February, 2009
US to pursue ‘aggregator bank’ plan
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to announce that the government will use private-sector partners to purchase banks’ troubled assets, reports the WSJ. The plan for a so-called aggregator bank,
UBS seeks to lure US advisers
The brokerage arm of UBS has launched an aggressive hiring spree in the US, offering financial advisers large pay packages to lure them from rivals such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Citi – even as these rival banks shed thousands of jobs.
Grim results seen for UBS, Credit Suisse
Swiss newspapers expect the country’s top two banks, UBS and Credit Suisse to announce record losses for 2008 this week and predict UBS will unveil thousands of job cuts, reports Reuters. Losses at the biggest bank and world’s largest wealth manager,
Goldman chief calls for tighter controls
Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs’ chief executive, has called for banks to adopt more stringent accounting practices, accept tougher regulation and give more power to risk managers. Writing in Monday’s
Rio’s chairman-elect quits
Jim Leng, chairman of Corus, the UK steelmaker, has quit as chairman-designate of Rio Tinto after a split with Tom Albanese, chief executive, over the group’s financial strategy. The Anglo-Australian miner is trying to reduce a $37bn debt burden.
Buyout groups circle HBOS assets
Specialist investors in second-hand private equity assets are circling Lloyds Banking Group and RBS in anticipation that they will restart auctions of their buy-out portfolios after abortive attempts to sell them last year.
Hedge funds see signs of recovery
The hedge fund industry gained a rare boost in January as leading operators made their first profits in months and the convertible bond market – dominated by hedge funds – started to move again. Several funds produced returns above 10%,
Ping An blow to Fortis deal
Ping An, the Chinese insurer and biggest shareholder in Fortis, with a 5% stake, said it would vote against the sale of most of the Belgian financial group’s domestic banking operations to BNP Paribas,
UK property sector plans cash calls
UK property company Hammerson is to launch a £600m rights issue on Monday, signalling the start of a likely wave of equity raising from the struggling UK commercial property sector, reports the FT. Property companies,
UK bank bonus row escalates
UK chancellor Alistair Darling on Sunday vowed to impose pay restraints across large parts of the banking industry amid public anger over his admission he would not stop Royal Bank of Scotland paying out £1bn-plus in bonuses this year.
Quattrone to open London branch
Frank Quattrone, the banker who came to personify the technology boom and bust of the late 1990s, is opening a London branch of his investment banking boutique, Qatalyst Group. The former CSFB banker has taken on Jean Tardy-Joubert,
UK investment trusts eye new model
Key investors believe an innovative new capital structure could rescue the UK’s £84bn investment trust industry from near collapse amid slumping share prices and a drying-up of liquidity. Akarui Credit Opportunities,
Lehman’s HK affairs under scrutiny
Creditors of Lehman Brothers’ Hong Kong operations will get their first chance to cross-examine the liquidators of the entities this week, as they seek to reclaim billions of dollars. KPMG, the court-appointed provisional liquidator,
VC in £1bn UK, Irish tech push
Venture capital investment in UK and Irish technology companies in 2008 hit the highest level since the dotcom boom ended in 2001, despite the economic downturn. Ascendant, an adviser to smaller companies looking to raise money,
Hedge fund follows Kroll style
A former Kroll executive is trying to raise money for a new hedge fund that will use intelligence networks similar to those of the private investigator to give it an information edge in emerging markets.
Overnight markets: Stimulus hopes
Asian stocks were mixed on Monday as concern about deteriorating company earnings offset optimism that government policy measures will ease the financial crisis. But hopes for a speedy passage of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package – to be announced Tuesday – helped global equity markets overcome bleak US jobs data to end last week with a flourish.
The Weekender
On FT Alphaville this week,
- Snow, snow, snow, snow on Monday.
- Some dire rumblings in Russia and China
- While Moody’s issued harsh downgrades on Barclays.
- On Tuesday, Happy Boycott CNBC day! (Egotists unwelcome)
- Buy American.
How the ‘Lehman shoku’ could morph into the ‘Nomura shoku’
Nomura, which is still digesting big chunks of Lehman Brothers’ Asian, European and Middle East operations that it bought last year, would probably be the first to deny it has bitten off more than it can chew.
CDS update: “fundamentals are dire and will probably remain so for the rest of the year”
This CDS report was written by Markit’s Gavan Nolan
President Obama’s message of hope, while inspiring to many, was always vulnerable to the unrealistic expectations bestowed upon the new leader. But the credit markets clearly have faith in Obama’s ability to return America on to the growth path.
Notes on the BoE’s asset purchase scheme – fighting Mr Market
Details out this afternoon of the BoE’s asset purchase facility:
The Bank has been authorised to purchase up to £50bn of high-quality private sector assets under this Facility. The following sterling assets are initially eligible for purchase:
A financial black hole in Geneva
Geneva is home to one of the world’s largest private wealth industries and preferred tax-efficient base for hundreds of European finance and trading firms. In this Swiss lake-side city even a croissant can set you back a small fortune. Finding somewhere to shop that is not a luxury outlet selling watches or designer-ware,
Flows turn positive for emerging market equity funds
Funds dedicated to emerging market equities registered small inflows during the week to Feb 4, after two weeks of redemptions worth $1.6bn, data from EPFR show.
But investors continued to shun EMEA funds,
Hedgies off to a good 2009?
Hedge funds may have gotten off to a decent start this January. Via Econompic Data, sourced from Barclays.
You can contrast that to 2008′s overall performance here. That performance was pretty dire,
From light touch to ham fist: the FSA’s new short regime
Rarely does FT Alphaville draw attention back to previous posts so barefacedly, but in honour of the below, we encourage readers to revisit, What is your assessment as to the typical volume of spam received from the FSA per day – a post we really rather enjoyed writing way back in July.
US unemployment rate hits 7.6 per cent
Employers in non-farm sectors in the US axed 598,000 jobs in January – the single largest cut in 34 years – and the unemployment rate ratcheted up to 7.6 per cent from 7.2 per cent in December, data released by the Labor Department on Friday showed.
The (Swiss Re) snowball
Warren Buffett knew this was going to happen when he spent CHF3bn on Swiss Re yesterday, right? From Moody’s:
Moody’s Downgrades Swiss Re Ratings (Senior to Aa3); Ratings on Review Down
Short-term ratings of P-1 affirmed.
Bank desperation, mark-to-market edition
Bank investors are really desperate determined.
From Monument Securities’ Stephen Lewis.
A story that ‘mark-to-market’ rules for valuing banks’ assets might be abandoned was the basis for a 250-point rally in the Dow Jones industrials index.
CDS report: Stimulus hopes support market
European credit derivatives markets enjoyed a relative lull on Friday morning, with the investment-grade iTraxx Europe holding steady around the previous session’s closing level, and the iTraxx Crossover widening only slightly.
Japan’s job-cut tsunami
Toyota’s earnings warning on Friday and its move to begin cutting about 3,000 contract jobs as well as close plants temporarily was the latest in a rapidly expanding list of huge job losses in Japan, where job cuts are a particularly sensitive issue in a traditional “job for life”