The Capitalist: Labour’s boost for wealth advisors and bane for private schools plus friends like Boris’
RBS in row over Wimbledon spend June 21, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland is headed for new controversy, just days after securing the return of some of former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension, after it emerged that the bailed out bank is to spend £300,000 on corporate entertaining at Wimbledon. According to a leaked email, RBS will splash out £19,500 a day on [...]
Telereal Trillium agrees debt November 18, 2009 Telereal Trillium, the property investment vehicle owned by the William Pears Group, has pulled off a £340m debt refinancing with four banks. The restructure, one of the biggest transactions this year, was arranged between Telereal Trillium and Barclays, Lloyds, Germany’s Eurohypo and Spain’s Santander. Graham Edwards, Telereal Trillium’s chief executive, said: “We are very grateful [...]
Pru’s UK chief leaves after missing out on the top job July 2, 2009 PRUDENTIAL’S UK and Europe chief executive Nick Prettejohn is to leave the insurance giant after being passed over for the group chief executive job. Prettejohn, who joined the company three and a half years ago, was seen as one of the leading contenders to succeed Mark Tucker, who will part company with Prudential in September. [...]
Time to call a halt to the reporting season pile-up August 5, 2009 THE blizzard of blue chip companies reporting major results in the past fortnight has turned into an avalanche. Yesterday marked the last of the overwhelming diary days – at least for a while. The respite is a relief for the analysts tasked with producing research notes based on the results, not to mention shareholders and [...]
Osborne to scrap FSA and beef up the Bank July 20, 2009 THE BANK of England will become the UK’s main financial regulator and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) will be abolished if the Conservatives win the next election, shadow chancellor George Osborne said yesterday. In the Tory response to chancellor Alistair Darling’s white paper on financial regulation, Osborne said he would “lead the British economy from [...]
Osborne to scrap FSA and beef up the Bank July 20, 2009 THE BANK of England will become the UK’s main financial regulator and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) will be abolished if the Conservatives win the next election, shadow chancellor George Osborne said yesterday. In the Tory response to chancellor Alistair Darling’s white paper on financial regulation, Osborne said he would “lead the British economy from [...]
BNP Paribas books 45pc rise in profit November 5, 2009 INVESTMENT banking and acquisitions helped France’s BNP Paribas to beat forecasts with higher third-quarter profits, but it was silent about whether it may buy parts of ailing British banks. Assets bought by BNP?from Fortis boosted the eurozone’s second-largest bank after Spain’s Santander, as well as taking investment banking and wealth management market share from rivals [...]
A SIGH OF RELIEF FOR FUND GURU DUFFIELD August 4, 2009 AFTER months of being down on his luck, perhaps the tide is starting to turn for veteran fund management guru John Duffield and his newest business venture, Brompton Asset Management. Duffield, who also previously set up Jupiter and New Star, originally named the firm Hyde Park Asset Management, before hedge fund marketing firm Hyde Park [...]
EXCLUSIVE July 1, 2009 STANDARD Chartered, the emerging markets bank, is close to confirming acting chairman John Peace as its new chairman, sources said last night. The impending appointment, after a period of search led by consultants Egon Zehnder, means it is ever more likely that Win Bischoff, the 67 year-old former chairman of Citigroup, will take the job as chairman of Lloyds [...]
Rally ends as weak miners nudge FTSE down slightly August 10, 2009 THE FTSE 100 edged down yesterday, with investors booking profits from hefty gains in miners and banks last week, while the market searched for direction as the earnings season tailed off. The index ended down 0.2 per cent, or 9.36 points at 4,722.20, not far from a 10-month closing high of 4,731.56 on Friday. A [...]