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Dollar Falls to Record Low Against Euro 2008-03-08 09:03:25 Dollar Falls
to Record
Low Against Euro Before U.S. Jobs Report
Bloomberg
The dollar fell to a record low against the euro on speculation the jobless rate rose to a two- year high, adding to signs the U.S. will enter a recession.
The currency fell to a three-year low against the yen credit-market losses led traders to increase bets the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 75 basis points this month. The dollar headed for a fourth weekly decline against the euro, the longest losing streak since Nov. 9, and a third week of losses against the yen.
The dollar's weakness is extraordinary,'' Stephen Jen, head of currency research in London at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a research note.
"The recent sell-off in the dollar is both definitive and justified by economic and policy Read more:Dollar
Citigroup revamps mortgage business 2008-03-06 22:14:24 Financial News Online
Citigroup
is cutting residential mortgage assets by $45bn (ˆ29bn) and costs by $200m at the same time that Merrill Lynch discontinues origination at First Franklin, a sub-prime mortgage company the bank bought two years ago.
Officials at Citigroup said in a statement that they will reduce the assets in its US mortgage business by a fifth from December 2007 levels and will cut the amount of new loans to be held in the portfolio by more than half over the coming year.
In addition, the company will integrate middle office and support areas and consolidate operations, policies and procedures in its US mortgage business under CitiMortgage. The bank expects to cut costs by $200m within 12 months.
Bill Beckmann, president of CitiMortgage, said: “These cha
Africa Adventure 2008-03-12 05:17:30
A unique Africa
n Safari and adventure activity venture with a real difference.
REQUIRED AMOUNT: EUR 450,000
INDUSTRY 1: Recreation / Tourism
MINIMUM INVESTMENT AMOUNT: EUR 50,000
INVESTMENT REASON: Equipment or Inventory
Please do not hesitate to contact us
if you have any questions - advice is free, subject to reasonable use.Leave a comment Read more:Adventure
Agriculture Ukraine 2008-03-12 05:15:54
We are an Irish company , that has secured 10 year leases on 30,000 hectares of prime arable land in Ukraine
.Funding is required for capital expenditure on to farm the land.The current global fuel/food situation has resulted in an explosion in price.
REQUIRED AMOUNT: EUR 10,000,000
INDUSTRY 1: Agricultural & Related
MINIMUM INVESTMENT AMOUNT: EUR 400,000
INVESTMENT REASON: Working Capital
Please do not hesitate to contact us
if you have any questions - advice is free, subject to reasonable use.Leave a comment Read more:Agriculture
German bank LBBW takes $1.72 billion hit 2008-03-15 00:15:52 Reuters
German
regional state-backed lender LBBW LBBW.UL has taken a 1.1 billion
euro ($1.72 billion) hit on its investments in structured securities and said it expects market conditions to remain extremely challenging until mid-year at least.
LBBW posted net profit of 311 million euros in 2007, down 67 percent from 2006, it said in a statement on Friday.Leave a comment
Managers caught in bank debt trap 2008-03-14 23:58:20 Financial News Online
Credit hedge fund managers believe the pain their sector has suffered since last summer will be more than compensated by a $1 trillion (ˆ650bn) investment opportunity they expect to materialize this year.
But the lure of substantial profits from buying unwanted bank debt has prompted some funds to jump too soon, in some cases with disastrous results.
The collapsed $2bn asset-backed securities fund run by UK hedge fund manager Peloton Partners is the highest-profile example of how badly a portfolio can go wrong if a manager buys a debt security too soon and its bankers, increasingly strapped for cash, keep their lending tight.
Peloton, a well-regarded manager that last year gave its investors an 87% return, this year borrowed $7bn to buy a $9bn portfol Read more:Managers
Merrill Lynch drops down trading efficiency table 2008-03-17 01:45:50 Financial News Online
MerrillLynch
, which was the most efficient Wall Street bank using risk in its trading business to generate revenues in 2006, is now falling behind its rivals, according to research by Financial News.
Trading efficiency measures the sales and trading revenue banks generate for a given unit of risk taken. It is calculated by dividing revenues from sales and trading by the bank’s stated risk exposure.
Value at risk measures potential loss due to adverse market movements in a defined period with a specified confidence level.
