Big banks run cyber attack simulation test November 12, 2013 THE BIGGEST investment banks in the City are today meeting to run a mock-up of a cyber attack, to see how they would react in a major crisis. The simulation, dubbed Waking Shark 2, puts over 100 senior bankers, regulators and other financial staff in a single room to see how they work together. In this [...]
French flooring firm Tarkett lays foundations for Parisian float November 12, 2013 PRIVATE equity-backed French flooring maker Tarkett will price a planned stock market listing in Paris in a range of €27.75 to €33.90 a share, the company said yesterday. Last month, Tarkett submitted a registration filing for an initial public offering (IPO) in which it said US private equity firm KKR, which owns half of the [...]
Caravan park operator sold by private equity owners for £170m November 12, 2013 THE SOUTH east’s largest operator of caravan parks, Park Holidays, was sold by its private equity backers yesterday to London-listed fund Caledonia Investments. Graphite Capital, which owns London’s Hawksmoor restaurant chain, sold the company for £172m, after overseeing it for seven years following a purchase in 2006. The deal is notable because Caledonia’s buy is [...]
HSBC and Standard Chartered chairmen demand EU reform November 11, 2013 THE CHAIRMEN of two of the UK’s biggest banks yesterday called on Brussels to promote free trade and slash regulation as the best way to increase competitiveness and cut unemployment in the region. HSBC chairman Douglas Flint and Standard Chartered chairman Sir John Peace were among dozens of business leaders who demanded the changes in [...]
Watchdog tells banks to hurry compensation November 7, 2013 THE CITY watchdog has written to the bosses of the country’s biggest four banks to tell them to speed up compensating small firms mis-sold risky products designed to insure them against rising interest rates. Banks have set aside some £3bn for compensation payments in this area, but have so far handed out just £15.3m, or 0.5 [...]
Lloyds Banking Group opens a probe into its currency trading November 6, 2013 LLOYDS Banking Group said yesterday it has opened an internal probe into its own currency trading after regulators started investigating possible manipulation in the market. “We are aware that a number of regulatory and enforcement authorities are investigating foreign exchange trading and, as a result, we believe it is prudent to review our own foreign [...]
October sees small boost to emerging market output November 6, 2013 THE WORLD’S major developing economies saw output growth rise slightly last month, according to the latest HSBC emerging markets index, released today. The bank’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the economies rose to 51.7, up from last month’s 50.7, and above the 50 mark which signals growth. However, performance is still lacklustre in comparison to previous [...]
EU nears bank fines over rate rigging claims November 5, 2013 A HOST of global banks are nearing a multi-billion euro settlement with EU competition regulators over allegations of European interest rate rigging. The European Commission is probing claims a cartel of traders acted together to fix the Euribor interest rate, which feeds into a host of prices used to sell financial products. The commission has [...]
City Moves for 06 November 2013 | Who’s switching jobs November 5, 2013 Freshfields The law firm has announced the appointment of David Broomhall as co-head of its antitrust, competition and trade practice. Broomhall has been a partner at the firm since 1998, and was competition practice group leader in Brussels for the past eight years. City Financial The fund management firm has hired Phillip Lee as a global [...]
London Report: FTSE weakens after insurers and banks fall November 5, 2013 THE UK’S top share index weakened yesterday, with insurer RSA sinking after a profit warning while banks also dropped sharply. RSA shed 6.3 per cent in brisk volume after saying that insured losses caused by recent severe weather in Europe and Canada were “materially above assumptions” and that full-year returns to shareholders were likely to [...]