UniCredit Group has announced the appointment of Nick Crawford as the firm’s new global head of FX, effective immediately. He joined UniCredit two years ago as head of Rates/FX for North America and global head of Foreign Exchange Derivative Trading. Previously he worked for Merrill Lynch as global co-head of FX Trading in New York [...]
Cowen Group has announced the appointment of Todd Ackerman as MD and head of the institutional sales desk in Boston, with James Lilly also joining the firm as MD in the Investment banking group with responsibility for leading Cowen’s health care services practice. Prior to joining Cowen Ackerman spent a nine-year stint with Canadian Imperial [...]
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed a £95m loan to Triathlon Homes LLP to create accommodation for the athletes participating in the Olympic Games in London in 2012. Once the Games have finished the accommodation will be converted to social housing as part of the Government’s scheme to provide a lasting legacy from the [...]
The Westpac Group, Australia’s oldest bank and company, has announced the group executive of Westpac Institutional Bank, Phil Chronican, is to part ways with the firm. Chronican has spent the last 27 years with Westpac, joining in the early 1980s and occupying a range of positions in both Australia itself and New Zealand. He also [...]
UK firms could close final-salary pension schemes en-mass, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). In a survey by the accountancy firm 96% of businesses viewed their defined benefit schemes, which are based on salary plus years of service, as unsustainable. The research also revealed that 16% had already closed their final-salary schemes to [...]
Swedbank has announced the appointment of Jonas Erikson to the post of Head of Group Treasury, making him directly responsible to chief financial officer Erkki Raasuke. Erikson’s appointment is effective from 13 July, and he succeeds the incumbent Group Treasury Head, Mikael Edler. Edler leaves the role but will retain a position within Swedbank, taking [...]
Financial Services Authority (FSA) chief, Lord Turner, has warned that a more optimistic economic outlook should not be allowed to detract from plans for a radical reform of the capital requirements and remuneration policies of the UK’s banks. Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee, Lord Turner referred to recent “aggressive hiring” at some investment banks [...]
Morgan Stanley Saudi Arabia (MSSA) has launched equity trading in Saudi Arabia on the KSA stock exchange, Tadawul. The move will allow the bank and its customers to engage in cash equities trading and will allow Saudi, as well as GCC, investors to benefit from Morgan Stanley’s global expertise. The launch of equity trading in [...]
Morgan Stanley has enlarged its board of directors to 13 members with the additional election of James H. Hance, Jr. Hance, who takes up his post with effect from 1 July, is a senior adviser with The Carlyle Group, and he formerly served as chairman of Carlyle Capital Corp. He brings with him extensive banking [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is warning consumers not to be taken in by advertisements claiming that borrowers can offload their debts by selling them on. People taking up such an offer can be asked to pay administration fees of £350 and so called transfer fees amounting to 10% to 20% of the debt. [...]
Capitalise, the London-wide partnership of debt advice and homeless charities, has published a new report which “unveils a grim picture of debt in the capital”. The study, entitled “Up to our neck in it”’ found that personal debt is deeper and more widespread since the recession and that creditors are being more aggressive in recovering [...]
US banking giant Citi has announced that the chief executive officer of Citi Asia Pacific, Ajay Banga, is to part ways with the firm. He joined the bank in the mid-90s and has held the post of head of CitiFinancial and the U.S. Consumer Assets Division, as well as serving as chairman and CEO of [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) looks set to break up its Asian business. In February, the bank embarked on a programme of disposals to bolster its balance sheet, having identified one-fifth of assets as non-core, including the Asian business acquired as part of ABN Amro, in 2007. According to a report in The Sunday Times, [...]
The chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Stephen Hester, is expected to seal a pay package worth up to £9.6 million in the days ahead. The deal has already been agreed by the chairman of the 70% state-owned bank, Sir Philip Hampton, and its leading shareholders. These include UK Financial Investments, the body [...]
A former employee of HBOS has claimed that prior to the credit crisis up to 80% of the group’s mortgage applications were accepted without full proof of income. Michael Bolton was once managing director of BM Solutions, a specialist lending unit of Birmingham Midshires that deals with intermediaries. Speaking to Money Marketing magazine recently Mr [...]
Investment bank JP Morgan has announced that William Rifkin is to join the firm as vice chairman of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). Previously he worked for Merrill Lynch as chairman of Global Mergers and Acquisitions, and also chaired the firm’s Fairness Opinion Committee. During his lengthy career he has been involved in a number of [...]
In a further sign of the global economic downturn coming to an end, the World Bank has revised its growth forecasts for China up from 6.5% to 7.2%. However, the World Bank has set a cautious tone despite its upward revision of China’s economic future. Consumption in the world’s most populous country has remained steady, [...]