In 2006 Merrill Lynch
had trading revenues of $14.3bn (ˆ9.2bn) and an average VaR during the year of $50m, meaning it generated $286 in revenue per $1 of trading risk. Last year the bank’s average VaR increased to $65m but tradi
Swiss private bank launches Asian business 2008-03-17 01:44:37 Wealth-Bulletin.com
Basel-based La Roche & Co Banquiers has launched an Asian
subsidiary in Hong Kong to target the region's wealthy.
La Roche & Co Banquiers said in a statement that the subsidiary, La Roche & Co Asia Ltd, was set up to further develop its know-how of the Asian financial markets and to expand the services of the bank for its clients both in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
The bank has appointed Chun Chuan Kwong to head the new subsidiary. Leave a comment Read more:Swiss
Fed rate cut less than expected 2008-03-19 04:36:47 Financial News Online
A divided Federal Reserve cut interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point, delivering less than the markets hoped for despite the magnitude of the move.
The Fed's policy-making Federal Open Market Committee voted 8-2 to cut its short-term interest rate target to 2.25% from 3%, bringing cumulative declines in less than two months to two percentage points, the most rapid pace of easing in years.
But it was less than the full percentage point investors had come to expect after the Fed's dramatic intervention to aid Bear Stearns over the weekend signaled a heightened degree of concern that the severe credit crunch had put the stability of the financial system at risk.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, up over 300 points just before the Fed's 2:15 p
Socialized Compensation 2008-03-21 01:10:06 The New York Times
How can one feel sorry for James Cayne? The potential losses of the chairman and former chief executive of Bear Stearns must rank up there with the biggest in modern history. The value of his stake in Bear Stearns collapsed from about $1 billion a year ago to as little as $14 million at the price JPMorgan Chase offered for the teetering bank on Sunday.
Still, Mr. Cayne was paid some $40 million in cash between 2004 and 2006, the last year on record, as well as stocks and options. In the past few years, he has sold shares worth millions more. There should be financial accountability for the man who led Bear Stearns as it gorged on dubious subprime securities to boost its profits and share price, helping to set up one of the biggest financial collapses since the savin Read more:Compensation
, Socialized
Grassley to examine Bear Stearns deal 2008-03-21 01:07:59 Financial News Online
The Senate Finance Committee's top Republican said late last week that he has directed his staff to probe the actions of Bear Stearns
executives.
Sen. Charles Grassley
, R-Iowa, said he is concerned that insiders and senior executives may benefit from the fire sale of the company to JP Morgan Chase over the weekend leading up to March 17.
In a statement, Grassley said he is specifically curious about how company executives would have fared if the company had filed for bankruptcy.
'I'm not arguing with the marketplace, but I'm going to argue with people who have insight and take advantage of it,' Grassley said in an interview on Fox Business Network.
When asked about comments from top Bear Stearns executives that the company was liquid just days before th
Credit Suisse Average Board Pay Cut By 35% In 2007 2008-03-22 09:08:57 Fox Business
Brady Dougan, CEO of Suisse
.htm">Credit Suisse
, told a conference call Thursday that the average compensation of executive board members has been cut by 35% in 2007 compared to 2006.
Dougan said the cut reflects the discovery of intentional mispricing of assets by some traders and the group's weaker overall performance.
Earlier Credit Suisse announced that it was unlikely to be profitable in the first quarter and that it had written-down 2.86 billion francs ($2.9 billion) from the mispricing, which was first revealed in February.Leave a comment Read more:Average
, Board
Maybank Offers $2.7 Billion for Bank Internasional 2008-03-26 01:33:58 Bloomberg
Malayan Banking Bhd., Malaysia's biggest bank, offered as much as $2.7 billion for PT Bank Internasional Indonesia to become the largest foreign financial services company in the Southeast Asian nation.
Maybank beat Bank of China Ltd. to buy a 56 percent stake held by a group led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings Pte for $1.5 billion, or about 23 percent more than yesterday's closing price. Maybank will also offer $1.2 billion for the rest of the stock, it said in a statement today.
The offer values Bank Internasional at about 4.7 times book value, roughly double the average valuation among Indonesia's publicly traded lenders, data compiled by Bloomberg show. A takeover would give Maybank 230 branches in the world's fourth- most populous country, a mark Read more:Offers
Geneva and Monaco begin to attract the super-rich 2008-03-28 05:06:37 Wealth-Bulletin. com
New taxes, poor transport infrastructure and outrageously high property prices are making the super-rich think twice about that trophy house in London - Monaco
and Geneva
are looking more attractive by the day.
