Banks make record profits but bad debts soar
Banks make record profits but bad debts soarFiona Walsh
The Guardian
31 Jul 2006
Britain’s Big Five banks will this week enjoy another record reporting season, but their first-half figures are also expected to show a significant increase in bad debt charges as the industry pays the price of the consumer borrowing spree. HSBC...
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France’s top M&A banks seek more clout abroad
France’s top M&A banks seek more clout abroadBy Michael Wang
The Wall Street Journal Europe
28 Jul 2006
LONDON—A red-hot French mergers-and-acquisitions market has helped BNP Paribas and Socit Gnrale, the country’s two largest banks, make big inroads in the lucrative advisory business. The challenge now for the pair is to parlay that newly gained...
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Central bankers worry more about instability than inflation
Central bankers worry more about instability than inflation
The Wall Street Journal Europe
28 Jul 2006
CENTRAL BANKERS SEEM to have gone all timid. Growth is strong and inflation is rising across the wealthy part of the world. Yet the authorities have been increasing interest rates at a remarkably measured pace, so much so that the race between rates...
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Citigroup’s chief defends strategy as rivals advance
Citigroup’s chief defends strategy as rivals advanceBy Clint Riley
The Wall Street Journal Europe
27 Jul 2006
AT THE START of 2005, Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince made controlling expenses inside the global bank he took over 18 months earlier one of his top priorities. Mr. Prince pledged to investors that in addition to repairing the...
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Hedge-fund relations to banks may be too close for comfort
Hedge-fund relations to banks may be too close for comfortBy Henny Sender And Anita Raghavan
The Wall Street Journal Europe
27 Jul 2006
IN LATE 2002, the manager of MarshallWace LLP, a large London hedge-fund firm, received twoimportantphonecallsfromaninvestment bank that was about to unveil a client’s offering of securities. Such an offering would be of keen interest to investors. It...
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Merrill wears many hats in hospital deal
Merrill wears many hats in hospital dealBy Randall Smith
The Wall Street Journal Europe
26 Jul 2006
Merrill Lynch & Co.’s investment in the $21 billion buyout of longtime client HCA Inc. shows how theWall Street financier aims to profit from its network of investment bankers advising hundreds of U.S. corporations—as it tries to navigate conflicts...
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Stocks Soar on Rate Hopes
Stocks Soar on Rate HopesBy Walter Hamilton
Los Angeles Times
20 Jul 2006
The stock market streaked higher Wednesday after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke renewed hope on Wall Street that the central bank would soon stop raising interest rates. The market also got a boost from a third straight day of...
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Home Office ensures NatWest Three must stay in US
Home Office ensures NatWest Three must stay in USAndrew Clark
The Guardian
22 Jul 2006
A Texas judge has rejected international bail for the so-called NatWest Three after the Home Office intervened by informing the US authorities that it could do little to supervise the former bankers if they returned to Britain ahead of their...
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JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America beat estimates
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America beat estimatesBY EILEEN ALT POWELL Associated Press
Miami Herald
20 Jul 2006
NEW YORK — Two of the nation’s largest banks — Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase — reported secondquarter earnings above Wall Street expectations, with strength in investment banking and asset management offsetting interest rate pressures on their...
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ECB trade-settlement proposal must battle numerous obstacles
ECB trade-settlement proposal must battle numerous obstacles
The Wall Street Journal Europe
21 Jul 2006
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE FRANKFURT—The EuropeanCentral Bank’s proposal to take over settling a big chunk of stock and bond trades in the euro zone is a radical step to boost financial market integration but it faces huge obstacles, industry officials...
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Big U.S. companies sit on a mountain of cash
Big U.S. companies sit on a mountain of cashBy Ian McDonald
The Wall Street Journal Europe
21 Jul 2006
AMERICANS ARE carrying record levels of debt. Big U.S. companies, on the other hand, have never been so flush with cash. Years of record earnings growth have allowed many of the biggest names in business to sock away money or use cash to buy back...
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Mac split to avoid regulation
Mac split to avoid regulationRobert Clow Meetings
Australian
21 Jul 2006
MACQUARIE Bank wants to free its burgeoning funds factory business from cumbersome domestic banking regulation as it charts a 15th straight year of record profits. More than eight months out from the end of its financial year, chief executive Allan...
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Two big U.S. banks surprise the Street
Two big U.S. banks surprise the StreetEILEEN ALT POWELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
Toronto Star
20 Jul 2006
NEW YORK— Two of the largest banks in the United States — Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — reported second-quarter earnings above Wall Street expectations, with strength in investment banking and asset management offsetting...
