Northern Rock is to defer interest payments on some of its bonds, where such a facility is allowed. According to a BBC report, the nationalised bank will defer payment of all subordinated debt coupons until further notice and thereby conserve cash ahead of a proposed restructure. The bank has confirmed that no changes are taking [...]
A new report on UK company pension schemes suggests that half of all defined benefit schemes will close within the next three years. The cost of providing the schemes is escalating as a result of increased longevity. At the same time, funds have lost value during the credit crisis. As a result, the majority of [...]
The Building Societies Association (BSA) has come out against government plans to separate Northern Rock’s deposits and assets into one “good” and one “bad” bank, prior to a sale. In a submission to the European Commission, which is examining the Northern Rock rescue, the Association argues that such a move would give the bank an [...]
The “World Best Internet Banks 2009″ given by finance magazine Global Finance have been announced and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has scooped a trio of awards. The ICBC, which this year became the largest bank in the world, was named the Best Consumer Internet Bank of China, The 2009 Best Integrated [...]
South Africa’s Standard Bank has released its results for the first six months of the year. The results, described as acceptable in a press release, saw headline earnings slump by almost a quarter to R5,407m. An interim dividend of 141 cents per share has been announced, 27% lower than the dividend halfway through last year. [...]
Three men have been charged in connection with an identity theft case that is the biggest yet to be prosecuted by US authorities. The defendants allegedly stole over 134 million credit card and debit card numbers by infiltrating the IT systems of five companies including 7-Eleven, Heartland Payment Systems and Hannaford Brod Company. Alberto Gonzalez [...]
Kenyan firm Equity Bank Group has released its financial results for the second quarter of 2009. Equity Bank saw its pre-tax profits increase by a quarter to Kshs1.6bn, compared to Kshs1.1bn and producing a combined half-year pre-tax profit of Kshs2.7bn. This is a decline of Kshs400m from the corresponding period last year, a change resulting [...]
KfW Bankengruppe has recorded a profitable first half of 2009, making a group profit of €478m. The profit includes charges of €151m for valuation of derivatives used to hedge risks. KfW also achieved record operating results of €1,244m, more than 150% the result for the first six months of 2008 (€758m). The firm has increased [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has begun an official inquiry into Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) acquisition of ABN Amro, The Daily Telegraph has reported. The battle for the Dutch bank, which was also a takeover target for Barclays, ended in October 2007. At the time the successful RBS consortium, which included Santander and Fortis, [...]
US authorities have called time on Colonial Bank, selling its assets to BB&T Corp, now the eighth largest bank in the country, by deposits. The Alabama-based lender succumbed to the credit crisis with assets of $25 billion, the bulk of which are being purchased by BB&T. The collapse is the largest in the US banking [...]
Oscar Suris has been appointed by Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) to serve as head of Corporate Communications and executive vice president. Suris joins the firm from Ford Motor Company, where he worked as Corporate Communications and Development director. He succeeds incumbent Corporate Communications chief Larry Haeg, who held the post for over two [...]
Bradford & Bingley plc has released its interim financial report, covering the first six months of the year. Pre-tax losses of £160m were incurred for the first half of 2009, a substantial worsening of the 2008 figure of £26.7m. The firm’s Tier 1 Capital Ratio has declined by 0.2% to 8.7% compared to the same [...]
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has announced it is donating RMB 5m to the devastated Taiwanese area hit by Typhoon Morakot. The money, to be delivered via ARATS (Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits), has been donated to help reconstruction of the island’s infrastructure and to assist the population return to [...]
City financiers could be subject to new legislation to restrict the huge bonus payments that have been blamed for encouraging risk taking. The row over City bonuses and their part in the credit crisis has been simmering away for months and last week the Financial Services Authority (FSA) came in for criticism when it delayed [...]
Fortis has announced the appointment of Bruno Colmant to the post of deputy chief executive officer. He has previously served as chief financial officer and executive board member with ING Belgium and CEO of Euronext Belgium. In his new role, Colmant will be tasked with handling Finance, Legal and the management of the legacy issues [...]
German bank Landesbank Berlin Holding AG has announced its pre-tax earnings for the first half of the year have surged by 58% on 2008 to reach €218m. Management Board Chairman Dr. Johannes Evers responded to the results by describing them as satisfactory, and saying that the bank had enjoyed a solid performance during the first [...]
German bank WestLB Group has announced it made a pre-tax profit of €302m in the first half of 2009. The results follow the firm’s Q1 performance which saw it record a pre-tax profit of €250m, a rise of €176m compared to Q1 2008. The primary cause for the profit was a large rise (34% compared [...]
Merriman Curhan Ford Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MERR) has revealed its financial results for Q2 2009. The firm made a loss of $0.56m, equivalent to $0.04 per share, an improvement on the $5.1m loss for the same quarter last year. The loss is also significantly better than the net loss of $1.9m incurred in the first [...]
Dutch Bank ING has reported that in Q2 it saw an underlying net profit of €229m, a vast improvement on the net loss of €305m suffered in the first quarter of the year. The profit was lower than it might have been due to a hit of €584m from market effects including a loss on [...]
