FTSE falls on worry political unrest will increase oil price March 1, 2011 BRITAIN’S leading share index fell one per cent yesterday on concerns that political unrest could spread to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, pushing crude prices higher and sending oil-sensitive travel firms lower. Brent crude rose 1.8 per cent to above $113 a barrel on a report, promptly denied, of Saudi involvement to try and quell [...]
Oil supply fears cause further FTSE fall March 1, 2011 Fears of oil supply disruption due to Middle East unrest hit the FTSE in afternoon trading, pushing the FTSE 100 down 0.97 per cent to 5.935.76. Concerns that the political unrest could spread to major world oil exporter Saudi Arabia caused crude prices to rise still higher and sent oil-sensitive travel stocks lower. Brent crude [...]
Santander in sale of LatAm insurance arm February 22, 2011 INSURANCE giant Zurich Financial Services signed a $1.67bn (£1.03bn) distribution deal with Spanish bank Santander yesterday to fast track its growth in Latin America. The 25-year deal sees Zurich take a 51 per cent stake in Santander’s life insurance, pension and general insurance operations in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. The sale will free [...]
Zurich taps growth market February 22, 2011 YOU would think Santander must be mad for selling part of its life insurance business in Latin America. True, the industry hasn’t been growing at its scorching pre-crisis rate, but the potential still eclipses most other markets. In 2010, Santander grew its Latin American insurance premiums by almost a third to $1.9bn, and there is [...]
Close buys Zurich deposit book February 21, 2011 Financial group Close Brothers is buying a £300m deposit book from Zurich Financial’s Dunbar Bank unit, helping improve Close Brothers’ short-term funding needs. Close Brothers said it was paying a premium of £1.5m for the assets. It added that the acquisition would have a neutral effect on its earnings for 2011 but would have a [...]
States no longer monopolise citizens February 17, 2011 In a modern, global and open world, states have to compete for people. Weirdly, that is something that a large number of commentators have failed to recognise; they continue to argue as if Britain remained stuck in a pre-globalised world. They assume implicitly that governments remain quasi-monopolies, as was the case throughout most of human [...]
ABB promises $1bn cost cuts February 17, 2011 SWISS engineering company ABB has unveiled a further $1bn (£610m) of cost savings as it continues to cope with price pressures from increasingly competitive emerging market players and falling Asian orders. ABB’s new planned savings of more than $1bn build on deep cost cuts made during the recession. The firm said yesterday that price pressures [...]
Zurich profit slips 13 per cent February 10, 2011 Insurer Zurich Financial Services saw its 2010 profit fall 13 per cent to $4.9bn (£3.04bn) from $5.54bn in 2009, as catastrophe claims rose and it paid one-off costs in Russia and the US. Zurich, which wrote premiums of $33.1bn in 2010, made $3.45bn net profits, in line with market forecasts, and increased its dividend six [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 7, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SEC EYES MORTGAGE DISCLOSURES US securities regulators investigating the role of banks in the mortgage crisis are homing in on the question of whether investors were misled about the home loans used to back securities. The Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators have been investigating a wide range of banking activities in [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 7, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SEC EYES MORTGAGE DISCLOSURES US securities regulators investigating the role of banks in the mortgage crisis are homing in on the question of whether investors were misled about the home loans used to back securities. The Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators have been investigating a wide range of banking activities in [...]