London, the unofficial world-wide capital for the international super-rich, with more foreign billionaires residing in the city than any other, looks to be losing some of its allure for the very rich.
Switzerland and Monaco are likely to be the beneficiaries of any exodus, say experts.
'The super-rich are thinking twice about whether they want to stay in London,' said Richard Mannion, tax director for the asset management and advisory group Smith & Williamson.
'Many of them are looking to relocate to Monaco and Switzerland.'
Mannion said London Read more:begin
Westpac raises rates to 9.37% 2008-03-28 05:05:20 Business Day
Westpac has raised its standard variable home loan rate by 10 basis points to 9.37% as a result of the global liquidity crisis.
The new rate will apply from next Wednesday, April 2.
Westpac group executive consumer financial services Peter Clare said the decision was prompted by continued funding pressures.
''Operating as we do in the global economy, long and short-term funding costs are at record levels,'' Mr Clare said.
''We will continue to absorb a significant portion of the additional borrowing costs that we are experiencing on behalf of our customers.''
Mr Clare said Westpac was mindful the extra rise would affect some family budgets, but he sought to reassure customers that the bank had responsible lending practices in place offering several options to h
Why UBS should cling to investment banking 2008-04-02 06:41:13 Financial News
If UBS is wondering how it might add to the litany of bad decisions that launched its sub-prime adventure and led to $40bn of writedowns, then it should bow to pressure to sell its investmentbanking
division
The idea of UBS selling its investment bank would constitute a terrifying unravelling of its history but it is a real possibility now that one of the architects of that history, Marcel Ospel, has stepped down as chairman.
During a career at UBS spanning nearly 30 years, Ospel helped build UBS Investment bank brick by brick. He was at the helm when Swiss Banking Corporation bought a premier league corporate finance house, SG Warburg, through its merger with Union Bank of Switzerland just over a decade ago and successful push into the US founded on the acquisitio
Midwestern Bank May Be Looking for a Buyer 2008-04-02 06:39:50 The New York Times
The National City Corporation, a Midwestern bank heavily exposed to the worsening mortgage and housing market, confirmed Tuesday that it was reviewing its options amid rumors that it wants to find a buyer.
The investment bank Goldman Sachs has been hired to look into strategic alternatives, National City, based in Cleveland, said.
National City’s chairman and chief executive, Peter E. Raskind, told employees last month, when shares of the regional bank dropped 43 percent after the near collapse of Bear Stearns, that National City remained financially sound.
National City sold a third of its stake in the newly public Visa Inc. two days later, raising about $450 million in cash.
On Jan. 2, National City cut its dividend 49 percent and said it was shutting Read more:Buyer
Fed Signals More Rate Cuts as Officials Cite Market Stress 2008-04-04 07:03:49 Bloomberg
Federal Reserve officials signaled the central bank will keep lowering interest rates because financial markets remain distressed even after the fastest reduction of borrowing costs in two decades.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told lawmakers yesterday that the central bank is "ready to respond to whatever situation evolves,'' and cited ``considerable stress'' in markets. New York Fed President Timothy Geithner said policy makers must "continue to act forcefully.''
The remarks, along with Bernanke's acknowledgment for the first time two days ago that a recession is possible, indicate policy makers are concerned that a cut-off of credit to homeowners and companies will cause a protracted slump. Government figures today may show the U.S. lost jobs for a third straight mo Read more:Market
, Signals
U.S. Loses 80,000 Jobs, Unemployment Rate Increases 2008-04-04 06:59:53 Bloomberg
The U.S. lost jobs for a third consecutive month in March and the unemployment rate rose to the highest level since September 2005, pointing to an economy that may already be in a recession.
Payrolls shrank by 80,000, more than forecast, after a decrease of 76,000 in February that was more than initially reported, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The jobless rate rose to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent.
Job losses have shaken consumer confidence, contributing to a weakening in spending that has almost stalled growth. The report reinforces forecasts that the Federal Reserve, whose Chairman Ben S. Bernanke this week acknowledged the economy may face a recession, will need to do more to prevent further deterioration.
"You can pretty much write off the next few Read more:Unemployment
The Regulatory Failure Behind the Bear Stearns Debacle 2008-04-07 06:48:54 The New York Times
Bear Stearns
never ran short of capital. It just could not meet its obligations.
The S.E.C. still thinks Bear Stearns was in good shape.
At least that is the view from Washington, where regulators never stepped in to force the investment bank to reduce its high leverage even after it became clear Bear was struggling last summer. Instead, the regulators issued repeated reassurances that all was well.
