Personal loan providers hike rates
by Gill Montia
Story link: Personal loan providers hike rates
Research from financial website, Moneyfacts, shows that people with personal loans are being hard-hit by rising repayment rates.
According to the data, 14 providers including Abbey, AA, Tesco Personal Finance, Bank of Scotland and Direct Line have hiked rates in the past month.
In the case of AA and Tesco Personal Finance, two rises have taken [...]
HBOS pre-tax profit plummets 72%
by Gill Montia
Story link: HBOS pre-tax profit plummets 72%
HBOS, owner of Bank of Scotland and Halifax, has reported a 72% fall in pre-tax profit in the first half of the year.
Pre-tax profit plummeted to £848 million, compared with £2.96 billion in the same period of 2007.
Underlying profit before tax stood at £1.45 billion, a 52% drop on the same time last year.
In [...]
Northern Rock job losses reduced to 1,300
by Gill Montia
Story link: Northern Rock job losses reduced to 1,300
Northern Rock has announced that job cuts at the nationalised lender will be lower than expected.
The bank, which has undertaken a radical restructure since its collapse last September, says it expects to make about 1,300 staff redundant.
Not all will be compulsory redundancies as around 500 members of staff are opting to leave voluntarily.
The [...]
Merrill fundraises again as it offloads CDO exposure
by Gill Montia
Story link: Merrill fundraises again as it offloads CDO exposure
Investment bank, Merrill Lynch, has announced plans to raise $8.5 billion in new capital, after revealing that it will be writing down $10.6 billion in the third quarter of the year.
According to a report in The Telegraph, Merrill has already written down $40 billion since the onset of the credit crisis.
The bank has raised $23.5 [...]
Morgan Stanley hire quartet of investment professionals
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Morgan Stanley hire quartet of investment professionals
Morgan Stanley has hired a quartet of senior investment professionals to enhance its private wealth management provision.
The team will cater to the needs of high net worth clients in the Latin American market and is to be based in New York.
Ruben Lerner and Manuel Uranga, both executive directors and investment representatives, will cover Venezuela, supported [...]
Morgan Stanley bolsters private wealth office
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Morgan Stanley bolsters private wealth office
Morgan Stanley has announced the appointment of Juan Dibildox as an investment representative in its private wealth management office.
He joins the firm from Lehman Brothers, where he was a financial advisor for Mexico, serving in the Miami office.
Earlier in his career he worked for investment bank Goldman Sachs as an associate.
In his Miami-based role, Dibildox [...]
Rabobank part of 3-way merger in Indonesia
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Rabobank part of 3-way merger in Indonesia
Rabobank has announced that Rabobank International Indonesia (RII) is to merge with Hagabank and Bank Hagakita.
As a result of this, it will become the leading international bank in Indonesia, with the largest branch network throughout the island nation.
Tony Costa, RII’s president director, has welcomed the move, which he stated required close collaboration with the authorities [...]
Lloyds TSB first-half profits falls 70%
by Gill Montia
Story link: Lloyds TSB first-half profits falls 70%
Lloyds TSB, the High Street bank that appeared to have been left relatively unscathed by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, has announced a sharp fall in first-half profit.
In the six months to the end of June profit fell 70% on the same period of 2007, as the bank wrote down £585 million.
The group posted statutory [...]
Financial Tradeware and FINCAD join forces to improve trader information
by Gill Montia
Story link: Financial Tradeware and FINCAD join forces to improve trader information
Financial Tradeware, which specialises in automated portfolio management, trading and accounting solutions for the funds industry, has joined the FINCAD Alliance Program.
The London-based firm will integrate FINCAD Analytics in a move aimed at developing new capabilities that meet the demands of fund and asset managers.
Working with investment manager application, Ultra.Net, and hedge fund portfolio management [...]
Deutsche Bank begins global launch of BCS Integrity
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Deutsche Bank begins global launch of BCS Integrity
Management consultancy service and operational control software firm, Business Control Solutions, declared that Deutsche Bank has begun to launch the worldwide roll-out of BCS Integrity in its Asia-Pacific branches.
Operating costs will be reduced by the software, which also enhances financial control through managing and centralising processes pertaining to account substantiation.
