J.P. Morgan has announced the appointment of Laurent Vanderweyen as the firm’s new general manager of J.P. Morgan Bank Luxembourg S.A. Prior to this appointment he worked in Luxembourg for RBC Dexia Investor Services SA, where he served as managing director and chairman of the Executive Committee. Vanderweyen will join the bank in July and [...]
Infosecurity Europe researcher’s have conducted a survey revealing that, out of 1,000 London commuters, 44% had been victims of bank/credit card fraud and 42% had had their identity stolen. Those who were victims of such crime lost an average of £1,448, and had a 37% chance of not getting their money back from their bank. [...]
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has concerns about remuneration practices at the part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group. As the representative body of some of the bank’s leading shareholders, the ABI has issued an “amber alert” on a remuneration report that will be voted upon by shareholders at the group’s annual general meeting on 6th May. [...]
Mobile banking is set to soar in popularity, according to Berg Insight, with customer numbers of the service, and related services, predicted to skyrocket by a compound annual growth rate of 59.2%. With such growth, the numbers taking advantage of mobile banking would rise from 55 million (globally) last year to 894 million by 2015. [...]
Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has expanded its branch network in Sudan with the addition of an eighth branch in Juba. The Bilpam branch’s opening comes as part of the KCB’s strategic objective to establish a commercial banking presence in each of the 10 states of Southern Sudan. KCB Bank Managing Director Sammy Itemere has stated [...]
Equity Bank Group has announced its financial results for the first quarter of the year. The Kenyan bank saw pre-tax profits soar by 43% to hit Kshs1.7bn, a rise of Kshs0.5bn compared to the same period in 2009. Profits after tax also increased substantially, rising by more than a third (36%) from Kshs918m in Q1 [...]
The Blackstone Group has reported its financial results for Q1 2010, including a turn around in profitability. The firm made a net profit of $360m, up from a net loss of $82m incurred in the corresponding period in 2009 and a significant improvement on the $329m net income made in Q4 2009. Net fee-related earnings [...]
Investment bank Credit Suisse has reported that it achieved net income of CHF2.1bn in the first quarter of 2010. This marks a substantial increase on the preceding quarter (Q4 2009) when net income was just CHF0.8bn. Credit Suisse’s net income is also marginally better than the CHF2bn net income achieved in the corresponding period in [...]
International middle market investment bank and institutional securities firm Piper Jaffray has announced the appointment of Corinna Kubin as principal of clean tech & renewables investment banking Europe. Kubin brings expertise in M&A to Piper Jaffray, and has spent more than a decade with Merrill Lynch prior to joining the firm. She worked for Merrill [...]
A rise in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation has left around 3.5 million students facing higher student loan rates. Earlier this week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced that the RPI rose to 4.4% in March, up from 3.7% in February. The Student Loan Company sets its rate for September based [...]
Wells Fargo has reported its financial performance results for the first quarter, including a net income of $2.5bn, equivalent to $0.45 per common share (after integration expenses). The bank made $1.5bn from Community Banking, and $1.2bn from Wholesale Banking, with a further $282m from Wealth, Brokerage and Retirement. Wells Fargo also made $9.3bn income before [...]
Nomura Holdings, Inc. has announced the appointment of Tarun Jotwani as chief executive officer and head of Nomura Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He will report directly to Jesse Bhattal, president and chief operating officer of the Wholesale Division, and retain his present position as head of Global Fixed Income. Jotwani’s appointment will be [...]
SunTrust Banks, Inc. has reported that in the first quarter of 2010 it incurred a net loss of $229m, equating to $0.46 per average common share. The firm has attributed the loss to the lingering effects of the recent economic recession. Despite suffering a loss, the results are a substantial improvement on the firm’s Q1 [...]
Goldman Sachs has posted net profit of $3.46 billion for the first three months of 2010, representing a 91% increase on the same period of 2009. The group’s revenues rose 36% on a year earlier, to $12.8 billion. However, profit fell short of the $4.9 billion recorded by the Wall Street bank in the final [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is proposing that banks are taxed at two levels to provide for a bailout fund that can cover any future failures. Under the proposals, banks worldwide would be liable for a Financial Activities Tax that would be paid to their respective governments. In addition, a Financial Stability Contribution (FSC) would [...]
U.S. Bancorp has announced its financial performance figures for the first quarter, including net income of $669m. This equates to $0.34 per diluted common share, and is more than a fifth better than the $529m net profit ($0.24 per diluted common share) achieved in Q1 2009. Total revenue was also up, rising to $4.3bn from [...]
The unprecedented volcanic disruption to the UK, which has rendered the country and much of Europe a no-fly zone, has prompted Lloyds TSB to issue reassurance to its personal banking customers. Retail Group Executive Director Helen Weir has expressed sympathy for the difficult and potentially expensive situation many stranded travellers find themselves in, adding that [...]
