Chinese banks – business as usual
Perhaps it is their size that makes them so difficult to grasp. Maybe there is also a dash of that hard-to-quantify suspicion that lurks in investors’ minds when they get…
UK household lending jumps in September
Banks approved the most mortgages in four months in September and lent much more than usual through credit cards and other personal loans, suggesting the flow of credit to households…
Trial of two former fund managers starts
Two former portfolio managers at hedge funds Level Global and Diamondback Capital Management are set to face a jury this week over allegations that they made $61m in profits by…
US stock markets closed on Monday
The US equity market will not open for trading on Monday ahead of hurricane Sandy approaching the US east coast after consultations with regulators and New York City officials late…
Travelex to increase presence in China
Travelex is to ramp up its presence in China with the travel money services group set to become the first non-Chinese company to receive a foreign exchange licence covering the…
Southeast Asia on radar of private equity
Henry Kravis, co-founder of New York-based private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, has been coming to Singapore every year since 1982. That was the year when the Government of Singapore…
UBS to cut up to 10,000 jobs
©Bloomberg UBS is set to unveil a radical downsizing of its struggling investment bank next week in a move that will prompt the loss of up to 10,000 jobs across…
ETF usage in Asia forecast to grow rapidy
The use of exchange traded funds and products by institutional investors in Asia is expected to grow substantially from its current low base, according to a survey by Greenwich Associates,…
Top regulators say bank reforms fall short
Worldwide efforts to solve the problem of banks that are “too big to fail” are falling short and UK and EU plans to force ringfencing of some businesses areas are…
KKR raises only $6.2bn for N America fund
KKR has raised only $6.2bn for its latest North American buyout fund, short of an expected $8bn, as investor enthusiasm for private equity recedes in the face of lacklustre performance.…
Crispin Odey’s 5% stake in Man revealed
Crispin Odey, the prominent London hedge fund manager that specialises in taking stakes in undervalued companies, has built a 5 per cent stake in the Man Group, one of his…
Berkshire to buy $1.5bn ResCap portfolio
Berkshire Hathaway will pay $1.5bn to buy a portfolio of home loans from Residential Capital, the bankrupt mortgage lender formerly part of Ally Financial, the auto lender owned by US…
Busy times ahead for Barclays chairman
Sir David Walker’s diary will look rather different from that of his predecessor when the City veteran formally takes on his role as chairman of Barclays next week, writes Jennifer…
Boutique banks – looking for rain
The M&A business has been a desert. But some rainmakers are doing better than expected. Lazard on Thursday reported that earnings per share fell sharply in the third quarter from…
Ecclestone rebuffs bank’s $400m F1 demand
©AFP Bernie Ecclestone Bernie Ecclestone, chief executive of Formula One, has rebuffed a demand for some $400m in damages from BayernLB, the German bank, which believes it could have obtained…