News

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

Bank applicants dropped

September 1, 2009

The country’s leading banks are dropping around nine per cent of applicants for top management positions for fear the regulator will reject them and publicly damage reputations, a llaw firm said yesterday. Calling for a confidential appeals process, law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain said 12 candidates for senior jobs in top financial firms saw their [...]
Military warn on budget cuts

September 1, 2009

Budget cuts could damage Britain’s armed forces and investing in the defence industry could help lead Britain out of recession, leading figures from the UK’s armaments sector said yesterday. “The defence industry requires support and leadership from political leaders and we are looking for future governments to take that forward,” Ian King, chief executive of [...]
UK heads for power shortage

September 1, 2009

The UK could face widespread power shortages within eight years due to the country’s switch to cleaner energy generation, according to forecasts contained in a government report. The closure of coal- and gas-fired power stations and the wait for nuclear plants to be built will both hit power supplies, the report said. The UK has [...]
Apple’s store on Regent St bears fruit

September 1, 2009

APPLE’S flagship store in London is so successful that it rakes in more than double the amount of cash per square foot than most of its rivals. The Regent Street store took £60m for the year ending September 2008, giving it a sales density of £2,000 per square foot. In comparison, the average Currys store [...]
CIT to defer interest payout on notes as it fights to escape bankruptcy filing

September 1, 2009

FLOUNDERING US bank CIT has said that it will not be able to make a 15 September interest payment on a tranche of 2067 notes. The bank said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it could not find an alternative method of payment, meaning that it would have to “mandatorily [...]
Rosneft’s profits tumble but margins beat rival

September 1, 2009

RUSSIA’S largest oil producer Rosneft yesterday reported net profits of $1.61bn (£1bn) for the second quarter of 2009, missing the average $1.72bn forecast in a poll of analysts. The company said the drop in net income, from $4.31bn a year ago and $2.06bn in the first quarter, was mainly due to the effective income tax [...]
AIGshares dive on bearish note as new chief exec apologises for angry remarks

September 1, 2009

AILING US insurer AIG saw its shares plummet by over 20 per cent yesterday after a scathing analyst note, as new chief executive Robert Benmosche issued a humiliating apology for criticisms of the New York attorney general. The bailed-out firm saw its shares fall from $45.3 to just $36 in a few hours’ trading yesterday, [...]
Buyout firms circle Citi’s $1bn Tokyo call centre

September 1, 2009

SEVERAL private equity firms are circling Citigroup after it announced its intention to sell off a Japanese call centre. Major buyout firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), Permira, Blackstone and Bain Capital are all understood to be interested in buying the centre, which is valued at up to $1bn (£620m). Sources familiar with the situation said [...]
Stanford forces Antigua change

September 1, 2009

Antigua and Barbuda has appointed an experienced banker to head the tiny Caribbean nation’s financial regulatory body, replacing Leroy King, who is under house arrest facing US charges of abetting accused swindler Allen Stanford. A government statement said John Benjamin, a banker with more than 40 years of experience, will become administrator and chief executive [...]
Offshore private banking dead

September 1, 2009

A US tax probe against Swiss bank UBS has killed traditional offshore banking, meaning wealth managers will have to improve their offers to survive, bankers and industry experts said yesterday. Pierre de Weck, head of private wealth management at Deutsche Bank, said “the consequences of the crisis at UBS have been dramatic”. Another expert said [...]