JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) has recorded net income in the second quarter of this year totalling $2.7bn, a rise compared to the same period in 2008 of 36%, or $700m. Net income was also up on the first quarter of this year, when it was recorded at $2.1bn. Earnings per share stand at [...]
The BBC is reporting that Lloyds Banking Group, formed by the hasty merger between HBOS and Lloyds TSB, is to axe a further 1,200 jobs. On top of previous large scale job losses this will mean that there will be a total of 8,200 job cuts made by the banking giant this year. Most of [...]
A report commissioned by the Government has suggested that bank bonuses should come under stricter control and that better training should be required for non-executive directors, the BBC has reported. The Walker Review, led by Sir David Walker, has called for greater transparency in the banking sector for the salaries of higher earners and enhanced [...]
US credit card company, American Express, has suspended employer’s stakeholder pension contributions for its 6,000-strong UK workforce, from 1st July. The company is withdrawing its financial support for the next 18 months in a move that some argue amounts to a pay cut. The stakeholder scheme involves staff contributing 3% of salary and the company [...]
O2 has announced the launch of a Visa pre-paid cash-card service. The mobile phone operator, which is part of the Telefonica group, has joined forces with NatWest to provide the cards, which can be loaded online or at certain retail outlets. They will be useable at any outlet that already accepts Visa debit cards and [...]
The Bank of Japan’s Policy Board has elected to leave the country’s interest rate unchanged at 0.1%. The decision not to alter interest rates was made by the board unanimously, and follows on from the Bank of England retaining the UK rate at 0.5% and the European Central Bank (ECB) keeping the eurozone interest rate [...]
US Bancorp has been named the Best Bank in the US at the Euromoney magazine awards hosted in London. US Bancorp is the parent company of US Bank, the 6th largest in the US with $264bn in assets and over 5,000 ATMS and 2,800 offices in the country. The magazine particularly praised US Bancorp’s robust [...]
Independent investment bank Miller Buckfire has announced the appointment of Michael Scott as a managing director. He brings to the position almost a decade of experience working with government financing at the federal level and led the support of the airline industry in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Scott leaves behind SEC where [...]
The Icelandic government is coming under pressure to renegotiate its agreement to compensate authorities in the UK for bailing out Britons with Icesave accounts. In October of last year, Landsbanki was placed in administration leaving the accounts of around 300,000 UK Icesavers frozen. The Treasury stepped in with a 100% guarantee of cash on deposit [...]
Goldman Sachs has surprised analysts by reporting a net profit of $3.4 billion for the second quarter of 2009. First-quarter profit had also been above market expectations, at a pre-tax $2.6 billion, but followed on from a loss of $2.12 billion for the final three months of 2008, the first loss since the bank’s flotation [...]
Russian firm Sberbank has released its consolidated financial statement for the first quarter of 2009. Before loan impairment provision operating income rose sharply by 38.9% and net interest income was up by 37.2%. Likewise net commission income was also up, rising by 25.6%, and operating expenses declined by 4.5%. However, compared to Q1 2008 net [...]
Independent financial advisory group Collins Stewart has announced it is establishing a Lodging, Gaming, Leisure and REITS research team. The new team will be led by freshly appointed managing director, Bryan Maher, and is to be based in the firm’s office in New York. Prior to joining Collins Stewart he worked for RBC Capital Markets [...]
The Lloyds Action Now group is demanding the release of notes on key conversations that took place between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Lloyds TSB chairman, Sir Victor Blank, in connection with the takeover of HBOS. The doomed merger, which was announced in September, has left the resultant Lloyds Banking Group 43% state-owned because of [...]
Deutsche Securities Inc. (DSI) has named Brandon Ginsberg as the new head of Global Markets Equity Japan. Ginsberg, whose appointment is effective from 5 October, will be responsible to the head of Global Markets Japan, Marzio Keiling, on a regional basis and to Rob Karofsky and Garth Ritchie, co-heads of Global Markets Equity, on a [...]
US bank Morgan Stanley has announced the appointment of Rashique Rahman as MD and global head of Emerging Markets Fixed Income Strategy. He joins the firm from Armored Wolf, where he served as manager of the emerging markets co-portfolio. Earlier in his career he worked for Royal Bank of Scotland as head of Emerging Markets [...]
Crédit Agricole’s corporate and investment banking arm, Calyon, has received the green light from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) to incorporate its current operations into a quintet of branches. Calyon (China) Limited, the name of the new entity, is to begin operations on 3 August and will have its headquarters in China’s financial capital, [...]
French banks Crédit Agricole S.A. and Société Générale have signed an ultimate agreement to combine their asset management operations, following on from an agreement between the two institutions in January. The new entity will be responsible for €591 billion funds under management, making it inside the top five in Europe and the top 10 in [...]
UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the body set up last November to manage the taxpayer’s interest in rescued UK financial institutions, has reported that it has no fixed timetable for disposing of government shares in banks. The news comes despite predictions that Northern Rock will be sold this autumn and that ministers are keen to offload [...]
