A Merger Action Group (MAG) has been formed to bring a legal challenge to the proposed merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS. The takeover was announced in September, with the all-share deal approved by the Government, which was prepared to put aside competition issues to see HBOS rescued by its more stable competitor. The merger [...]
Brewin Dolphin Holdings PLC Group has released preliminary financial results for the period up to 28 September of this year. Total income was recorded at £206m, down £3m from the corresponding period in 2007. Discretionary funds fell by 4.7% to £10.2bn, although this did occur over a difficult time when the FTSE lost more than [...]
Collins Stewart has announced the appointment of Collette Wisener-Keating as the firm’s new head of Product Development, part of Collins Stewart Fund Management. She brings with her almost a decade of experience with JPMorgan Asset Management and two years with the European Islamic Investment Bank. In her new role Wisener-Keating will assume responsibility for operations [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to become majority state-owned. The bank’s latest recapitalisation involved the Government underwriting a £15 billion rights issue, at 65.5p a share, having already committed to buying £5 billion of RBS preference shares, paying annual interest at 12%. The offer closed earlier this week and according to today’s statement from [...]
New research from Moneyfacts.co.uk shows the extent to which UK savers are losing out as a result of this month’s cut in the Bank of England’s base rate, to 3%. The financial website has revealed that rates on almost a quarter of variable rate savings products have already been reduced. So far, 22% of savings [...]
Recent reports that credit card companies are increasing rates in time to catch out Christmas shoppers and in defiance of this month’s 1.5% cut in the base rate, have prompted ministers to meet with the bosses of leading credit card providers today. It is understood that business secretary, Peter Mandelson, and consumer affairs minister, Gareth [...]
The Bank of Israel has continued to cut interest rates, reducing them by 50 basis points to 2.5%. October saw Israel’s CPI rise by just 0.1%, although annually it has increased by some 5.5%. It is widely forecast that Israeli inflation will begin to fall in the near future, as global demand decreases due to [...]
Nomura Holdings, Inc. has announced that David Bizer has been hired to serve as head of Global Markets Sales for the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region, and gains a seat on the regional Executive Committee. Before taking up his new role, Bizer worked for Lehman Brothers as Fixed Income Sales head for the [...]
David Benson has been named by Nomura Holdings, Inc. as the firm’s new chief risk officer, and senior MD. As chief risk officer, Benson will become responsible for the worldwide management of Nomura’s risk profile. In this role he will be tasked with working in collaboration with heads of business and regional chiefs to ensure [...]
The Governor of the Bank of England has sent a warning shot in the direction of UK banks that are benefiting from a taxpayer-funded bail out or Treasury guarantees but are not keen to increase their lending. Speaking to the Treasury Select Committee this morning, Mervyn King outlined the danger of the UK economy entering [...]
The Bank of Japan’s Monetary Policy Meeting last Friday has yielded a unanimous vote to retain its present interest rate at 0.3%. The central bank has stated that economic activity remains stilted due to the continuing effects of energy and materials rising in price earlier in the year coupled with a decline in export activity. [...]
South African financial services firm Absa Group has announced the appointment of Maria Ramos as the new group chief executive, pending regulatory approval. She will succeed Steve Booysen, who parts ways with Absa after a long career, giving up not only the position of group chief executive but also his seats on the Absa Group [...]
German bank, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), has embarked upon a capitalisation plan in a bid to enhance the firm’s competitive edge, which is particularly important amid the present financial crisis and wider global economic difficulties. Although enjoying an overall solid performance in its key business areas, LBBW has lost €884m (£753.4m) (before tax) due to the [...]
Standard Chartered has announced plans to raise £1.78 billion in a rights issue. Existing shareholders will be able to buy 30 shares for every 91 shares held at a price of 390 pence a share, representing a 48.7% discount on the company’s closing price on Friday 21st November. According to the emerging markets bank, the [...]
