FINANCIALS: Some cheer for banks
Article Date: Apr 09 2009Moves by the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England to buy debt brought a distinct fillip to this battered sector, though sceptics queried how much benefit this would bring. Indeed, in the longer term, UK banks could face the prospect of even more formulaically driven capital and liquidity requirements following FSA chief Lord Turner’s review of global banking regulation.
Prudential stole much of the limelight in the insurance sector, outperforming rivals with annual pre-tax profits up 17 per cent to nearly £3 billion and a surplus of £1.7 billion. Chief executive Mark Tucker is standing down later this year, to be replaced by Tidjane Thiam, a former minister in the government of Côte d’Ivoire who will be the first black chief executive of a company in the FTSE 100 share index.
A former McKinsey management consultant, Thiam, who joined the Pru as finance director last year from the Aviva insurance group, proclaims, ‘I am passionate about insurance. I have no problems making an emotional speech about insurance.’
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