MPC member calls for rates to be cut
by Richard Kilner
Story link: MPC member calls for rates to be cut
A member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has warned that without a cut in interest rates, house prices could slump by 30% and 2 million could be unemployed by Christmas.
Professor David Blanchflower, part of the Bank of England’s MPC, made his stark assessment in an interview with news agency Reuters.
Professor Blanchflower has called for [...]
Wachovia strengthens Wealth Management team in Virginia
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Wachovia strengthens Wealth Management team in Virginia
Wachovia Wealth Management has announced the appointment of Thomas E. Beames, Jr as regional director of Richmond Wealth Management Private Banking team.
He has been affiliated with Wachovia and its predecessors for more than two decades, most recently as senior VP and regional MD of Florida’s Wachovia Trust and Investment Advisory Services.
The move has been made [...]
B&B posts £26.7m loss as arrears soar
by Gill Montia
Story link: B&B posts £26.7m loss as arrears soar
The UK’s biggest buy-to-let lender, Bradford & Bingley (B&B), has posted a loss of £26.7 million for the six months to the end of June.
The result compares with a pre-tax profit of £180.4 million in the same period of 2007.
Credit impairment charges for the six months rose to £74.6 million, up from £5.3 million in [...]
Rates rise on easy-access savings
by Gill Montia
Story link: Rates rise on easy-access savings
Financial data firm, Defaqto, has found that interest rates on easy-access savings accounts have been rising.
According to a recent survey by the analyst, 28% of easy-access accounts currently on offer are paying interest at above the Bank of England’s base rate (5%).
By comparison, in 2007, 21% of such accounts offered an above base rate return, [...]
Crédit Agricole reveals interim results
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Crédit Agricole reveals interim results
Yesterday the board of directors, chaired by René Carron, of French bank Crédit Agricole met to review its interim financial results.
In the first half of the year the bank generated a net income of €968m, taking into account the substantial damage caused by worldwide financial turbulence.
In total the global financial crisis was reckoned to cost [...]
Morgan Stanley bolsters Infrastructure team
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Morgan Stanley bolsters Infrastructure team
Gautam Bhandari has been appointed by Morgan Stanley to lead the firm’s investment platform of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure.
In his new Mumbai-based position, Bhandari will lead the team responsible for investment in India, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
Taking up his new role, he leaves behind New York where he worked within Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking [...]
VTB appoints CEO for Europe
by Richard Kilner
Story link: VTB appoints CEO for Europe
Russia’s VTB Group has announced the appointment of Herbert Moos as the new chief executive officer of VTB Bank Europe plc., which falls under the umbrella of the Group’s Investment Business.
He leaves behind his role as chief financial officer of Asia-Pacific (less Japan) with US investment bank Lehman Brothers, where he worked for 14 years.
Moos, [...]
Smaller US banks could fail in their hundreds
by Gill Montia
Story link: Smaller US banks could fail in their hundreds
Insolvency firm, Begbies Traynor International, says it expects up to 300 smaller US banks to fail over the next three years.
The warning comes only days after Harvard economist, Professor Kenneth Rogoff, predicted that the credit crisis would not pass without at least one high profile collapse in the US.
The former head of the International Monetary [...]
Scotiabank and Bank of Beijing to collaborate
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Scotiabank and Bank of Beijing to collaborate
Canadian firm Scotiabank and the Bank of Beijing are to jointly establish a fund management company.
Details have been finalised for the deal, with the Bank of Beijing to have a 33% stake, valued at around US$15m (£8m).
The green light is still required from Chinese regulators for the Bank of Beijing Scotiabank Asset Management Co. Ltd. [...]
JPMorgan and IFC aim to boost Asia-Pacific trade
by Richard Kilner
Story link: JPMorgan and IFC aim to boost Asia-Pacific trade
JPMorgan and IFC (part of the World Bank Group) are together launching a new trade finance structure in Asia-Pacific, designed to bolster regional trade.
The funded trade advance will offer post-import and pre-export financing to banks, and combines multiple transactions into a single trade facility.
