The U.K.’s second- biggest bank Barclays Plc have announced that they are to acquire Standard Life Plc’s banking assets for a sum of £226 million pounds, In a move designed to expand their UK based savings and mortgage operations, Barclays will receive a major boost in turnover through Standard Life Bank Plc, who currently hold around £ 5.5 billion in deposits as we’ll as £8.8 billion in mortgages. A spokesman for Barclays announced the bank’s intention to continue to explore opportunities in the U.K. retail long term savings and investments industry, working in conjunction with Standard Life, who are the U.K.’s third-biggest insurer.

The bank is seeking to increase revenue at its consumer and corporate-banking division, whilst reducing their reliance on investment banking. The acquisition follows that of the Portuguese credit-card business of Citibank International Plc made last month. Barclays continue to seek more acquisitions in Europe.

Production of new cars in the UK fell by 16.1 percent for the year in September, making for the smallest decline for 12 months, according to figures issued by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. 119,616 cars were made in Britain last month, making for an annual total of 694,769, down by 41.2 percent on the same period in 2008. Sales have been boosted by the government’s car scrappage scheme, which allows motorists to trade in cars that are more than 10 years old in return for a 2,000 pound subsidy on a new vehicle.

Oil giant BP has reported third-quarter profits of £2 billion ($4.98 billion) well ahead of analyst’s expectations

BP’s results, boosted by higher than expected cost cuts, was still down by

50% from last year. This is largely due to the fact that oil is currently trading at about $80 a barrel, about half of where it was this time last year. The announcement sent BP’s share price up by almost 4%.

The British Standards Institute (BSI) the national standards body are reportedly deep in the process of developing a voluntary standard of ‘kitemarks’ that will be issued to retail and wholesale financial services firms.

The BSI have been consulting with members of the industry in order to set out a common methodology and good practice standard, which can be implemented alongside existing regulations, with the goal of reducing risks of compliance failures whilst offering greater reassurance to management that regulatory requirements are being met. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) are apparently offering their whole hearted support for the scheme, with their chief executive quoted as saying that the initiative should improve efficiencies between and amongst compliance teams across the financial service industry .

Sterling continued to rise in value yesterday against the dollar, while falling against the Euro.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6351
• Pound/Euro 1.1043
• Pound/Japanese Yen 149.0922
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6709

Shares in the Anglo-Dutch publishing group Reed Elsevier, were very much in demand on Tuesday, rising 3.3 per cent to 473 pence after the market deduced that concerns over the trading performance of, it’s content archive service division, Lexis-Nexis, had been exaggerated.

Banks didn’t have such a good day on the FTSE, especially the partially nationalised ones. Royal Bank of Scotland were down 8.1 per cent to 40.8 pence while Lloyds Banking Group, also fell 6.1 per cent to 83.8 pence. The reason for their downfall was investor fears regarding the disposals that both banks will be obliged to make in order to satisfy European Commission rules on state aid.

The FTSE 100 made a minor recovery on trading Tuesday, up just 9.23 points to close on 5200.97. The FTSE 250 continued to lose value, yesterday down 44.82 points to close on 9141.28.

Fears about future job prospects was stated as the principal reason why US consumer confidence fell unexpectedly in October. The Important Consumer Confidence Index from the Conference Board business organisation slipped to 47.7 in October from a revised 53.4 in September. Analysts were caught unawares by the decrease, with expectations that the index would remain unchanged or might even rise slightly.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones hiccupped a little into forward gear, up a mere 14.21 points to 9882.18. The NASDAQ Composite index was still dropping yesterday, a further 25.76 points to 2116.09.

According to the European Central Bank, lending to companies operating in the eurozone fell in September at an annual rate of 0.3%, compared with a modest annual growth of 0.1% in August. The fall is a source of concern for the Eurozone countries is it comes when European governments continue to bolster their economies by increased lending at very low, subsidised interest rates.

financial

• The Piggy Bank Mentality - Saving Money Every Day I remember piggy banks. Not the virtual kind, like Smarty...
• Falling Like Dominoes: E-Loan Next Major Bank to Get Hit By Sub-Prime Mortgage Woes For the last few years, you could fall over backwards...
• TransUnion Reveals National Credit Card Debt on the Rise TransUnion.com, one of the three major credit bureaus, released the...

Tags: Bank, Banking, Barclays, Barclays Plc, BBA, BP, British Economy, British Pound, British Standards Institute, BSI, car scrappage scheme, Citibank International Plc, Conference Board, corporate-banking, Currency, Dow Jones, Economy, European Central Bank, European government, Financial News, FTSE, Important Consumer Confidence Index, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Recession, Reed Elsevier, Royal Bank of Scotland, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Standard Life Bank Plc, Standard Life Plc, Stocks and shares, The British Bankers’ Association, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Wall Street

Qatar Holdings, who were and still remain Barclays’ largest shareholder, have realized their profits on 3.5% of their stake in the bank, taking home a tidy £615m profit in the process. People in the know are saying that Qatar Holdings, who act as the emirate’s private investment vehicle, will use the money to increase their holdings in UK supermarket giants, J Sainsbury. The share sell off transaction, valued at around £1.4billion, would allow the Qataris sufficient funding to increase their existing 26% stake in Sainsburys. Despite the share disposal, Qatar Holdings will still retain 7.1% equity in Barclays.

