News

Your daily news update straight from the City PM newsroom in London

Nomura fined 1.75m by the FSA for serious mis-marking

November 24, 2009

NOMURA has been fined £1.75m by the Financial Services Authority for “widespread systems and control failings” at its international equities division. The problem came to light in June 2008 when a London trader noticed a Hong Kong trader had mis-marked his derivatives book. The Hong Kong trader, who was suspended last year pending an investigation, [...]
Talk of Facebook listing after the firm adopts dual stock structure

November 24, 2009

FACEBOOK has introduced a dual-class stock structure to let existing shareholders maintain voting control. The decision has been interpreted by some analysts as a signal that the company is planning to go public, a claim denied by the social networking site’s chiefs last night. Facebook said: “We did introduce a dual-class stock structure because existing [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

November 24, 2009

FINANCIAL TIMESRECOVERY TREND AT ICGIntermediate Capital Group, one of Europe’s largest mezzanine lenders, inched back into profit in spite of further provisions on loans to struggling companies, such as Gala Coral, the betting group. The financial crisis has taken its toll on ICG. The London-listed company was forced to repair its overstretched balance sheet by [...]
BRAZIL MULLED CITIGROUP STAKE

November 24, 2009

Citigroup offered a stake in the bank to the Brazilian government early this year when it was seeking capital to survive the financial crisis, Brazilian energy minister Edison Lobao said yesterday. The Brazilian government passed on the offer, as it felt that the economy needed to recover from the crisis first, Lobao told an investor [...]
COSMENS UP NATEXP STAKE AGAIN

November 24, 2009

National Express’s biggest shareholders, Spain’s Cosmen family, have stepped up their efforts to block the bus and rail company’s £360m rights issue by again raising their stake in the firm. The family has spent about £5.84m in three share deals over three days to raise their stake from 18.5 per cent to 19.72 per cent.
WestLB wins a rescue deal

November 24, 2009

STRICKEN German state-backed lender WestLB yesterday secured last-minute rescue financing, allowing it to offload around €85bn (£76.7bn) of risky assets by recapitalising and creating the country’s first “bad bank”. A German Finance Ministry spokesman said a deal had been reached to recapitalise a core, healthy bank that will be separate from the bad bank, just [...]
PARAGON TO RESUME NEW LENDING

November 24, 2009

Buy-to-let lender Paragon has said it is becoming more confident of resuming lending to new customers as it reported an annual pre-tax profit £54.3m. The group has not lent to new mortgage borrowers since February last year.
Alliance Trust turns to equities

November 24, 2009

INVESTMENT company Alliance Trust said it remains “cautiously optimistic” about its prospects as it pumped up its exposure to equities. The firm increased its exposure to equities to 90.6 per cent in the three months to October 31 with a focus on stocks that will benefit from an upturn in economic activity. BP, HSBC, Rio [...]
King: Deficit must be cut more rapidly

November 24, 2009

BRITAIN’S next government will need a credible plan to reduce the country’s structural deficit over the lifetime of just one parliamentary term, Bank of England governor Mervyn King warned yesterday. Testifying in front of the Treasury Select Committee, King said: “I don’t think there’s any immediate risk, but the longer there isn’t a credible plan [...]
Banks report mortgage approvals at two-year high

November 24, 2009

THE number of new mortgages approved by the main banks rose to its highest level for nearly two years in October. The British Bankers’ Association said 42,238 loans were approved last month – nearly double the number seen last October at the height of the crisis. This was a slight increase on the September figure [...]