PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS August 19, 2010 LOYALTY DOESN’T ALWAYS PAY Shopping around for a cheaper quote for your car insurance really does pay off, according to research from Which?, the independent product-testing and consumer campaigning champion. It surveyed nearly 2,500 consumers and found that more than a third accepted their original car insurers’ renewal quotes because they “couldn’t be bothered to [...]
High street morale surges May 26, 2011 MORALE on the British high street took a huge leap in May, recording the second sharpest rise of all time, the GfK NOP consumer confidence index revealed today. People reported a boost to their confidence over personal finances and the general economic outlook. The last time the headline index accelerated this fast was in May [...]
Gulf Keystone soars on talk of Exxon bid December 19, 2011 SHARES in oil explorer Gulf Keystone closed up 7.7 per cent yesterday on reports that Exxon Mobil was lining up a takeover bid. Its shares had rocketed as much as 32 per cent during the day, and was the second most-traded stock on AIM, with 46.8m shares changing hands. Gulf released a statement at 16.10 [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS August 12, 2010 BEWARE PHONE CALL SCAM HM Revenue & Customs has issued a warning to taxpayers after reports that thieves were making phone calls pretending to be the taxman. According to reports, fraudsters say that you are due a tax rebate and ask for your bank details over the phone. They then try to gain access to [...]
Green shoots for lending to small firms May 31, 2011 LENDING to small manufacturing businesses has picked up in the second quarter of the year, a leading industry body announced today. Just as many small companies reported a rise in the availability of loans over the past two months, as those that reported a fall. The result marked a strong upturn in credit supply to [...]
Now Bank of America joins in our appeal November 30, 2011 THERE’S a clear-cut case for using our hard-earned money to give people on the other side of the world the chance to prosper. At least, that’s how Jonathan Moulds (pictured), Europe president at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, sees it. The bank is backing our Christmas appeal after seeing the difference our charity of choice [...]
THE EURO IS VULNERABLE TO A SELL-OFF DURING THE WEEK January 30, 2012 SINCE the start of the year the euro has surprised many market participants by staging a vicious short covering rally that has added more than 500 points to the pair over the past two weeks. There were three key reasons for the euro’s recent strength. First and foremost, the Eurozone credit markets have become markedly [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 1, 2011 UniCredit The Italian commercial bank has hired Laurent Dupeyron, previously chief executive officer of Olympia Capital Management, to be the global head of wholesale and institution equity derivatives distribution. Prior to Olympia, from 1996 to 2008, he worked for Goldman Sachs in various positions in the equity derivatives and equity finance businesses, mostly as an [...]
Oh Hoare Govett. What’s in a name? December 20, 2011 I was told yesterday that a private equity group has approached a former star from Hoare Govett to look at ways of extricating the group from its troubled parent RBS. Though the identity of the individual is a mystery, there is some logic to the idea. Hoare Govett, despite years of being in the hands [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS August 5, 2010 MS LAUNCHES NEW GROWTH PLAN Morgan Stanley this week announced the launch of its FTSE Gilt-Backed Growth Plan 4, which offers investors a fixed return equivalent to 8.5 per cent a year, paid on the first anniversary that the FTSE records flat or positive performance. If this does not happen, then investors still have some [...]