CITY VIEWS: SHOULD PRUDENTIAL MANAGEMENT BE FORCED TO RESIGN? June 9, 2010 ARIF MALIK | BARCLAYS “The management must be held responsible for the AIA situation. If Prudential’s shares were in demand then they should not have had a problem with the rights issue but for it to reach this stage now, senior figures are partly to blame. It may be a better idea to have a [...]
Diamond to testify in US April 25, 2010 A RAFT of high-profile figures from Barclays and Lehman Brothers will appear before a US court over the coming fortnight in a case to determine whether the British bank underpaid for the American firm. Bob Diamond, president of Barclays, will join former Lehman president and chief operating officer Bart McDade to run over Barclays’ dramatic [...]
SHOULD THE MPC BE WORRIED ABOUT THE RISE IN INFLATION EXPECTATIONS? June 13, 2010 MICHAEL SAUNDERS | CITIGROUP “Signs that high CPI and RPI figures are lifting inflation expectations are bound to worry the MPC. The MPC takes the inflation target seriously and it cannot stand by if it loses credibility. So far, longer-term inflation expectations remain fairly stable, combined with early fiscal tightening will keep the MPC on [...]
SHOULD THE MPC BE WORRIED ABOUT THE RISE IN INFLATION EXPECTATIONS? June 13, 2010 MICHAEL SAUNDERS | CITIGROUP “Signs that high CPI and RPI figures are lifting inflation expectations are bound to worry the MPC. The MPC takes the inflation target seriously and it cannot stand by if it loses credibility. So far, longer-term inflation expectations remain fairly stable, combined with early fiscal tightening will keep the MPC on [...]
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 [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS July 15, 2010 BP: ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY At last, some good news for BP. Its stock has sunk so low – closing yesterday at 401.75p – that investors are jumping at the chance to snap up cheap stakes in the oil giant. Clients of Barclays Stockbrokers have been piling into the stock – a third of [...]
The City boys offering a cut above | City A.M. September 24, 2010 IF YOU can find it in the medieval maze between Lombard Street and Cornhill, tailoring shop Cad & the Dandy is a delightful place to get yourself togged up. It mixes old-fashioned charm – an antique mahogany cutting table, an old leather sofa for those waiting to be measured up, a Union Jack across one [...]
The City boys offering a cut above September 23, 2010 IF YOU can find it in the medieval maze between Lombard Street and Cornhill, tailoring shop Cad & the Dandy is a delightful place to get yourself togged up. It mixes old-fashioned charm – an antique mahogany cutting table, an old leather sofa for those waiting to be measured up, a Union Jack across one [...]
Meet the CEO of the most important City firm you have never heard of October 24, 2010 As he saunters into his office in the City, Tim Howell, the chief executive of European settlement house Euroclear, looks cool and collected. He certainly doesn’t look like a man caught in the most classic of all business squeezes – with clients wanting him to improve his services while being adamant they should pay less [...]
Germany’s bonds in EU stress tests July 11, 2010 THE most dramatic stress scenario for tests being applied to European banks envisages write-downs of 2.3 per cent on German government bonds, 20 per cent on Greek sovereign debt and between five and 11 per cent apiece in the case of other periphery Eurozone countries such as Portugal and Italy, reports suggested yesterday. The “shock” [...]