February, 2009
The remuneration model
The FSA has just published a new set of principles: on remuneration.
Much here isn’t really new. And its hard to tell what the impact of these kind of regulations-that-dare-not-speak-their-name are when things are kept so deliberately oblique.
Our very own AIG
- by that we mean RBS, of course.
And like the American insurer, the Scottish bank is becoming a financial black hole, capable of sucking in billions and billions of taxpayers cash.
Thursday’s statement from the stricken bank reveals that the government will inject further £13bn into RBS through a purchase of B shares and stands ready to subscribe for a further £6bn.
Shredded, encore
RTRS: UK’S DARLING HAS ASKED FORMER RBS CEO GOODWIN TO FOREGO PENSION ENTITLEMENT
The worst company in the world
Last time we checked (Forbes this time last year), with around $3.8 trillion of assets, RBS was the biggest company in the world.
But with profits for 2008 coming in at £80m, we think it might also qualify as the worst.
End of an era – and of Rohner – at UBS
UBS signalled the end of a not-so-glorious era on Thursday, announcing it has appointed Oswald Gruebel, a former head of rival Credit Suisse, as its new chief executive, replacing Marcel Rohner.
Reuters reports that UBS,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday:
- Saint Laurent $28 million chair defies economic logic
- Zombies must die
- There will be blood…
- AIG is only the beginning…
- Bank stress tests etc, putting it in perspective
- The price of recovery
- Rupert and the succession question
- Adventures with sovereign CDS
- How to make BofA-Merrill Lynch work
- Were you listening,
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
Willem Buiter’s Maverecon Blog: throwing good public money after bad private money
Like its American and Dutch counterparts, the British toxic asset insurance scheme is without redeeming social value:
Snap news
The latest on Thursday,
- UBS appoints Oswald J. Grübel as new CEO – statement
- RBS results part 1, part 2, part 3,Treasury Asset Protection scheme statement, management changes
- Allianz Reports $3.9 Billion Fourth-Quarter Loss on Sale of Dresdner Unit – statement
- Nationwide says house prices fall by 1.8% in February – press release
- Corporate results:
US rescue plan buoys bank shares
US bank stocks regained ground on Wednesday as the US Treasury finally revealed details of a rescue plan that could lead to partial nationalisation of some of the biggest US banks. Under the plan, banks will have six months to raise enough private capital to continue lending through a severe recession – or be forced to take a form of government capital which would convert into ordinary shares.
AIG considers three-way break-up
AIG and the US authorities are in advanced talks over a radical restructuring to split the stricken insurer into at least three state-controlled divisions. Under the plan, described by one insider as a “controlled break-up”,
State to insure RBS assets
Royal Bank of Scotland was preparing to inject £300bn-plus worth of loans and other credit assets into a government-backed insurance scheme on Wednesday night in an effort to stabilise the state-controlled bank while saving it from full nationalisation.
Pension for RBS ex-chief raises questions
Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of RBS, was awarded a £16m pension pot by the bank when he left last year, double the amount previously reported, it emerged Wednesday night. The pension, which was approved by the government,
UK to see ‘regulation revolution’
A “revolution” in financial regulation was promised by the head of the UK’s Financial Services Authority on Wednesday as he outlined tougher rules for banks and hedge funds. Lord Turner, chairman of the City watchdog,
BofA chief to be grilled on bonuses
Ken Lewis, Bank of America chief executive, will testify on Thursday before New York state prosecutors, who will question him on what he knew about $3.6bn in bonuses paid at Merrill Lynch in December, just before BofA’s Jan 1 acquisition of Merrill.
Luxembourg attacks UBS onMadoff
Luxembourg’s financial regulator has accused UBS of “serious failure” over its custodianship of a $1.4bn fund that funnelled money into Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50bn “Ponzi” scheme. The regulator,
Brussels warns on bank schemes
European governments are being warned to closely monitor the total cost of toxic asset schemes and concentrate measures on ”a limited number of banks of systemic importance”, if resources are scarce.
Ambac sees $2.3bn quarterly loss
Ambac Financial, the second largest US bond insurer, on Wednesday revealed a $2.3bn Q4 loss as it took further charges on exposure to troubled mortgages. The group, which last year lost its triple A credit ratings after big losses on mortgage-linked securities,
NXP to overhaul $6bn secured debt
NXP, the Dutch semiconductor maker founded by Philips, is understood to be planning to restructure its $6bn debt. The company, which has about $5.7bn of high-yield bonds, making it Europe’s biggest issuer of junk bonds,
Santander revives Cepsa stake talks
Santander has revived talks to sell its 32% stake in oil group Cepsa in what could lead to the divestment of the Spanish bank’s last remaining equity holding of importance. The bank, the eurozone’s biggest by market cap,
RBS to end F1 sponsorship
Royal Bank of Scotland signalled the beginning of the end of its long association with sport when it announced the demise of its flagship sponsorship of the Williams Formula One racing team and said it would halve sponsorship budgets by the end of next year.
Germany snubs joint euro bond
Prospects for a joint European bond suffered a further setback on Wednesday when Carl Heinz Daube, head of the agency responsible for issuing German debt, rejected the idea, saying the EU was not ready for such a bond.
Ex-UBS bankers set up boutique firm
John Costas, the former head of UBS’s investment bank, is setting up a financial services firm in New York, becoming the latest top banker to strike out on his own. Costas and former colleagues Michael Hutchins and Matthew Johnson will launch a full-service boutique in the second quarter with about 40-50 employees,
Overnight markets: Mixed
Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday, as about the same number of stocks advanced as declined on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Futures on the S&P 500 Index gained 0.3% after the gauge slid 1.1% on Wednesday as figures showed that purchases of previously owned homes dropped an annual 5.3%,
[The Stanford Series] This land is our land, Antigua government to say
The government of the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda will on Thursday declare its intention to seize more than 250 acres of land belonging to Sir Allen Stanford to help stabilise an economy thrown into turmoil by the $8bn fraud allegations against the Texan tycoon.
The teddy bear fraud
One thing jumped out at us in a cursory reading of the CFTC’s complaint against Stephen Walsh and Paul Greenwood – who, moments ago, were accused by the regulator of operating a “$1.3bn investment scam”.
Another scam… CFTC charges individuals over $1.3bn commodity market fraud
From the CFTC:
CFTC Charges New York Residents with Operating $1.3 Billion Investment Scam
Stephen Walsh and Paul Greenwood Allegedly Misappropriated Over $553 Million from Commodity Pool Participants
Washington,
This is not just any divi cut. This is…
… a M&S dividend cut.
Now ordinarily, talk of a divi cut at M&S would be a mid-week market rumour we’d let pass us by. Especially since M&S shares closed up today, albeit by only 0.3 per cent. But we can’t let it go because we came across this…
[The Stanford Series] Clients of Allen, by the numbers
Here at FT Alphaville we’ve questioned before the $50bn figure touted by Stanford Financial as total assets “under advisement”. Apart from the $8bn or so at SIB, we could find neither hide nor hair of the rest.
The lot of the Irish
Who’d lend to Ireland? The Republic priced a 3-year €4bn deal Wednesday at 170bp over mid-swaps – pretty costly stuff! This spread is almost five-times that of Barclays’ UK guaranteed 3-yr £3bn deal this week,
A surprisingly large gasoline drawdown…
Here’s a shocker: gasoline stocks fell much more than expected last week , with a corresponding smaller than expected build up in crude stocks according to the latest EIA stock data. Nymex crude rallied strongly on the numbers on Wednesday,