Brewin Dolphin, the UK’s biggest independent private client portfolio manager, has revealed figures which show that almost half the adult population (18m people) have no pension, and some 7m intend to fund their retirement through their property. The figures come as the financial crisis begins to hit the real economy, with house prices still sliding [...]
Employees of Northern Rock could still receive substantial bonuses, despite public outrage at the role played by the bonus culture in the global financial crisis. According to reports in the press, the bank is retaining an incentive scheme that could see many of its 4,000 employees receive payments that could enhance basic salaries by 10%, [...]
Goldman Sachs says it is cutting its workforce by 10%. Around 3,250 jobs will go worldwide and an estimated 600 staff could lose their jobs in the UK, where the investment banks employs around 6,000, mainly in London. The move is linked to the latest turmoil in the global financial sector, sparked by the collapse [...]
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has slashed the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 100 basis points, taking it from 7.5% to 6.5%. Governor Alan Bollard attributed the strong measure to the worsening climate of global growth and continuing difficulties in the financial markets. Bollard also stated that international pressures would continue to constrain the [...]
Dutch bank ING has announced that John Hele, the firm’s chief financial officer, is to depart from the organisation on 31 March of next year. He first joined the firm five years ago as chief insurance risk officer, and last year become chief financial officer and was granted a place on the Executive Board. For [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that more European banks may collapse as traditional sources of capital dry up. The organisation, which has 185 member countries, expects sovereign wealth funds and investors to become less enthusiastic about putting money into banks and is predicting that European financial institutions will find their need for government [...]
Jefferies & Company has hired Jason Roelke to serve as a managing director and leader of Derivative Sales. He brings with him more than 13 years of experience, joining the firm from Lehman Brothers where he worked as senior VP of Liquid Market Sales, and a specialist in Equity Derivatives, prior to which he worked [...]
DB Advisors, the worldwide institutional asset management business of Deutsche Bank, has announced the appointment of Kyle Delaney to the post of division head in the America. Assuming his new role, he parts ways with the Private Wealth Management division of Deutsche Bank where he held a seat on the US Executive Committee, and was [...]
Yesterday the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Botswana elected to retain the country’s interest rate at 15.5%. Inflation remains beyond the central bank’s target range of 3-6%, but is predicted to fall into 2009 and edge in the direction of the target range. A rise in taxes or administered prices could throw [...]
Investment bank Jefferies has announced the appointment of Jeffrey D. Greenip to the post of managing director within the Financial Sponsors Group. He most recently worked for Bear Stearns, where he served for more than a decade, and brings with him 12 years of investment banking experience. Before joining Bear Stearns, he worked for ING [...]
Capital markets, private equity, wealth and asset management firm Baird has opened a new office in Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition, the firm has bolstered its investment banking credentials with the addition of a brace of veteran investment bankers who will work from the new office. Brian McDonagh and Joe Pellegrini are both formerly of [...]
NatWest has launched an EcoGrowth account for those who have £10,000 or more to invest and want their savings to support green issues. One option on the new deposit account contains a fixed-rate cash element, and an element linked to the RBS Green Index, which covers a variety of sectors including biotechnology, hydroelectricity, solar and [...]
There are indications that the slight downward movement in interbank lending rates detected last week could be gaining pace. Rates have remained stubbornly high since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in mid-September but following the UK’s £500 billion bail out of its High Street banks, the Bank of England, European Central Bank and the Swiss [...]
The chief executive of Lloyds TSB, Eric Daniels, has told his staff that where bonuses are due, they will be paid. Last week, the bank, which is in the process of negotiating a merger with HBOS, announced that it would raise £4.5 billion of capital by selling new ordinary shares underwritten by the Government. Along [...]
Financial institutions worldwide could come under further pressure from today, as 21st October is the date on which credit default swaps (CDSs), which insure some of Lehman Brothers’ debt, become due. CDSs are contracts that insure lenders against a borrower’s inability to repay a loan. The market for CDSs is unregulated and can hardly be [...]
The six biggest banks in France will receive a combined €10.5 billion (£8.2 billion) in government support before the end of the year. At a press conference yesterday, the country’s Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde, said her government would subscribe to banks’ subordinated debt issues but will not take up shares or voting rights. In return, [...]
By Royal Decree Lex Hoogduin has been appointed to the Governing Board of De Nederlandsche Bank, his appointment taking effect from 1 January 2009. Over the course of the last 25 years Hoogduin has worked for De Nederlandsche Bank on various occasions. His most recent role with the Dutch bank was as the division director [...]
New figures show the extent to which individual savings accounts (ISAs) have grown in popularity with Britons. According to Halifax, there has been a seven-fold increase in ISA take-up over the past eight years, with 35% of UK households now holding an account and seven out of ten ISA holders making active use of their [...]
Dutch bank ING has struck a deal with Taiwanese financial services firm Fubon Financial Holding Co. Ltd to sell its Taiwanese life insurance business for €447m (US$600m). The sale is one step in ING’s strategic approach towards capital injection, which it is applying only to those branches of its business with the best return. Fubon’s [...]
