The financial services company and industry news with expert analysis from the Financial Times on FT.com
Updated: 13 min 13 sec ago
St James’s Place lifts dividend
Customers have stuck with the wealth manager during skittish markets, helping it boost its dividend by a third as operating profits rise
Russian link in $150m fraud claim
A former staff at Otkritie had allegedly contacted a Threadneedle employee about a trade in more than a billion Argentinian warrants
RBS bonus cuts offset by big salary increases
RBS will on Thursday reveal that it boosted fixed pay and benefits in its investment banking division by about a third in 2011
Morgan Stanley veterans plan advisory boutique
Move underscores difficulties large securities firms face as they are vulnerable to conflicts of interest concerns
Prospect of LME’s sale puts focus on clearing
Profits at member-owned metals exchange could more than double if it goes ahead with plans to build an in-house process
Ford beefs up pension funds and steers to bonds
Carmaker more than doubles its annual contribution and attempts to limit its exposure to volatile stock markets
BNP opens Dubai offices after Bahrain unrest
The French bank has established back-office and wealth management centres in the emirate following the violence in Manama last year
Deutsche Bank and SCM launch active ETF
Deutsche Bank and SCM Private, the asset management group, have teamed together to launch an actively managed multi-asset exchange traded fund that will use other ETFs to deliver above inflation returns
Profumo in frame at Monte dei Paschi
Alessandro Profumo, former chief executive of UniCredit and one of Italy’s most high-profile bankers, is frontrunner to take over as chairman of the bank
UniCredit wins dismissal in Madoff case
A US district judge threw out racketeering charges that alleged the bank participated in a scheme to attract investor money to Ponzi scheme
Paulson sued over Sino Forest investment
Hugh Culverhouse, a former federal prosecutor, alleges that a failure to conduct proper due diligence led to steep losses in funds
Wells buys BNP energy loan portfolio
The largest US bank by market capitalisation has agreed to purchase $9.5bn in loans from the biggest French lender by assets
Commission reform poses threat to IFAs
The shift to a fee-based structure is likely to hit small independent financial advisers, with many struggling to change to a new business model
Rogue trade attempt at Threadneedle probed
London police are investigating a suspected $150m trading fraud attempted by a former trader working in the asset manager’s investment arm
BC Partners beats odds with €6.5bn raising
Move was like a ‘military exercise’ amid scepticism about the ability of large buy-out firms to secure deals and finance them with cheap debt
UK wrap platforms see growing ETF interest
Assets held in iShares ETFs across six wrap platforms used by IFAs increased 34 per cent in 2011 ahead of the UK’s RDR
India’s global banking dreams confront reality
For the moment the wings of the country’s lenders are clipped by their balance sheets and a need for urgent recapitalisation
Mortgage plan calls for single securities platform
The plan by the Federal Housing Finance Agency sets out how it will shrink Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next few years while trying to minimise foreclosures
Pawnbroker boosted by small business lending
Profit rise at Albemarle & Bond driven by demand from companies with cash flow problems for flexible, short-term loans not offered by banks
Rathbones optimistic despite Europe crisis
Wealth manager’s concerns about European economy balanced by signs of global growth