Spanish banks hold promise of strong profits this year May 3, 2010 SPANISH stocks had a torrid time last week. After Spain’s government debt was downgraded a notch from AA+ to AA, the Ibex 35, the Spanish stock market index, fell 4 per cent. But while domestic woes are far from resolved – unemployment is now more than 20 per cent – Spain’s biggest bank looks like [...]
HOW DO THE RESULTS FROM BARCLAYS AND HSBC COMPARE WITH EACH OTHER? November 10, 2009 JAAP MEIJER EVOLUTIONWe failed to be particularly excited by HSBC as it seems more of a turnaround story with cost-cutting and bad debts peaking. By contrast, we feel Barclays Capital can truly be made into an immensely profitable business post-acquisition of Lehman Brothers – currently the numbers are spoiled by large impairments but when they [...]
SMEs will save the UK… but my kids are all learning Spanish just in case July 12, 2010 WOL KOLADE, managing partner at Isis, is worried. The future of private equity – and the UK economy as a whole – is at a turning point, he says, and he’s not sure which way things will go. And when Kolade worries, people should listen – he knows what he is talking about. He joined [...]
SMEs will save the UK… but my kids are all learning Spanish just in case July 12, 2010 WOL KOLADE, managing partner at Isis, is worried. The future of private equity – and the UK economy as a whole – is at a turning point, he says, and he’s not sure which way things will go. And when Kolade worries, people should listen – he knows what he is talking about. He joined [...]
BP May 16, 2010 IT doesn’t rain it pours. Or in the case of BP, it spills. The situation facing the oil major goes from bad to worse. Chief executive Tony Hayward, initially credited with changing the firm’s reputation in the wake of the Texas oil refinery explosion, limps from one public relations disaster to the next. Analysts from [...]
Government may spilt up large banks May 12, 2010 BANKS may be forced to split their retail and trading operations in a bid by the new coalition government to water down risk in the City. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats yesterday announced a one-year inquiry into the sector that could see the so-called “Volcker rule” imposed on the UK’s institutions. The rule, named after [...]
FTSE rises for fourth day in a row as miners offset a sharp decline for BP June 14, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed higher yesterday for a fourth straight day, led by miners buoyed by firmer metals prices and offsetting a sharp fall in BP. The FTSE 100 index closed up 38.45 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 5,202.13, its highest close since 3 June. Mining stocks added the most points to the [...]
City Moves | who’s switching jobs Edited June 14, 2010 Future Capital Partners The investment boutique has hired Tim West as its new deputy chief executive. West joins from Babcock and Brown, where he was head of the London office and chief operating officer for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Prior to that, he held the position of European chief operating officer for [...]
Banks to be hit with bigger bill for FSA May 28, 2010 MAJOR banks must dig deeper into their pockets over the coming year to pay for tougher supervision, the Financial Services Authority has said. The FSA is wholly funded from levies on financial firms and said its annual bill for 2010-11 will jump ten per cent to £454.7m though 60 per cent of firms will actually [...]
European Central Bank moves swiftly to sterilise government bond buying May 17, 2010 THE European Central Bank yesterday laid out plans to sterilise its controversial government bond purchases, in a rapidly orchestrated move designed to quash fears the buy-ups will lead to a surge in inflation. The ECB also revealed €16.5bn (£14.1bn) worth of bond purchases had been settled by last Friday, giving markets their first true glimpse [...]