September 4, 2014 Goldman Sachs is planning to issue its first Islamic bond, or sukuk, and intends to meet potential investors in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week. According to the FT, the issuance is expected to consist of five-year bonds with a combined value of $500m. The US bank will be the second financial institution [...]
China’s services sector grows at the fastest rate since March last year September 3, 2014 After the latest manufacturing figures disappointed, HSBC reports China's services grew at the fastest rate in 17 months. According to figures from HSBC and Markit economics, the purchasing manager’s index posted at 54.1 – the fastest rate of growth since March 2013. With any reading above 50 constituting growth this is a strong [...]
City Moves for 03 September 2014 | Who’s switching jobs September 2, 2014 Alvarez & Marsal Senthil Alagar has been appointed managing director in the professional services firm’s restructuring and turnaround team in London. He joins from Barclays, where he headed its UK & Ireland business support restructuring team. Alagar has also held roles at Bank of Scotland, PwC and EY. M&G Real Estate Steven Hollands has been [...]
Neil Woodford dumps entire HSBC holding September 1, 2014 Neil Woodford, one of the City’s top performing fund managers, has sold his entire stake in HSBC just 16 months after buying into the group. Woodford sold his holding due to the rising number of fines HSBC faced, a trend he dubbed fine inflation. He bought the shares in May 2013. HSBC was fined $1.9bn [...]
City Moves for 02 September 2014 | Who’s switching jobs September 1, 2014 Buck Consultants Celene Lee has been appointed senior investment consultant at the HR consultancy. She has 15 years’ experience advising companies and trustees on pension scheme investment and financing, and has previously held positions at PwC and Barrie & Hibbert. The Pensions Trust The workplace pension fund has appointed Mike Ramsey as chief executive. He [...]
Domestic demand subdued as Chinese manufacturing growth slows September 1, 2014 It's an underwhelming morning for the Chinese economy. Official purchasing managers' index (PMI) figures for the manufacturing sector missed expectations by 0.1 points in August, while HSBC and Markit Economics's measure was revised down by a similar amount. Asian markets remained largely unaffected by the news, with Shanghai Composite, the Nikkei and the [...]
BBC Trust go for Rona Fairhead – its first female chair August 31, 2014 Former Financial Times Group boss Rona Fairhead will become the new chairman of the BBC Trust, the government announced yesterday. Yesterday culture secretary Sajid Javid announced Fairhead was the preferred candidate to replace Lord Patten, who stepped down in May due to ill health after three turbulent years overseeing the broadcaster. Fairhead, 53 [...]
Bank regulators need to get more realistic if we are to avoid a new crisis – City Matters August 31, 2014 The idea of a “Europe without banks” became popular after the financial crisis, when bankers were demonised and punitive regulations proposed. Six years on, the repercussions still resonate deeply, as I found at the recent Alpbach Financial Markets Symposium, where the high Austrian location gives an added sense of perspective to Europe’s issues. Of course, [...]
BBC Trust on the cusp of first female chair August 31, 2014 The BBC Trust is set to gain its first female chair in the form of Rona Fairhead the ex-chief of the Financial Times Group. On Saturday culture secretary Sajid Javid announced Fairhead was the preferred candidate to replace Lord Patten, who stepped down in May. Fairhead, 53 and graduate of Harvard Business School would be [...]