Financial Times Summary
Thu 31 Jul 2008
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley plans to use up to $1bn saved from cutting 4,800 jobs this year to hire top level executives and bolster its presence in areas such as risk management, derivatives and proprietary trading. The aggressive hiring campaign is driven by Morgan Stanley's desire to take advantage of the lay-offs among firms hit by the credit crunch to add expertise in fast-growing businesses and regions such as the Middle East and Asia.
Lloyds
Lloyds TSB kicked off the UK bank reporting season on Wednesday by signalling its confidence in riding out the economic downturn by raising its interim dividend in spite of a a 70% fall in first-half pre-tax profits to $1.2bn. But shares in the UK's fourth largest bank slid 4.6% to 306p amid investor doubts about the sustainability of the dividend as the UK economy slows further and bad debts squeeze profits.
NAB
National Australia Bank named Cameron Clyne as new chief executive days after the lender warned of fresh provisions of $830m Australian Dollars against it's sub-prime exposure.
Lazard
Lazard said that higher expenses reduced its net income for the first half of the year but its operating expenses rose 1% after its key merger advisory and asset management businesses posted a strong second quarter.
HSBC
Shareholders are waiting to see if HSBC will walk away from Korea Exchange Bank if it fails to win regulatory approval for the deal.
HBOS
HBOS, which recently moved to shore-up its balance sheet with a £4 billion rights issue, revealed further credit crunch pain today in its half-year figures announcing a massive slump in pre-tax profits. The group said that profit before tax was £848 million, down from £2.99 billion in the first half of 2007. Underlying profit before tax was £1.45billion, a drop of more than half of £2.96 billion in the first half of 2007.
UBS
Regus missed out on a London market rally yesterday amid concerns about the serviced-office provider's earnings and balance sheet. The stock closed 2p lower at 71p after UBS moved to "sell" stance with a 50p target price.
RBS
Royal Bank of Scotland was up 3.9% to 208.5p and Barclays gained 3.2% to 335p.
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