News

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

CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS

August 3, 2009

ExecutionNick Tranter has joined Execution as head of derivatives to lead the development of the firm’s institutional and hedge fund derivatives business. Nick has a wealth of experience, having spent 20 years working in the derivatives markets working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan. He joins Execution from his current post as head of equity and [...]
Xchanging sees rise in profits

August 3, 2009

Xchanging, the outsourcing group, said yesterday its underlying operating profit for the first half of the year increased by 42 per cent, as the company cut costs and improved its operating margin. Underlying operating profit for the six months to 20 June, excluding the contribution from newly acquired Cambridge Solutions, was £20.3m, compared with £14.3m [...]
Fidessa warns on customer cuts

August 3, 2009

Software company Fidessa saw its shares drop yesterday as caution in the group’s outlook stalled analyst upgrades, despite revenue and earnings per share at the half-year stage coming in ahead of consensus. The group, which supplies trading systems to banks, says markets are stabilising, but some customers are experiencing challenging conditions and are looking to [...]
HAMMERSON HELM SWITCH

August 3, 2009

ANGLO-French property firm Hammerson said yesterday chief executive John Richards (pictured) will retire at the end of September after 10 years at the helm. UK managing director David Atkins will succeed him in the role. The group also added that losses almost doubled to £818.3m for the six months to 30 June from £417.1m a [...]
SANTANDER CHIEF BREAKING CITY HEARTS WITH HIS EXOTIC CHARM

August 3, 2009

WHILE all the big British bank bosses are pitted against each other this week in terms of first-half profits, Spanish bank Santander’s UK boss António Horta-Osório has been enjoying the glory of a rather more frivolous accolade. Horta-Osório became chief executive of Abbey in August 2006, after long stints at the helm of the bank’s [...]
CAN BARCLAYS CONTINUE ITS STRONG PERFORMANCE?

August 3, 2009

NIC CLARKE CHARLES STANLEY“Barclays has been our most difficult call in the UK banking sector over the last 12 months. Performance in the next 12 months depends not only on whether BarCap can remain as robust as it has been but also importantly on the macro economic strength of the US, UK, Spain and South [...]
BarCap boost sees Barclays profits jump

August 3, 2009

BARCLAYS reported an eight per cent increase in first-half pre-tax profit yesterday, as its investment banking arm Barclays Capital (BarCap) extended its first quarter boom. Group profits before tax reached £2.98bn, up from £2.75bn in the first half of 2008, as revenues soared 37 per cent from £11.8bn to £16.25bn. Barclays’ results included impairment charges [...]
Bullish HSBC shrugs off rise in bad debts

August 3, 2009

HSBC saw first-half profits cut in half in the first six months of the year, as impairments reached $13.9bn (£8.2bn), but signalled that the economic crisis was beginning to ease. Pre-tax profit fell to $5bn, a 51 per cent decline on the $10.25bn earned in the same period of last year, but a marked turnaround [...]
Bank chiefs issue warning against regulatory overkill

August 3, 2009

BARCLAYS chief executive John Varley yesterday urged regulators not to risk “throttling” economic recovery with overzealous reforms, while HSBC backed up his call for a measured approach. “This industry got many things wrong and there is much to be sorry about. There must be change and there will be change,” said Varley. But he added [...]
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HSBC’S RESULTS?

August 3, 2009

HENK POTTS BARCLAYS WEALTH“Messy numbers, with various accounting changes, but definitely ahead of expectations and sentiment towards the sector continues to improve. Household, the US business which is largely in run-off mode, was the largest source of upside surprise with lower provisions and lower realised losses.” DAVID BUIK BGC PARTNERS“HSBC’s tier one capital stands at [...]