The advance, which is a part of the IFC Global Trade Finance [...]
Deutsche Bank wins Asset Management award
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Deutsche Bank wins Asset Management award
The insurance division of Deutsche Asset Management has won the Best Asset Manager award, given out by worldwide insurance market magazine, Reactions.
An extensive insurance industry survey decides the winners of the Reactions’ 2008 Global Awards, and the results were announced in New York yesterday.
The awards were established to give special recognition to the insurance and [...]
Rise in the number of troubled US banks
by Gill Montia
Story link: Rise in the number of troubled US banks
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) of the US has reported that its list of troubled US banks has risen from 90 to 117.
The corporation is an independent agency of the federal government which guarantees customer deposits in US banks.
Its latest quarterly list of troubled banks is the longest since mid-2003 and Sheila Bair, who [...]
New guidelines promise to speed up ISA transfers
by Gill Montia
Story link: New guidelines promise to speed up ISA transfers
The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has issued new guidance on the transfer of funds from Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs).
Consumers have long been complaining that they are losing interest as a result of delays in transfers and the new regulations should reduce the time taken to complete the process.
The BBA has joined forces with the Building [...]
RBS appoints three non-executive directors
by Gill Montia
Story link: RBS appoints three non-executive directors
Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed three independent directors to its board.
Stephen Hester, the chief executive of British Land, John McFarlane, a former Standard Chartered and Citibank executive and Arthur Ryan, a former chairman of Prudential Financial, will take up their roles as non-executive directors from 1st October.
Mr Hester is currently deputy chairman of [...]
Northern Rock arrears exposure in question
by Gill Montia
Story link: Northern Rock arrears exposure in question
Evidence of Northern Rock mortgage borrowers falling into arrears at a faster than average rate has fuelled fears that the cost to the taxpayer of the bank’s nationalisation is rising.
The lender’s default and repossession rates have been highlighted in a report on Granite, a Jersey-based company, by credit rating agency, Standard & Poor (S&P).
Granite is [...]
Mortgage and unsecured lending declines by £11bn in a year
by Gill Montia
Story link: Mortgage and unsecured lending declines by £11bn in a year
Price comparison website, uSwitch.com, has calculated that lending in the mortgage and unsecured loan market has fallen by £11 billion in the year from the end of June 2007.
Gross mortgage lending declined by an average of £2.5 billion a quarter over the period, accounting for £10 billion of the fall.
Making a further comparison, uSwitch [...]
Credant Technologies: RBS computer fiasco was avoidable
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Credant Technologies: RBS computer fiasco was avoidable
Military grade encryption specialist Credant Technologies has stated that the now infamous eBay sale of a computer containing the banking details of a million RBS customers was avoidable.
Credant has said that if the bank and contractors had engaged in an effective encryption and data protection strategy the event would never have occurred.
The firm’s chief marketing [...]
Deutsche Bank to offer Saudi Arabia stock market access
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Deutsche Bank to offer Saudi Arabia stock market access
Deutsche Bank’s international clientele is to be given access to the stock exchange of Saudi Arabia, it has been announced.
The Saudi stock exchange is the largest equity market in the region, and recently its Capital Market Authority made a fundamental shift when it chose to allow non-resident foreign investors to swap agreements with authorised entities.
Under [...]
One million account details included in eBay auction of laptop
by Gill Montia
Story link: One million account details included in eBay auction of laptop
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), NatWest and American Express are the latest institutions to be standing in the dock over allegations of lax security around customers’ data.
The banks and credit card provider need to answer the astonishing accusation that the personal and account details of around one million customers were contained on a computer that [...]
Final salary pension schemes edge closer to extinction
by Gill Montia
Story link: Final salary pension schemes edge closer to extinction
Further evidence that final salary (also known as defined benefit) pension schemes are on the road to extinction comes from Aon Consulting, which has recently completed a survey of over 100 pension scheme managers.
According to the research, the number of schemes open to new members now stands at a record low, with 83% of such [...]
