tagged w/ HBOS
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The chairman of Financial Services Authority (FSA), Adair Turner, said on Wednesday he believed that the way it regulated banks such as HBOS before its near collapse last year was wrong.
"We were supervising people like HBOS within a particular philosophy of the way you do regulation, which I think in retrospect was wrong," he told a cross-party group of MPs.
Can anybody say "Duh?"The chairman of Financial Services Authority (FSA), Adair Turner, said on Wednesday he... more
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The whistleblower whose revelations about HBOS led to the resignation of a top regulatory official said he had more evidence proving that the bank took excessive risks, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Paul Moore, who said he was fired as HBOS risk officer after raising concerns over the bank's lack of caution, also called for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to resign over his handling of the economy while he was chancellor.
HBOS was taken over by Lloyds Banking Group last month after its share price was hammered by a loss of confidence in its ability to survive the credit crunch.The whistleblower whose revelations about HBOS led to the resignation of a top... more
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While the world has been watching the U.S. financial market and waiting for news of a massive £354 billion bail out plan, have we taken our eye off the ball in our own back yard? Bradford & Bingley is in dire straights; it's share prices have plummeted 90% from their peak value and there's now talk of what is going to be done to save it.
The Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman said today that nationalising B&B should be the "last resort...If the bank is in serious difficulty, the best option is if it were taken over by another bank and without any involvement by the taxpayer," Cable told the BBC.
Gordon Brown was hardly forthcoming on the matter saying, "I wouldn't comment, and nobody would expect me to comment, on these speculative statements made in newspapers … I'm not going to comment on any individual company or building society."
With JP Morgan buying up banks left, right and centre, will they step in as the saviour and offer to bail out banks outside of the United States? It's not something that is off the cards; U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has stated that foreign banks may fall under the $700 billion bail out plan.
It seems that there is a bank sale on and JP Morgan are on a spending spree.While the world has been watching the U.S. financial market and waiting for news of a... more
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Every cloud has a silver lining. Ask the cybersquatters. Even as the short-selling vultures began circling Lehman Brothers, HBOS, Merrill Lynch and co, a legion of entrepreneurs began betting on domain names for hastily merged financial institutions. For example, when Barclays and Bank of America began to emerge as buyers for Lehman, names such as barclayslehman.com and bofalehman.com were promptly registered by enterprising hopefuls.
Some of these domains were being offered for sale on eBay last week. For example, www.bankofamericamerrilllynch.com was available at a starting bid of $1,500. 'With a deal between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch NOW ANNOUNCED', burbled the seller, 'this domain name will soon be incredibly popular. This is the only domain name that conveys the full picture, using the name of both firms... This is the most comprehensive and commonsensical domain name available concerning the MERGER OF BANK OF AMERICA CORP AND MERRILL LYNCH & CO.' The last time your columnist checked, however, the auction had attracted no bidders. Still - nothing ventured, nothing gained.Every cloud has a silver lining. Ask the cybersquatters. Even as the short-selling... more
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If you had purchased £1000 of Northern Rock shares one year ago it would now be worth £4.95
If you had bought HBOS shares earlier this week your £1000 would have been worth £16.50
£1000 invested in XL Leisure would now be worth less than £5
However if you bought £1000 worth of Tennents Lager one year ago, drank it all, then took the empty cans to a re-cycling plant, you would get £214.
The above statistics prove that the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and re-cycle.
If you had purchased £1000 of Northern Rock shares one year ago it would now be... more
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The recent merger of two of Britain's biggest banks could see the closure of hundreds of high street banks, analysts predict.The recent merger of two of Britain's biggest banks could see the closure of... more
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rwylie
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added this
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3 years ago
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THE high-street bank HBOS will tomorrow admit to one of the most disastrous rights issues in corporate history when it concedes that as few as 10% of its investors took up its £4 billion share offer.
Its two underwriters, Morgan Stanley and Dresdner, will have to place £3.6 billion of shares over the course of Monday or Tuesday.
If they are unable to place the shares at the rights-issue price of 275p or above, they will be forced to take them on to their own balance sheets.
The two investment banks are thought to have sub-under-written about 40% of the issue but it still means they could be left with £1 billion worth of shares each.
Barclays said on Friday that only 19% of its investors took part in its £4.5 billion placing.
Last week as investors were making up their minds whether to subscribe for equity in HBOS, shares in the UK banking sector plunged on fresh concerns over the viability of some of America’s big banks.
Shares in HBOS dropped to 254p, well below the rights-issue price, providing little incentive for institutional investors to take part. It is thought that many retail investors, who account for 25% of the group’s investor base, shunned the issue.
It is expected that the low take-up will encourage regulators to shorten the time taken to conduct a rights issue.
When HBOS originally announced its rights issue two and a half months ago, it was seen as being heavily discounted against a share price that was then standing at 500p.
Since then the price has fallen sharply and the bank has been the victim of several scare stories about its finances.
Despite an investigation by the Financial Services Authority, the regulator was unable to establish who profited from spreading the rumours.
The revelation of the low take-up could put further pressure on HBOS shares. They closed on Friday at 282p, but the knowledge that a large percentage will have to be sold on the market could see them drift beneath the rights price. THE high-street bank HBOS will tomorrow admit to one of the most disastrous rights... more
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kushan
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added this
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3 years ago
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