Hubris is always CEOs’ worst enemy March 18, 2010 IT has been an embarrassing couple of days for Tidjane Thiam, Prudential’s chief executive. On Wednesday, he accepted a non-executive directorship at Societe Generale, the French bank; 48 hours later, he had changed his mind, after a backlash from City institutions already upset at the looming dilution to their holdings from the Pru’s planned $21bn [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 14, 2010 Coutts Private Office Rupert Allison has joined Coutts Private Office as senior client partner from after three years with HSBC private bank as a relationship manager/ director. At Coutts, Allison will advise high-net-worth individuals whose assets top £30m and will report to global head of Coutts private office, Duncan McIntyre. Allison also spent 15 years [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 1, 2010 BP The oil giant has appointed Ian Davis, the former chairman of consultancy giant McKinsey, as a non-executive director, effective from April. David is currently senior partner of McKinsey, where he has worked for over three decades. He was chairman and worldwide managing director between 2003 and 2009, and prior to that was managing partner [...]
Thiam is right to look east for inspiration February 28, 2010 THE man from the Pru is heading for Asia, and he’s right to. If Tidjane Thiam snaps up AIG’s Asian operations – a deal his predecessor Mark Tucker failed to ink – Prudential will become the biggest player in the Asian insurance market. It already books over a third of sales in the region, and [...]
British economy faces years of pain January 26, 2010 “THE UK is a must to avoid. Its gilts are resting on a bed of nitroglycerine.” So says Pimco’s Bill Gross – and given yesterday’s pathetic 0.1 per cent fourth quarter growth, he is clearly right. It is good news that we are out of recession at last. But the last year and a half [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 6, 2010 Evolution Securities Garry Levin is to leave his role as managing director in corporate finance at KBC Peel Hunt to join rival Evolution Securities as head of its equity corporate finance division. Levin, 46, will take up his role formally in April 2010. Prior to his position at KBC Peel Hunt, he was joint chief [...]
The emerging economies are best bet for the long term November 2, 2009 ONCE plagued by fears of debt defaults, currency devaluations and political instability, emerging markets are now an indispensable part of every reward-seeking investor’s portfolio. That, at least, was the message from Marino Valensise, chief investment officer at Baring Asset Management yesterday. He said: “While we believe that the rally in equities is set for a [...]
Galleon probe extends reach October 25, 2009 PROSECUTORS investigating UShedge fund Galleon have issued a subpoena to a former employee of SAC Capital Advisors, broadening the insider-trading enquiry. The subpoena was sent to Richard Grodin, who worked for Stephen Cohen’s SAC Capital, but neither he nor Cohen is accused of any wrong-doing. It is the first indication that the net is widening [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 7, 2009 NomuraThe Japanese banking group has hired Peter Westaway, a Bank of England veteran, as its new chief economist for Europe. Westaway previously spent 13 years at the Bank in senior roles, covering macro economic forecasting, policy and financial market analysis. He also spent time working at the UK Treasury and the National Institute of Economic [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 20, 2009 Land SecuritiesThe property group has appointed Robert Noel, 45, as managing director of its London portfolio, effective from next January. Noel, who will also join the group’s board, has been property director at rival Great Portland Estates since 2002. He also currently holds positions as chairman of the Westminster Property Association and as a non-executive [...]