Initially the software is being launched [...]
Consumers scale back on unsecured debt
by Gill Montia
Story link: Consumers scale back on unsecured debt
The Bank of England has published data for June revealing a slowdown in the amount of unsecured debt taken on by consumers.
The figures, which cover all forms of consumer credit, show a £0.9 billion rise in unsecured lending.
The increase compares with £1.3 billion in May and an average rise of £1.2 billion over the previous [...]
ISA sales fall away as markets slide
by Gill Montia
Story link: ISA sales fall away as markets slide
The Investment Management Association (IMA) has published statistics for June showing that net sales of retail funds and Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) fell to their lowest level since the beginning of the year.
Last month, net retail fund sales stood at £139.5 million, down from £652.6 million May and £747.8 million in June 2007.
Net sales of [...]
Collins Stewart hires oil and gas research leader
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Collins Stewart hires oil and gas research leader
Independent investment bank Collins Stewart has announced the appointment of Gordon Gray as leader of the firm’s research in the fields of Oil & Gas.
Gray brings extensive experience with him, having spent more than a decade and a half working in the sector.
He joins Collins Stewart from US bank JPMorgan, and is to be tasked [...]
UniCredit strengthens Equity Capital Markets team
by Richard Kilner
Story link: UniCredit strengthens Equity Capital Markets team
UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking has bolstered its Equity Capital Markets (ECM) team with the recruitment of three new managers.
Christian Steffens is appointed as worldwide deputy leader for ECM, with Mark Coxon named as global chief of Equity and Equity-Linked Syndicate.
Earlier in his career Steffens has worked for Lehman Brothers in their German Equity Capital [...]
Crédit Agricole appoint Brazilian SCO
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Crédit Agricole appoint Brazilian SCO
Crédit Agricole has announced the appointment of Bernard Mignucci as the firm’s new SCO for Brazil.
Mignucci, who will assume the role in September, has been responsible for the leadership of the international work, beginning at Crédit Lyonnais and then, more recently, at Calyon.
Earlier in his career he garnered experience of Asia, serving as the country [...]
FSCS settles compensation claims of £82 million
by Gill Montia
Story link: FSCS settles compensation claims of £82 million
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has published its 2007/08 annual report, in which it illustrates the improvements it has made to customer service and in cost containment.
The scheme ended the year £6 million under budget and also reduced waiting times for consumers.
It paid more than £82 million in compensation, offsetting this figure by recovering [...]
Tesco announces plans to enter retail banking
by Gill Montia
Story link: Tesco announces plans to enter retail banking
Tesco has announced plans to enter the UK’s retail banking sector.
The supermarket giant has become sole owner of Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) after buying out 50/50 joint venture partner, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), for £950 million.
TPF currently offers its customers insurance, credit card, personal loan and savings products and RBS will continue to provide [...]
Abbey poised to overtake Halifax as UK’s largest mortgage lender
by Gill Montia
Story link: Abbey poised to overtake Halifax as UK’s largest mortgage lender
Abbey’s share of the UK mortgage market increased to 25% in the first half of 2008, having trebled to 15.9% in the first three months of the year (year-on-year).
While other lenders have been scaling back, Abbey’s Spanish parent company, Santander, has cushioned it from large scale funding difficulties and the bank is now poised to [...]
Blackstone to acquire AlliedBarton Security Services
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Blackstone to acquire AlliedBarton Security Services
A deal has been struck between AlliedBarton Security Services, a leading physical security company, and asset manager/financial advisory firm The Blackstone Group, whereby Blackstone’s private equity fund will acquire AlliedBarton.
The agreement is a tremendous opportunity for AlliedBarton to enjoy continued growth, according to its chairman, CEO and president Bill Whitmore.
Blackstone’s Chinh Chu, senior managing director, [...]
Calyon name new Asia and Japan leaders
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Calyon name new Asia and Japan leaders
Calyon has announced the appointment of Patrice Couvègnes as leader of the Asia Region (not including Australia and Japan) and that he has been granted a place on the firm’s management committee.
He brings more than three decades of banking experience to the role, having joined Banque Française du Commerce Extérieur in 1975 after leaving the [...]
