Standard Chartered bonus bungle shows investors need to speak up March 4, 2015 Falling profits, boardroom turmoil and a declining return on equity: by any measure, Standard Chartered’s 2014 was a year to forget. So the decision of Peter Sands (whose resignation last week was met with a surge in the bank’s share price) to forgo a variable pay award for the year was necessary to avoid a [...]
FTSE climbs in late rally as BA owner IAG soars – London Report March 4, 2015 BRITAIN’S top share index rebounded late yesterday, helped by a surge in British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG) due to strong traffic figures and by rallies in broadcaster ITV and bank Standard Chartered. The FTSE 100 snapped a three-day losing streak to end 0.4 per cent higher at 6,919.24 points after trading as low [...]
Standard Chartered share price rises as boss Peter Sands gives up bonus March 4, 2015 Shares in troubled bank Standard Chartered were up six per cent this morning, despite reporting a sharp drop in pre-tax profits. Investor optimism was clearly high, as outgoing boss Peter Sands, who, it was revealed last week, will be replaced by Bill Winters, announced he and the rest of the board will forego their bonuses. [...]
Indian central bank cuts interest rates for the second time this year March 4, 2015 The central bank in Asia's third largest economy surprised investors last night, by cutting its policy repo rate from 7.75 per cent to 7.5 per cent, the second time it's made such a cut this year. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said a weaker economy had pushed it to make the cut outside its [...]
Standard Chartered March 3, 2015 The figures The London-based, Asia-focused bank Revenue: $18.27bn (or 2.66 per cent decline)Adjusted net income: $4.06bn (or 16 per cent drop)Write-off: $3bn (largely on metals) "The first-half numbers came in better than expected — revenue was $9.26 billion and adjusted net income was $2.35 billion when dealers were anticipating $9.22 billion and $2.31 billion respectively." [...]
Bank reshuffle raises issues at Burberry – Editor’s Letter March 1, 2015 Sir John Peace is widely admired in the City and until recently held positions as chair of both the emerging markets bank Standard Chartered and the fashion group Burberry. Until last week, those who expected him to give up one of those posts so he could give more time to the one he kept, had [...]
Housing data shows lending and price rises – London Report March 1, 2015 HOUSING data due this week is likely to show increases in both prices and the number of mortgages being taken out. Bank of England mortgage approval figures, out today, are forecast to show that the number of housing loans rose modestly for a second month running in January after falling for five successive months to [...]
From Greece and Natalie Bennett to the banks and London’s skyline: Here’s what got us talking this week February 27, 2015 There was a lot of talk about a dress. And quite a bit about the llama drama. But here at City A.M. Towers, we were obsessing about plenty of other things. Greece finally managed to break the stalemate over its debt, negotiating a four month extension with Germany, and ending weeks of debate about a [...]
Bill Winters takes top Standard Chartered job: The City’s favourite adopted son takes on a risky challenge February 27, 2015 Not many investment bankers’ names are greeted with utterly unmitigated praise, particularly ones with major roles in the financial crisis. But once you ask former colleagues of Bill Winters about his qualities, it is hard to stop the flood of superlatives. “He is the best leader I have ever met. He saved the bank in [...]
New Standard Chartered boss Bill Winters to sell Renshaw Bay stake February 26, 2015 Bill Winters is understood to be looking to sell his stake in giant asset manager Renshaw Bay as he prepares to take over as chief executive of Standard Chartered. Winters, alongside Reinet Investments, owns more than half of the company. The ex-JP Morgan star set up Renshaw in 2011, attracting the backing of big names including [...]