Global Bankers News

Banks: Britain’s most dangerous industry

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:43:18 +0000

One of the most reliable rules of thumb in finance is surely this: when bankers crack open the champagne, everyone else needs to start worrying – hard. Well, the next few days will most probably be soundtracked by a fusillade of popping corks, as Lloyds, RBS and other high-street banks put out bumper half-year performance reports.
The question is whether politicians, policymakers and regulators will be getting anxious enough. Source

UAE banking sector well capitalised

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:42:38 +0000

The UAE’s banking sector is well capitalised to withstand the significant deterioration of asset quality it faces, however, the lending is expected to remain weak and some banks will require capital injections, according to a stress test conducted by Shuaa Capital, a regional investment bank.

Shuaa conducted the stress test on a sample of eight UAE banks such as Emirates NBD, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Mashreqbank, First Gulf Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Union National Bank and Commercial Bank of Dubai, which account for almost 70 per cent of banking system assets last year. Source

Chile Banking Sector Rebounds From 2009 Crisis; Profits Surge

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:41:42 +0000

Chile’s banking sector is putting the 2009 global financial crisis and an economic recession far behind it, as the industry is seeing profit increases of more than 50% so far this year.

Chile suffered a severe recession in 2009, with gross domestic product contracting 1.5% and domestic demand falling 5.9%. As a result, the banking sector saw earnings drop 11% in 2009 from the previous year. Source

HSBC and BNP lead European rebound

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:40:54 +0000

Robust profits from two of Europe’s biggest banking groups – HSBC and BNP Paribas – helped drive up stock markets on Monday, as investors continued to correct their underweight stance on the financial sector.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 closed up 2.6 per cent, with Europe’s leading banks notching up a 3.9 per cent gain. That echoed strong performances last week when markets welcomed the results of European bank stress tests. Source

China Everbright Bank picks strategic investors for IPO

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:39:55 +0000

China Everbright Bank’s IPO shares reserved for strategic investors have been hugely oversubscribed, signalling strong demand for the potentially $2.9 billion offering as stock markets recover.

Thirty strategic investors have committed up to 60 billion yuan ($8.86 billion) for their portion of the 6.1 billion-share offering, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday, in what could be the second-largest Chinese offering this year after Agricultural Bank of China’s (AgBank) $20.8 billion initial public offering last month. Source

RBS poised to seal Santander deal for sale of 318 branches

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:38:27 +0000

Royal Bank of Scotland is poised to tie up its deal with Santander for the sale of 318 branches, with the long-awaited announcement likely to come.
Santander, the eurozone’s biggest bank, has been in exclusive talks with RBS and has long been the front-runner to buy the 318 branches, attracted by the significant small and medium-sized business customers in the deal. Sources have previously said it was likely to pay about £1.8bn, or a small premium to the net asset value, and the figure will be disclosed when the deal completes. Source

Lloyds Bank Set To Report Return To Profit

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:37:50 +0000

Lloyds Banking Group is expected to report half-year profits of £800m before tax – a remarkable turnaround after losing £6.3bn last year.
The taxpayer-backed bank announced suffered huge losses after it was left with colossal debts from the takeover of HBOS amid a crippling financial crisis. Source

China Construction Bank: China Banking Regulator OKs Rights Issue Plan

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:36:59 +0000

China Construction Bank Corp. said it has received approval from the nation’s banking regulator to proceed with its CNY75 billion rights issue in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

China’s second-largest bank by assets after Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. said the China Banking Regulatory Commission has “in principle” approved the rights issue of Shanghai-traded A shares and Hong Kong-listed H shares. Source

US sees 90 bank failures in just 7 months

admin — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:15:57 +0000

The US banking system continues to wobble under financial woes, with 13 banks on an average going belly up every month in 2010.

Notwithstanding the slow economic recovery, more banks are expected to fold up in coming months, especially due to high unemployment rate, which is hovering over nine per cent. Source

Best model for OBR is the Bank of England

admin — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:14:53 +0000

August 13 is pencilled in as the date for his departure as chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility. Unless the Chancellor takes the highly unusual step of asking him to extend his contract, Sir Alan will hand over his proposals for the permanent set-up of the OBR, give evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, complete a piece of work on the uses or otherwise of the fuel duty regulator, pack his bags and leave for a well-earned break. Source