Domestic demand adds to South Korea’s roar July 28, 2010 FROM shipbuilding and car manufacturing to world-class information technology and high-tech white goods, South Korea has gone from strength to strength since the 1960s. In the 1990s, South Korean multinational firms made a deliberate shift towards more high-technology goods and it is now home to well known household names such as Samsung, Hyundai, Daewoo and [...]
Banks to be hit with bigger bill for FSA May 28, 2010 MAJOR banks must dig deeper into their pockets over the coming year to pay for tougher supervision, the Financial Services Authority has said. The FSA is wholly funded from levies on financial firms and said its annual bill for 2010-11 will jump ten per cent to £454.7m though 60 per cent of firms will actually [...]
UK bank stocks are attractive but precarious June 2, 2010 COMPARED to some of the financial institutions in continental Europe, Britain’s banks, even the part-nationalised ones, are managing to exude an air of respectability and even strength. While French and German financial institutions – banks and insurers – are estimated by Barclays Capital to hold just under €80bn of Greek debt, British banks have minimal [...]
KILLING KITTENS ORGY ORGANISER WHIPS HER BUSINESS UP A NOTCH July 26, 2010 THOSE Londoners with a persistent naughty streak have probably heard of Emma Sayle, the founder of sex party organising firm Killing Kittens. Up until now, Killing Kittens has specialised in what Sayle likes to describe as “eyes wide shut orgies”, with club members – vetted for attractiveness – gathering in private townhouses to get to [...]
KILLING KITTENS ORGY ORGANISER WHIPS HER BUSINESS UP A NOTCH July 26, 2010 THOSE Londoners with a persistent naughty streak have probably heard of Emma Sayle, the founder of sex party organising firm Killing Kittens. Up until now, Killing Kittens has specialised in what Sayle likes to describe as “eyes wide shut orgies”, with club members – vetted for attractiveness – gathering in private townhouses to get to [...]
F&C surprises with Thames River buyout April 28, 2010 F&C Asset Management’s shares slumped yesterday after the City fund manager said it would pay £33.6m in cash and shares for hedge fund boutique Thames River Capital. F&C, which will hope to spur growth with the deal after a spell of lacklustre performance, saw its shares slip 3.1 per cent to 63.25p yesterday despite positive [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS April 29, 2010 STATE-OWNED MORTGAGE LENDERS FAIL TO SATISFY State-owned mortgage providers are trailing behind smaller lenders and building societies for customer satisfaction, says a new survey from Which? Money. Bank of Scotland – part of Lloyds Banking Group – had the lowest score; just 41 per cent of customers were satisfied with the provider. Halifax (44 per [...]
ANALYSIS | UK BANKS April 26, 2010 WHILE banker bashing has become something of a national sport here in the UK, it has had little discernible impact on the share prices of our largest financial institutions, which have posted strong performances since their lows in the first quarter of 2009. The partially nationalised banks, RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, have seen their [...]
HOW DO THE RESULTS FROM BARCLAYS AND HSBC COMPARE WITH EACH OTHER? November 10, 2009 JAAP MEIJER EVOLUTIONWe failed to be particularly excited by HSBC as it seems more of a turnaround story with cost-cutting and bad debts peaking. By contrast, we feel Barclays Capital can truly be made into an immensely profitable business post-acquisition of Lehman Brothers – currently the numbers are spoiled by large impairments but when they [...]
Boots tops reputation poll as banks languish April 28, 2010 Alliance Boots knocked Marks & Spencer off the top spot, in a survey of company reputation. The Reputation Institute’s UK Pulse Report 2010 ranked retail brands highly but the list of 140 firms made torrid reading for the finance industry. Royal Bank of Scotland languished at 138, with Lloyds at 136 and Barclays at 129. [...]