Budget 2015: The stories that broke during George Osborne’s speech March 18, 2015 The announcement of the UK government’s annual budget is one of the biggest dates in the financial calendar. City hacks' ears were tuned into George Osborne’s speech this lunchtime, as eyes were glued to Twitter for all the breaking hot takes on the chancellor’s tie colour and fingers were madly typing away to produce a [...]
Winners and losers pound dollar euro exchange rate movements March 17, 2015 The tale of two central banks has seen monetary policy diverge this year, taking their respective currencies with it. Exporters:When a country's currency strengthens, the effect that generally receives the most immediate attention is that on exports and profits. A strong sterling will also have an impact on companies', who have a strong internaitonal footprint, [...]
Rouble relief as Russian government steps in December 17, 2014 Following days of losses, the rouble strengthened against the dollar this afternoon after Russia's central bank outlined a range of measures to boost the countrys ailing banking sector. Among the measures put forward, the bank said it planned to freeze the valuation of banks' securities portfolios at the previous quarter, abolish caps on the amount [...]
Save money with a currency specialist November 19, 2014 Many people still rely on their banks when they need to make an international transfer, but banks don’t typically offer the most competitive exchange rates. With City A.M. International Payments you could get an exchange rate which is 3-4pc more competitive than you can expect from your high street bank. So on a transfer of [...]
As bankers warn of crisis risks, is the Chinese economy a cause for concern? January 11, 2015 Clare Howarth is lead Asia Pacific economist at Oxford Economics, says Yes. Chinese producer prices have been falling for almost three years, as growth slows and industry struggles with excess capacity. Falling oil prices have pushed producer price inflation (PPI) down faster in recent months, but are also partly a consequence of the cooling economy. [...]
Four principles to keep on track in slippery markets January 27, 2015 GLOBAL markets have served up an avalanche of events in 2015 so far – from a plunging oil price and euro, to rallying government bonds; from the removal of the Swiss franc floor, to the shock election results in Greece. It looks as if European markets will be setting the tone for global risk appetite [...]
Swiss central bank imposes negative interest rate: Franc drops against the euro December 18, 2014 The Swiss Central Bank (SCB) has moved to stop the franc hitting its currency exchange ceiling of 1.2 Swiss francs to the euro by imposing a 0.25 per cent tax on sight deposit account balances. A sight account is one in which funds can be transferred at speed and with no restriction, or withdrawn as [...]
BGC buys RP Martin assets December 15, 2014 AMERICAN inter-dealer broker BGC Partners yesterday reached agreement with UK-based rival RP Martin to buy its UK assets. Financial details of the deal remain undisclosed. The New York-based BGC also said it planned to buy RP Martin’s other businesses in Sweden and the Netherlands in 2015. BGC said RP Martin, which employs 170 brokers in [...]
Lloyd’s of London insurer Catlin’s profits jump ahead of takeover by rival XL February 10, 2015 The figures Lloyd's of London insurer Catlin reported gross written premiums of $5.97bn (£3.92bn) for the year ending December 2014, which was up 13 per cent from $5.30bn (£3.48bn) a year earlier. It said the figure was slightly inflated by foreign currency exchange rates and an increase in the value of multiyear contracts written during 2014 in [...]
Rouble jumps after months of steep drop November 10, 2014 THE RUSSIAN rouble strengthened against the dollar yesterday despite the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) announcing the abandonment of its exchange rate controls. A press release from the CBR said foreign exchange intervention might still be considered in the case of renewed “financial stability threats”, which may have reassured foreign exchange markets. Markets may also have [...]