Bear’s principal regulator was the Securities and Exchange Commission, which says it was watching closely. “At all times,” wrote Christopher Cox, the S.E.C. chairman, in the aftermath of the collapse, “the firm had a capital cushion well above what is required to meet supervisory standards.”
Even when the Federal Reserve concluded it had to subsidize Read more:Regulatory
Washington Mutual Gains on Speculation of Investment 2008-04-07 06:41:09 Bloomberg
WashingtonMutual
Inc., the largest U.S. savings and loan, rallied in German trading after the Wall Street Journal said the Seattle-based company may get $5 billion from an investment group led by private-equity firm TPG Inc.
Washington Mutual
, which has lost 74 percent of market value in the past 12 months, gained 17 percent to $11.86 today. The bank is close to receiving funds from the TPG group to bolster the balance sheet after more than $3 billion of home-mortgage writedowns and loan losses, the Journal reported, citing unidentified sources.
At least 14 banks and securities firms have sought cash from outside investors in the past year after more than $230 billion of markdowns and losses caused by the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market, data compiled by B
G7 to meet bankers to study credit crisis response 2008-04-10 04:54:32 Financial Mirror
Group of Seven finance chiefs will hold discussions with around 10 private sector bankers at a meeting this week to help shape their response to the global credit
crisis, a Japanese finance ministry official said on Wednesday.
Central bankers and finance ministers of the world's biggest industrial economies meet on Friday, with pressure growing for a common response to the crisis that has roiled markets, battered banks and put the skids under global economic growth.
"Uncertainty in the markets remains very strong as a whole," the ministry of finance official said in a pre-G7 briefing.
"In such conditions, the focus of discussions will likely be what steps should be taken to ease risks (for the markets)," he told reporters.
The official, speaking on conditi
Activists urge Deutsche Bank to split 2008-04-10 04:51:21 Wealth-Bulletin.com
Two high-profile shareholder activists in Germany have taken aim at Deutsche
Bank, pressing it to separate investment banking from its other operations within two years
Professor Ekkehard Wenger and Leonhard Knoll have proposed several items to be discussed at Deutsche's annual meeting at the end of May, according to the agenda published on the bank's website.
Wenger, the Würzburg University economics professor, has made a second career lobbying for shareholders' rights.
The two professors are working in concert against DaimlerChrysler, where they will argue at tomorrow's AGM that there is a need for a special audit into a share buyback programme conducted last year as well as making other proposals. The board has rejected them.
Their calls for chang Read more:Activists
, split
Global Forum Calls for New Financial Controls 2008-04-14 07:38:18 The New York Times
A global team of financial regulators and ministers is calling for greater disclosure, more oversight and improved risk management by the world’s banks and investment institutions caught up in a global credit crisis, United States Treasury officials said Thursday.
The officials said that the plea for more disclosure — particularly of off-balance sheet holdings — and for more safety measures, such as requiring institutions to hold more capital and maintain larger cash reserves, is to be issued by the Financial
Stability Forum
, a body representing regulators and ministers from around the world.
The forum recommends that investors be more careful about relying on credit-rating agencies in their investment decisions and in trading securities and derivatives. T Read more:Global
Private bank linked to possible acquisition of French wealth 2008-04-14 07:35:30
Wealth-Bulletin.com
Degroof Bank, Belgium's largest private bank, is been linked
to the possible acquisition of French
wealth manager Aforge Finance, according to a report in the French publication Challenges.
A spokesman for Degroof was unwilling to comment on the report.
Degroof already has a presence in the French wealth management market through its 49.9% share of Philippe Patrimoine, a Paris-based wealth manager. Leave a comment Read more:Private
Financier Aims to Buy Struggling Small Banks 2008-04-17 00:45:54
The New York Times
Wilbur L. Ross Jr., the billionaire financier known for buying companies cheaply, has compiled a shopping list of small struggling banks that might prove to be good investments.
Mr. Ross plans to buy stakes in a handful of those regional banks to combine them with some mortgage-related companies that his investment firm, W. L. Ross & Company, has already purchased. And he said on Wednesday that he believed investors and government funds in the Middle East might join him on his buying binge.
“I believe there will be 1,000 or more depository institutions that need money,” Mr. Ross said. “They’re of interest to me and of interest to my fund, and I believe they will be of interest to investors in general.”
Several Middle Eastern individuals and govern Read more:Small
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