Young entrepreneurs are hope for the future May 10, 2010 LAST Friday night, I spent the evening in Hatfield House – one of my favourite UK historical sites as Queen Elizabeth I is my hero – with the top entrepreneurs of the University of Hertfordshire, which was shortlisted for the Times Higher Education “Entrepreneurial University of 2009” award. The university, whose chancellor is the Tory [...]
Barclays seals deal to buy StanLife Bank October 26, 2009 BARCLAYS yesterday agreed to pay £226m for the banking division of Standard Life, allowing the Edinburgh-based life insurer to refocus on its core business. The relatively modest deal will add £5.5bn in deposits and 287,000 new accounts to Barclays’ massive base of 15m current account customers. The banking unit last year became a thorn in [...]
Qataris make millions from Barclays sale October 20, 2009 GULF state vehicle Qatar Holding yesterday offloaded half of its share warrants in Barclays, netting the bank’s biggest shareholder a fast profit of over £600m. Qatari investors, who still hold a direct shareholding of over seven per cent in Barclays, were issued with the warrants last November at a subscription price of 197.775p, as part [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 20, 2010 Aviva The insurance giant has appointed Dipak Warren as a corporate risk solutions director. Warren joins from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance in London, which she joined in 2000. In her last role as active underwriter and director of the firm, she was responsible for the syndicate business plan and performance across property, casualty, motor, PI, marine, [...]
Sir Nigel Rudd resigns as chair of Pendragon April 29, 2010 SERIAL non-executive Sir Nigel Rudd, the man who co-founded and built up Williams Holdings, is to step down as chairman of motor dealer Pendragon, which was spun out of the conglomerate two decades ago. Rudd said yesterday he had been considering retiring from Pendragon for some time but had been prevented from leaving until now [...]
Lloyds and Barclays facing suit October 6, 2009 Lloyds and Barclays are facing a group legal action from mortgage borrowers who took out shared appreciation mortgages (SAMs) where they released equity from their houses. The High Court has granted an order for the group of more than 300 to sue the banks on the basis the products were unfair.
Lloyds and Barclays facing suit October 6, 2009 Lloyds and Barclays are facing a group legal action from mortgage borrowers who took out shared appreciation mortgages (SAMs) where they released equity from their houses. The High Court has granted an order for the group of more than 300 to sue the banks on the basis the products were unfair.
Merkel declares war on the speculators May 20, 2010 GERMAN chancellor Angela Merkel declared war on speculators yesterday, just hours after she threw world markets into turmoil by announcing a ban on short selling. Merkel told the Bundestag: “This challenge is existential and we have to rise to it. The euro is in danger. If we don’t deal with this danger, the consequences for [...]
Barclays mulls 4bn sale October 11, 2009 Barclays is considering the sale of a portfolio of credit assets worth £4bn as it continues to clean up its balance sheet in an attempt to further reassure investors. A sale would follow last month’s deal in which the bank effectively ring-fenced $12.3bn (£7.8bn) in risky credit market assets by packaging them into a fund, [...]
Boots tops reputation poll as banks languish April 28, 2010 Alliance Boots knocked Marks & Spencer off the top spot, in a survey of company reputation. The Reputation Institute’s UK Pulse Report 2010 ranked retail brands highly but the list of 140 firms made torrid reading for the finance industry. Royal Bank of Scotland languished at 138, with Lloyds at 136 and Barclays at 129. [...]