News

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

European executive wary of making changes to derivatives trading rules

September 24, 2009

Forcing privately negotiated derivatives onto exchanges could contradict other EU laws that promote competition in trading and damage risk hedging, an official with the bloc’s executive body said yesterday. Turmoil from the demise of Lehman Brothers bank a year ago and the near-collapse of insurer AIG prompted global leaders to call for tougher rules to [...]
PRIVATE EQUITY MOGUL MOULTON CRASHES THE PARTY FOR ALCHEMY

September 24, 2009

IT’S always good to spot a familiar face, right? Well, perhaps not for private equity firm Alchemy, which was co-sponsoring the Investor AllStars awards at the Park Lane Hilton on Wednesday evening. Bigwigs arrived at the hotel to the sight of former boss Jon Moulton happily schmoozing the crowd, just weeks after sensationally quitting the [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS

September 23, 2009

HSBC Private BankHSBC has appointed Willem Sels to head up its fixed income strategy for the UK private banking division, focusing on building bond-focused client solutions in sovereign and credit markets. Sels, who in his spare time is an accomplished pianist, holding five Belgian national awards in classical music, joins from Dresdner Kleinwort, where he [...]
BHP boss nets $10m package

September 23, 2009

BHP BILLITON’S chief executive Marius Kloppers was paid 51 per cent more this year, the group’s annual report showed yesterday, despite the mining giant’s profits slumping by 62 per cent last year. Kloppers’ remuneration package came in at more than $10m (£6.3m) for the 12 months to June. Last year he received $6.8m. His pay [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE LORD TURNER’S CRITICISMS OF THE CITY HELPFUL OR DAMAGING?

September 23, 2009

ALLISTER AUGUSTIN ABN AMRO“It’s good that he’s addressed issues in banking, but it’s counterproductive not to give a solution to the problem. A lot of people are saying that it all very well for him to criticise, when he has already made his money from banking.” TONY COTTRELL ALLIANZ“He’s entitled to get on with his [...]
United profit withstands

September 23, 2009

UNITED UTILITIES, the water company, said its forecast for underlying operating profits over the six months to the end of September were in line with expectations, despite cost pressures. United, which supplies around 7m customers across the north west, said revenue growth in its regulated business for the year would be lower than the six [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS

September 23, 2009

MOTHERCARENoble initiated coverage on Mothercare with a “neutral” rating and a 600p target price, saying the stock offers one of the best longer-term growth stories in the retail sector. In the short-term, the broker thinks that synergies from the Early Learning Centre and property restructuring benefits will help to withstand macro headwinds.CARNIVALCharles Stanley upgraded Carnival [...]
National Grid’s UK dominance under threat

September 23, 2009

NATIONAL GRID’s monopoly on electricity in England and Wales is set to be challenged by 12 companies, the sector’s regulator Ofgem said yesterday. Equitix, a PFI specialist, and Balfour Beatty, which was yesterday fined for price-rigging in its construction bids, are among those challenging the utility’s dominance. They will be bidding to operate £1.15bn of [...]
Analysts say Lloyds could still exit APS

September 23, 2009

LLOYDS Banking Group could avoid the government’s Asset Protection Scheme (APS) altogether if it can raise £16bn via a rights issue, analysts from stockbroker Execution said yesterday. The APS is a “sub-optimal way to recapitalise the sector”, analysts led by Joseph Dickerson said, adding that rights issue would lower the bank’s wholesale funding costs. “Our [...]
BP SLAMMEDONSAFETY

September 23, 2009

BRITISH oil giant BP, led by chief executive Tony Hayward, has failed to carry out safety improvements after an explosion that killed 15 workers at its refinery in Texas in 2005, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a letter to the company last month. The complaint by the regulator is bad news [...]