BAA has finally reached an agreement to sell Gatwick for a sum of £1.5 billion, setting the long-awaited break-up of the UK’s biggest airport group in motion. Final details of the sale were expected to be announced early on Wednesday morning before the FTSE opened its doors. After lengthy and intricate negotiations, the Competition Commission finally approved the late on Tuesday. The anticipated sale sees the end of a process which began when BAA, a subsidiary of Spain’s Ferrovial infrastructure group, put Gatwick up for sale in an attempt to head off competition concerns about its market dominance. Initially BAA had hoped to receive around £1.8 billion for Gatwick, and held on grimly for this sum; till the realization sunk in that they were pricing themselves out of the market. They reduced their asking price to £1.6 billion and finally have accepted even less for the airport from Global Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure fund backed by Credit Suisse and General Electric who already own London City Airport. The Competition Commission expects BAA to sell two of its remaining six airports, within the next two years: while still leaving the group in control of the country’s biggest airport, Heathrow.

The Euro zone’s largest bank, Santander, continues to generate turnover and profit at such an outstanding rate it may have no option but to pay their shareholders a significant cash dividend in the coming year, according to a leading executive of the company. The ongoing financial crisis has prompted regulators to press European banks to increase their capital ratios, with Santander setting a target of seven per cent of their risk weighted assets, regarded as adequate for its retail banking model.

By the end of June, half way through their financial year, Santander had succeeded in increasing their ratio to 7.5 per cent, and have since added a further 0.6 % in October alone with the bank now expected to surpass their target and reach as high as 8.5 per cent of capital ratio, some of which will be able to be dispersed to their shareholders. RBS eat your heart out…

In the money markets, the pound continued its steady rise, despite faltering slightly against the Euro and the Swiss Franc.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6373
• Pound/Euro 1.10971
• Pound/Japanese Yen 147.9728
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6587

Tesco was among the few stocks to beat a weakening trend as the FTSE 100 began to lose some of the heights it had achieved in the last week or so. The UK grocery chain has been described by analysts as a “cash cow” and ripe for rapid expansion, both in grocery and non-grocery sectors in the UK as well as overseas. Shares in Tesco closed higher on Tuesday by 1.2 per cent at 383½p.

Their progress was overshadowed however by J Sainsbury who were the day’s biggest gainer, up 5.4 per cent to 348 pence after Qatar holdings looked likely to add to its 26 per cent stake in the company or even make a takeover approach after selling a block of shares in Barclays. Barclays did less well, and closed down 4.8 per cent to 364 pence.

An upbeat trading statement from Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, lifted its shares by 4.4 per cent to 858½ pence which had a knock on effect on many players in the publishing sector. Reed Elsevier was among those feeling the ripples, and their shares rose 1.4 per cent to 466 pence. This increase may have been largely fired by reports that Reed was potential bidder for United Business Media, whose shares also rose in turn, up 0.5 per cent to 504½ pence. .

Shares in National Express edged 1 per cent higher at 404 pence after news broke that the company’s largest shareholder is backing the merger proposal from Stagecoach, the bus and train operator and National Express competitor. The move, which shines a light on the depth of boardroom divisions within the company. In a meeting with the National Express board on Monday, Jorge Cosmen, the company’s deputy chairman and its largest shareholder, announced his support for Stagecoach’s approach.

Shares in Greggs, the high street bakery chain were down by 3.7 per cent weaker at 448 pence, largely due to misplaced speculation that the group was considering outsourcing its bakery operations.

The FTSE 100 had a good day, up 91.34 points to 5281.54 The FTSE 250 rose strongly on the day’s trading, up 138.44 points to close on. 9564.64.

In the US, the number of new housing starts was reported to have increased in September, but at a lower rate than expected, raising limited concerns about the strength of the recovery in the country. Housing starts rose by 0.5% to a 590,000 homes, compared with a revised figure of 587,000 in August, down by 28.2% on the 822,000 homes started in September 2008, according to the US Department of Commerce.

As a possible reflection, the Dow Jones was down 50.71 points to close on 10041.48 The NASDAQ Composite index continued to fluctuate, this time down 12.85 points to close on 2,163.47.

financial

• Crown Macau Cost Saving Methods Crown Macau woes are facing further headwinds with VIP gaming...
• Perth Mint Suspends Orders For Gold Bullion As a follow-up to my previous 2 posts on gold,...
• New diseases emerge at alarming rate:
  The World Health Report 2007 The World Health Organization released its annual report today, with...

Tags: BAA, Bank, Banking, Barclays, British Economy, British Pound, Competition Commission, Credit Suisse, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Ferrovial infrastructure group, Financial News, Financial Times, FTSE, Gatwick, General Electric, Global Infrastructure Partners, Greggs, J Sainsbury, London City Airport, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, National Express, Qatar Holdings, RBS, Recession, Reed Elsevier, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sainsburys, Santander, Stagecoach, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tesco, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, United Business Media