CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 24, 2010 VANGUARD INVESTMENTS The investment group has appointed David Plumstead to lead its institutional and corporate sales team in the UK. Plumstead initially joined Vanguard in July last year as business development manager, responsible for managing relationships across UK platforms. He has over 25 years of industry experience and previously worked for both Clerical Medical and [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS April 21, 2010 FIRST LISTING FOR RBS’S ETC PLATFORM Standard Commodities, the Royal Bank of Scotland’s exchange-traded commodities (ETC) platform, launched its first product on the Frankfurt Xetra stock exchange this week. Its physical gold ETC gives investors exposure to the performance of the London gold market fix price and the ETC is denominated in euros. The ETC [...]
Employees reap a $4.9bn pay day March 3, 2010 STANDARD Chartered dished out a $4.9bn compensation package for its employees as it announced record profits. Its remuneration ratio is 32 per cent of its $15.2bn revenue – slightly down from the 34 per cent handed out the year before. It works out at $64,000 for each of its 77,000 staff. The amount given in [...]
FTSE 100 hits 22-month high as solid US results boost investor sentiment April 14, 2010 BRITAIN’s top share index hit a 22-month closing high yesterday, as solid results from JP Morgan and Intel and strong US retail sales lifted hopes that a recovery in the world’s biggest economy is gaining momentum. The FTSE 100 closed up 34.59 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,796.25 — its highest close since June [...]
Be discerning about Europe’s banking sector June 13, 2010 THE last two years have been cataclysmic for the global banking sector. Yet most banks managed to stay afloat during the financial crisis and have returned to profitability this year. And after the wave of volatility that hit the markets in recent weeks, banking stocks are beginning to look cheap. But should investors be buying [...]
Citi’s Shedlin joins rival bank March 8, 2010 Gary Shedlin, who was most recently chairman of Citigroup’s investment banking effort for financial institutions, is departing to join Morgan Stanley, a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman said. Shedlin in his new position with Morgan Stanley will be a vice chairman focused on financial institutions, spokeswoman Alyson Barnes said. His position will be a new one. While [...]
Oil and mining shares drag FTSE lower as commodity price falls take their toll April 13, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading shares shed 0.3 per cent yesterday as oils and miners fell back on lower commodity prices, while banks moved lower on investor caution ahead of first-quarter results in the United States. At the close, the FTSE 100 was down 15.99 points at 5,761.66, having been stuck in a tight 37 point trading range [...]
Don’t forget about volatile silver: it is a decent alternative to gold May 16, 2010 AS ONE might have expected, renewed risk aversion and fears about sovereign debt have sent the price of gold sky high. The precious metal hit a record high last week of $1,242.70 as investors scrambled for perceived safe havens. But with all the attention lavished on gold, the recent strength of silver has gone remarkably [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS May 5, 2010 DB X-TRACKERS LAUNCHES S&P 500 ETF Deutsche Bank’s exchange-traded fund (ETF) arm db x-trackers announced on Monday the launch of its new S&P 500 Index ETF, which is UCITS III compliant. The fund will be listed on various European and Asian stock exchanges from the middle of this month but institutional investors can trade the [...]
Banks boost FTSE after Euro bailout May 10, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index scored its biggest one-day per cent rise in nearly 18 months yesterday as the $1 trillion (£645bn) Eurozone rescue package doused concerns of EU debt defaults and further economic dislocation. Bank stocks, which plunged last week on their exposure to debts of Greece and other EU states, led the advance as [...]