No more bunga bunga, but bonds are still high November 14, 2011 THE European political machine flexed its muscles last week, first in Greece and then, more significantly, in Italy. A nudge from its European benefactors was enough for Greece to topple its prime minister George Papandreou after months of pressure and confidence votes. The Greek parliament moved to appoint a man who ticked all the European [...]
HSBC predicts lower profits despite boom February 28, 2011 HSBC yesterday blamed new global regulations for its decision to slash its expectations for future profit. Despite booking pre-tax profits of $19bn (£11.8bn) last year, more than double the amount it made in 2009, the bank said the cost of complying with tough new Basel III regulations, designed to make the financial sector safer, would [...]
HSBC shares drop as profit disappoints market February 28, 2011 HSBC scaled back some of its financial targets on Monday as Europe’s biggest bank posted a surge in pre-tax annual profit. HSBC said pre-tax profits for the year ending 31 December more than doubled from 2009 to £11.8bn. HSBC said it had made a good start to the year but the company cut its long-term [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 23, 2011 Little Chef The roadside chain has appointed Graham Sims as its new chairman. Sims is currently chief executive of Qunatilis, a non-executive board member at the UK Border Agency, and chairman of Kensington Consultancy Group. Earlier in his career, he spent seven years at BP, rising from operations manager for Portugal to UK retail managing [...]
Chinese manufacturing held back by weak US and Europe November 1, 2011 China’s big manufacturers ran at their slowest pace in October since early 2009, purchasing managers’ data shows, though signs of a bounce-back at smaller firms and a sharp fall in factory-gate prices suggest no swift change to interest rates. China’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 50.4 in October from 51.2 in September, countering [...]
Chinese manufacturing held back by weak US and Europe November 1, 2011 China’s big manufacturers ran at their slowest pace in October since early 2009, purchasing managers’ data shows, though signs of a bounce-back at smaller firms and a sharp fall in factory-gate prices suggest no swift change to interest rates. China’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 50.4 in October from 51.2 in September, countering [...]
WHAT DO THE BANKS SAY ABOUT THE RINGFENCE? August 31, 2011 LLOYDS Lloyds has taken the most pro-ringfence stance of all the banks – and argues that almost all of Lloyds’ operations should be inside the fence. Chief executive António Horta-Osório (pictured) argues that a ringfence should form a crucial part of a resolution plan to allow regulators to wind up failing banks in an orderly way. [...]
Markets slip as Italy debt crisis deepens November 9, 2011 Dramatic political changes at two of the Eurozone’s crisis-ridden economies initially boosted world stocks but markets went into reverse as it became clear that Italy’s debt woes were escalating. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said late yesterday that he would step down after parliament passes budget reforms. Greece, meanwhile, was working create a consensus government [...]
HSBC’s Gulliver faces opposition over planned £13.3m package March 23, 2011 HSBC ’s proposal to pay its chief executive up to £13.3m this year is likely to meet shareholder opposition, investor representatives said yesterday. The bank’s compensation committee has proposed paying Stuart Gulliver a base salary of £1.25m, a bonus of up to three times that and a long-term performance-based payout six times his base salary. [...]
Credit card provider SAV sold for £472m September 27, 2011 INVESTMENT manager Värde Partners has snapped up credit card provider SAV from its consortium of backers in a £472m deal. SAV, which manages about 500,000 credit card accounts with more than £600m in assets, had been majority owned by Palamon Capital Partners, Electra Private Equity and Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners. Minnesota-based Värde wants to [...]