Piper Jaffray, an international middle market investment firm, has announced a trio of appointments made to bolster its municipal finance banking offering, and to grow its California large issuer business. Bernie Mikell, Russell Reyes and Rosalyn Chen are all recruited to focus upon Piper Jaffray’s government financing business in California, on both a state and [...]
HBOS has revealed that only 8.29% of shareholders have taken up their rights in the bank’s £4 billion fundraising. The rights issue is underwritten by Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort who are now faced with placing £3.5 billion worth of the group’s stock. Shares in the bank have this morning been trading at 3p below [...]
The take-up of HBOS’s rights issue may be so poor that it could leave underwriters, Morgan Stanley and Dresdner, with £3.6 billion worth of the bank’s stock. According to reports in the press over the weekend, only around 10% of shareholders participated in £4 billion fundraising. The group, which owns Halifax and Bank of Scotland, [...]
Starting today, customers of French bank Crédit Agricole will be able to use their iPhones to view their bank accounts. The service will exclude securities accounts, and has been provided in line with the bank’s commitment to innovation and utilising emerging technology to the benefit of its customers. Pages specially adapted to using the iPhone [...]
Nomura Securities International, Inc (NSI) has announced the appointment of Surat Maheshwari as managing director of the Fixed Income division. Maheshwari also assumes leadership of Private Placements and US Debt Capital Markets. He joins NSI after four years spent with Dresdner Kleinwort where he led US Syndicate and Private Placements. During his career he has [...]
US investment bank JP Morgan Chase has recorded second-quarter profits above market expectations. The firm wrote down $1.1 billion during the quarter and net profit fell year-on-year by 53%, to $2 billion. However, $540 million of the write down was in connection with the firm’s acquisition of Bear Stearns, in May. The news was well [...]
Banks and building societies are offering the highest savings rates in seven years. Since the onset of the credit crisis, cash-strapped lenders have been keen to boost their retail deposits and according to research from financial website, Moneyfacts, competition is fierce, with savings rates on offer as high as 10%. Accounts that require no notice [...]
Bradford & Bingley (B&B) shareholders have voted in favour of the bank’s proposed rights issue. The buy-to-let lender has reported that around 223 million shareholders voted for the plan, while seven million voted against and nine million abstained. Support for the £400 million fundraising came despite the bank’s share price having dropped below the rights [...]
The credit crisis has seen a dramatic shrinkage in the number of UK providers of secured loans, which are commonly used by people wishing to consolidate debt. Last week, Barclays announced that it was withdrawing its FirstPlus loans from 9th August because of a downturn in business. Financial website moneyfacts.co.uk has since reported that seven [...]
Michael Phalen has joined Wachovia Securities’ investment banking division as managing director. He brings more than ten years of experience with restaurants to his position, and leaves behind Oppenheimer where he worked as managing director to join Wachovia. During his career he has also worked for CIBC World Markets and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Phalen’s role [...]
Weberbank Actiengesellschaft’s supervisory board has appointed Andreas Goßmann to serve as chief executive officer. Goßmann has had a long career in the banking sector, developing expertise in asset management and private banking. He spent 13 years with the Dresdner Bank Group and occupied a range of senior positions, leaving the firm six years ago. After [...]
Independent investment bank Collins Stewart has augmented its equity research team with a brace of appointments. Imran Akram and Aaron Guy are appointed as senior analysts. Akram is to lead the firm’s coverage of construction materials, house building and real estate sectors. He joins the firm from Germany’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank, where he spent [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has completed an investigation into the UK banking sector’s provision of personal current accounts and has concluded that many consumers do not know how much they are paying in charges or the rate of interest they receive on their current account. There are estimated to be 54 million active [...]
Moneyfacts.co.uk has reported a marked increase in the charges levied by credit card providers since April of this year. According to the firm’s latest research, 19 credit card providers have raised purchase rates, five have imposed higher balance transfer fees and eight have hiked their charges for cash withdrawals, in the past four months. The [...]
Paul Griffin is to join Cowen Group, it has been announced. He leaves behind Oppenheimer & Co. where he worked as MD and leader of the Boston-based Software Investment Banking Group. Earlier in his career Griffin worked for CIBC World Markets, as MD of the Technology Investment Banking Group. Griffin will serve as a managing [...]
International investment bank Houlihan Lokey has announced the appointment of Florus Plantenga as a director in the London office. He joins the firm from Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking, where he served in London and Paris for the last five years. Earlier in his career he also worked for investment banks Merrill Lynch, JP [...]
CIFAS, the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service, has published new research showing that London and the South-East are the country’s key hotspots for fraudulent applications across all product sectors. The organisation recorded 104,548 confirmed cases of fraud from January to July 2008, a 14% rise on a year earlier. Bank account and credit card fraud topped [...]
