Myners disagrees with Obama on pay October 21, 2009 IT is almost funny how, in our topsy-turvy world, highly-paid bank workers are now being accused of exploiting the capitalist class in the form of bank shareholders. The latest to make that claim is Lord Myners, the City Minister, who described the present levels of bonuses as “a market failure”, by which he meant proof [...]
AB InBev sells nine breweries for $3bn October 15, 2009 BEVERAGES giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) sold nine Central European breweries to buyout house CVC in a deal worth as much as $3bn (£1.8bn) yesterday. The sale, under which CVC will get the rights to sell brands like Stella Artois, Becks and Hooegaarden in the region, is the third by the firm in recent months. [...]
Singapore’s GIC profits on Citi stake sale September 22, 2009 SINGAPORE’S sovereign wealth fund GIC has sold half of the nine per cent stake in Citigroup it acquired amid the banking crisis, booking a profit of $1.6bn (£980m) on the back of the rally in the markets. GIC offloaded the stake after the conversion earlier this month of $6.8bn worth of its convertible preferred stock [...]
Singapore’s GIC profits on Citi stake sale September 22, 2009 SINGAPORE’S sovereign wealth fund GIC has sold half of the nine per cent stake in Citigroup it acquired amid the banking crisis, booking a profit of $1.6bn (£980m) on the back of the rally in the markets. GIC offloaded the stake after the conversion earlier this month of $6.8bn worth of its convertible preferred stock [...]
IT’S OFFICIAL: BANK PROFITS ARE BACK August 2, 2009 BRITAIN’S biggest banks will this week herald a return to the gilded banking days of old as they post bumper interim profits, despite the impact of their mounting bad debts. Barclays is this morning expected to reveal a first-half pre-tax profit of £3.5bn, boosted by a stellar performance in its investment banking division, Barclays Capital, [...]
City warns of flaws in living wills proposal September 15, 2009 THE CITY yesterday flagged up flaws in proposals that will force banks to write “living wills” to help regulators wind them up in the event that they collapse.Chancellor Alistair Darling said yesterday that the government was planning to introduce legislation in November which would require banks to make their corporate structures more simple and provide [...]
Why Boris is wrong to attack the City October 19, 2009 UNTIL now, I thought that Boris Johnson understood how the City works. Now, however, I’m not so sure: yesterday, he said he understood why so many people view Goldman Sachs “as a giant vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity”. The reason? Because, says Boris, “instead of planning to hand out gigantic bonuses to [...]
IS THE FTSE 100 RALLY A TRUE REFLECTION OF MARKET VALUES? August 31, 2009 HENK POTTS BARCLAYS WEALTH“The earnings season has given more support than anticipated, largely because firms have cut back. In the short-term we have to be a lot more cautious. But in the long term, if we are going into a period of recovery and companies are leaner and meaner, we are looking at some great [...]
IS THE FTSE 100 RALLY A TRUE REFLECTION OF MARKET VALUES? August 31, 2009 HENK POTTS BARCLAYS WEALTH“The earnings season has given more support than anticipated, largely because firms have cut back. In the short-term we have to be a lot more cautious. But in the long term, if we are going into a period of recovery and companies are leaner and meaner, we are looking at some great [...]
Veteran asset managers see consolidation September 7, 2009 A QUARTET of top names in the asset management industry have predicted a period of consolidation, coupled with simplification and heightened scrutiny of the financial products they offer. Martin Gilbert, who heads Aberdeen Asset Management, said he expected there to be “fewer asset managers in three years than there are today”. “Firms today can be [...]