Investment bank Credit Suisse has announced it is launching a private banking operation in Japan, a significant step in the bank’s strategic approach to international expansion. The operation will be led by Junya Tani, the firm’s head of Private Banking Japan, based in Tokyo, and will allow Japanese clients of Credit Suisse to enjoy its [...]
Visa may be on the verge of making life for credit card fraudsters much more difficult. According to a BBC report, the company is in the process of testing the new Emue card, which can generate and display a unique code each time it is used. A PIN must be used to generate the code [...]
John Chambers has been named by Merriman Curhan Ford Group, Inc. as the firm’s new head of its investment banking group. He first joined the firm in August of last year, leaving behind Rodman & Renshaw where he served as co-head of investment banking. During the course of his career he has also held positions [...]
French bank BNP Paribas has completed its acquisition of Fortis Bank and is now the largest bank (in deposit terms) within the eurozone. The bank’s board of directors approved the transfer of 54.55% of Fortis’ shares and voting rights to BNP Paribas. In addition, Fortis Bank has spent some €1,375m purchasing 25% of the share [...]
Dutch Bank ING has reported that its net loss in the first quarter has declined significantly from its figure for the final quarter of last year. In Q1, a net loss of €305m was incurred by the bank, down substantially from the €3,073m loss suffered in Q4 2008. The firm’s banking operations enjoyed a net [...]
German bank HVB (HypoVereinsbank) Group has announced its quarterly results. It achieved an operating profit of €452m, up significantly from the €144m loss recorded during the first quarter of 2008. The group has also acted to reduce costs by 2%, with net writedowns on loans and provisions now standing at €283m. Pre-tax profits are now [...]
Jefferies International Limited has announced the appointment of Frank Sekula as MD and head of Recapitalisation & Restructuring for Europe. Sekula brings to the role almost two decades of industry experience, and has worked with Fiat, ABB, m-real, Avis Europe, Laurel Pub Company, Waterford Wedgwood, Mosaic Fashions, EMI and TI Automotive on restructuring and recapitalisation [...]
Gary G. Lynch has been named by Morgan Stanley as the bank’s new vice chairman. He joined the firm four years ago as executive VP and chief legal officer, leaving behind the executive vice chairman post he held with Credit Suisse. Lynch will retain his present position of chief legal officer and transfer to London, [...]
Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay up to $60 million to the State of Massachusetts, which has been investigating the bank’s mortgage securitisation activities. According to reports, state authorities have been considering whether the packaging of sub-prime mortgages into securities that could be sold encouraged lending that was unfair to borrowers. While the investment bank [...]
Defaqto is convinced that supermarkets such as Tesco could be in a strong position to compete with High Street banks, once existing personal finance offerings are expanded to include current accounts. In a report entitled Retail Banking: Challenging Times, the financial analysts suggests that brand recognition leaves supermarkets well placed to enter into the full [...]
German bank BayernLB and subsidiary firm Deutsche Kreditbank AG (DKB) will together take part in the Intersolar international trade fair, the largest solar technology fair in the world. Intersolar is recognised by manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and service providers involved as an event of cutting edge technological progress in the solar energy sector. BayernLB serves a [...]
International investment bank Houlihan Lokey has announced the appointment of Bruce McDonald as MD and head of the Transportation & Logistics Group. McDonald leaves behind the post of industrial growth and services investment banking managing director he held with Wachovia Securities to join the firm. Earlier in his career he worked for Deutsche Bank and [...]
The Building Societies Association (BSA) is warning that the Government’s new Equality Bill could have an impact on savings accounts aimed specifically at the over 50s. The Bill is due for its second reading in the House of Commons this week and the BSA has called on the Government to ensure that so called “silver [...]
HSBC has reported a “resilient” start to 2009, although bad debt provisions rose during the three months to the end of March. While the amount set aside showed an increase on the same period of 2008, it was less than the provision made in the final quarter of last year. In addition, underlying profit rose [...]
At a meeting in Stuttgart Prime Minister Günther H. Oettinger, who chaired the event, announced that Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) would not be renewing the contract of Dr Siegfried Jaschinski. Dr Jaschinski is presently chairman of the Board of Managing Directors and is set to be succeeded by Hans-Jörg Vetter, chairman of the Board of Managing [...]
The merger between Dresdner Bank AG and Commerzbank AG has today been enacted. From now on, the rights and obligations that were formerly Dresdner Bank’s are now Commerzbank’s, and all the employees of Dresdner Bank now work for Commerzbank. There are to be no immediate changes for the customers of Dresdner Bank, whose account numbers [...]
GAMCO Investors, Inc. has announced the appointment of Agnes Mullady as senior vice president. Bruce N. Alpert, executive VP and chief operating officer of Gabelli Funds, has praised Mullady’s professionalism and industrial knowledge since her recruitment by the firm. She first joined GAMCO in late 2005, bringing with her over two decades of industry experience. [...]
