FT.com financials feed
The latest financial services company and industry news with expert analysis from the Financial Times on FT.com
Updated: 32 min 26 sec ago
MF Global loss estimate revised upwards
Trustee puts gap owed to futures customers at $1.6bn, up from $1.2bn, partly because of a reclassification
Categories: Banking and finance
S&P downgrades ratings of 34 Italian banks
Standard & Poor’s cuts credit ratings of Italian institutions citing concerns over ability to finance given the broader problems facing Italy
Categories: Banking and finance
Cameron calls for truce on bonuses
David Cameron has called for a truce in the battle over bank bonuses in an attempt to repair fractured relations with the City
Categories: Banking and finance
CVC looks to sell its magazines business
Move comes after a failed attempt by the owner of Nine Entertainment to seek a deal with lenders to extend the maturity of its debts
Categories: Banking and finance
False dawns and public fury: the 1930s are not so far away
Saving the euro is not everything. We must also ensure that more tested aspects of the EU survive an all-too-possible euro break-up, writes Martin Taylor
Categories: Banking and finance
Bankia to set aside €3.4bn for provisions
Spanish bank, which reported net profit for full year fell 13 per cent to €309m, denies again that talks took place with rival La Caixa
Categories: Banking and finance
Barclays bonus cap reflects ‘public mood’
Cuts to banking bonus pools may be an attempt to mollify public agitation, but they mask the difficulty of bringing down costs in the industry
Categories: Banking and finance
NYSE sets ‘full service’ clearing house for London
The group’s fledgling clearing house in London shares some of the clearing of Liffe futures exchange’s derivatives with LCH.Clearnet
Categories: Banking and finance
Fund chief arrested for insider trading
The head of Whitman capital has been charged with insider trading as part of the US government’s investigation into corruption on Wall Street
Categories: Banking and finance
Banks under fire over Project Merlin
The banks met their overall government-agreed commitments for 2011 with gross new loans of £214.9bn to businesses against a £190bn target
Categories: Banking and finance
Mideast investors to cash in on smokers’ ire
Arab Investments hopes its £36m hotel will offer smokers an oasis from the ban that has forced them out of most buildings since 2007
Categories: Banking and finance
A brighter view of banking under Volcker
Under new financial regulations in the US the banking industry’s profits will be curbed – or so it was thought. Goldman notes otherwise
Categories: Banking and finance
Apollo swings to $301m loss
Alternative asset manager reports a full-year loss as volatile markets hit the unrealised value of companies it owns
Categories: Banking and finance
Citigroup took $50m loss over Libor probe
Nine agencies in the US, Europe and Japan have been probing whether US and European banks manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate
Categories: Banking and finance
Barclays caps bonuses as profits dip
UK bank capped investment banking bonuses at £65,000, with the overall bonus pool at the division down by a third to £1.5bn
Categories: Banking and finance
CVC and Phoenix end takeover talks
Private equity group no longer in talks with FTSE 250 life assurer after disagreement on price, with the decision said to have been mutual
Categories: Banking and finance
NY Fed got $3.2bn from mortgage securities sale
Bundle of mortgage-related securities once owned by bailed-out insurance group AIG were sold to Credit Suisse in January
Categories: Banking and finance
US banks in $40bn mortgage settlement
The US government and 49 state prosecutors have struck an agreement with five banks worth up to $40bn to resolve allegations that the institutions abused borrowers
Categories: Banking and finance
Hargreaves warns on new business growth
UK retail investment broker says that the rate of new business growth slowed as small investors took fright at market volatility
Categories: Banking and finance
SVG strikes upbeat note for year
Shares in the private equity group rise by more than 9% after it reported a rise in net asset value and a £50m tender offer to buy back shares
Categories: Banking and finance
The Bottom Line:If Mr Cable has his way...
"If Mr Cable had his way, all the big banks would be broken up and bonuses would be virtually eliminated - a sure-fire way in my view of guaranteeing an end to the UK’s ability to compete as an international financial centre. Let’s not forget that this is a man who is on record as saying that everyone who works in a bank has an ‘aristocratic lifestyle’ clearly demonstrating his lack of understanding of the sector." A tough line on bankers’ bonuses could make a brain drain of financial talent a distinct possibility, warns Paul Marsden. Read more