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RBS criticised for social impact of global lending
RBS criticised for social impact of global lendingSIMON BAIN simon.bain@theherald.co.uk
The Herald
19 Jul 2006
ROYAL Bank of Scotland has “buried its head in the sand” over the social and environmental impacts of several controversial global lending projects, an environmental watchdog said yesterday. The London-based Platform group, which monitors the impacts...
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NatWest three face up to 9 years in jail
NatWest three face up to 9 years in jailCATHERINE MACLEOD UK POLITICAL EDITOR catherine.macleod@theherald.co.uk
The Herald
18 Jul 2006
THE three former NatWest employees extradited to the US from the UK last week to face seven charges of fraud will spend between seven and nine years in jail if convicted. During the campaign against the extradition, friends ofGary Mulgrew, David...
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RBS close to settling suit over Enron
RBS close to settling suit over EnronJAMES HALL
Business
16 Jul 2006
ROYAL BANK of Scotland, Britain’s second biggest bank, is close to settling a multi-million pound civil action with shareholders in Enron Corporation, who have accused the bank of helping the collapsed US energy giant conceal its accounting fraud. The...
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The silence of the bank
The silence of the bank
Daily Mail
13 Jul 2006
IF the NatWest Three have committed a crime, why has their former employer, Royal Bank of Scotland, not taken action? The answer may lie in its annual report, which reveals the bank faces a risk of litigation in the U.S. RBS admits the case is tied...
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ECB mulls settlement system
ECB mulls settlement system
The Wall Street Journal Europe
10 Jul 2006
A WALL STREET JOURNAL NEWS ROUNDUP In a surprise move, the European Central Bank said Friday it is considering settling share and other securities trades conducted in euros, meaning the bank could compete with Deutsche Brse AG and Euroclear, which...
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Deutsche Bank under fire as Eurotunnel seeks protection
Deutsche Bank under fire as Eurotunnel seeks protectionBy Alistair Osborne Business Editor
Business
14 Jul 2006
TALKS to restructure Eurotunnel descended into acrimony after the boss of the debt-laden Channel Tunnel operator asked a French court for protection from the creditors it owes 6.2bn. A furious Jacques Gounon made the application to the Paris...
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Doing nothing seems to have worked
Doing nothing seems to have workedLarry Elliott Economics editor
The Guardian
10 Jul 2006
Are you an economist fed up with the rat race? Would you be prepared to swap a big City salary for something a little more relaxed? Or do you just want to get away from the daily grind of academia? If so, Gordon Brown is looking for someone just like...
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Banker to take control of PCCW
Banker to take control of PCCWKate Linebaugh By in Hong Henny Sender Kong and in Tokyo
The Wall Street Journal Europe
11 Jul 2006
Richard Li is selling control of his PCCWLtd., telephone company, to a veteran Hong Kong banker, providing a surprising but politically correct solution to a messy takeover battle that threatened to put China’s sensitive relationship with this former...
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Canadian bank buys into Malaysian lender
Canadian bank buys into Malaysian lender
Bangkok Post
10 Jul 2006
Kuala Lumpur— Canada’s Bank of Nova Scotia willformanalliancewithMalaysia’s biggest state pension fund to acquire a one-third stake in the financial group Rashid Hussain, a report said yesterday. The Edge business weekly said Bank of...
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PSU banks feel talent crunch, likely to offer stock options
PSU banks feel talent crunch, likely to offer stock optionsShaji Vikraman
Economic Times
10 Jul 2006
INDIA’S state-owned banks, who are often considered poor cousins of their counterparts in private sector and new age firms when it comes to rewarding employees, may soon be able to shake off that unwelcome tag. Thefinanceministry is working on a...
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Bank takeover battle may hinge on $6bn bad debts
Bank takeover battle may hinge on $6bn bad debts
Hindustan Times
11 Jul 2006
THE HIGH-STAKES battle for a stake in China’s struggling Guangdong Development Bank may hinge on who takes responsibility for more than $6 billion in bad assets, industry sources said on Monday. Citigroup Inc. and France’s Societe Generale have been...
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Pressure mounts on RBS to break silence on NatWest Three
Pressure mounts on RBS to break silence on NatWest ThreeIAIN DEY
Business
02 Jul 2006
PRESSURE was growing on Royal Bank of Scotland last night to release a document that might prevent the extradition of the NatWest Three to the US, amid signs of growing political support for moves to change the controversial legislation. Gordon Brown,...
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