Andrew Griffith steps up as Sky finance director

BSkyB has appointed Andrew Griffith to be its finance director.

Griffith, 37, has worked in a variety of finance jobs at Sky since joining the company in October 1999 after a stint at investment bank Rothschild.

Most recently he has been the Sky director of group finance, M&A and investor relations.

He fills the vacancy created in December when the previous incumbent, Jeremy Darroch, stepped up to become the chief executive.

Darroch replaced James Murdoch, now the Sky chairman and the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation’s European and Asian operations. News Corp owns 39% of Sky.

Separately, Sky has appointed Danny Rimer, a partner at venture capital firm Index Ventures, as an independent non-executive director.

Read More

FINACorp manages one of the largest IPO transactions in North Africa

Global Investment House “Global” announced today that FINACorp, Global’s financial services subsidiary company carried out the largest IPO for ARTES a car dealership distribution group in Tunisia, North Africa. 

FINACorp managed the transaction to place 39.6% of ARTES capital for a value of approximately US$ 90 million, 9.42% of which as a Private Placement and 30.18% as a public placement in the form of an Underwritten Placement and an IPO, making it the largest IPO in the history of Tunisia. The public placement occurred during the period which commenced on the 17th of March, 2008 and closed on Friday March 28th, 2008 during which FINACorp succeeded to have it oversubscribed for approximately 9.2 times or more, pending official results to be announced soon. 

.

Read More

Good news in the market lull?

Amid all the gloom in the financial markets over investment banks, the low rates meant to provide a boost to shaky Wall Street companies offer a bonus — low rates for commercial banking customers.

It’s some of the only good news in the financial sector, and customers are starting to take notice.

With the credit crunch and declining home valuations, many of the formerly hyper-competitive lenders have blown up or have dramatically tightened lending requirements, which creates an opportunity for the more traditional lenders. Unlike the high-flying mortgage companies, many traditional lenders just couldn’t — and didn’t want to — compete in the frenzy of easy money that led to the subprime bust.

They now are reaping the benefit of being among the lenders left standing.

Read More

Generations X and Y are investing in their future

Even though retirement for Generations X and Y seems years away, studies show they are acknowledging they need to pick up the slack when planning for their financial future.Three out of four Gen Xers and Gen Yers said saving for retirement is a personal financial goal and 92 percent feel they can achieve their most important financial goals within the next 10 years, according to Preparing for Their Future: A Look at the Financial State of Gen X and Gen Y.Glenn Muske, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service interim associate dean, assistant director, family and consumer sciences, said the study, however, also shows younger Americans grading themselves low when it comes to the ability to save money and investing outside the workplace.”These generations face new products, services and an ever changing financial world as they build financial security for a lifetime,” Muske said.

Read More

Relax takeover regime for banks: Rajan committee

By Arvind Padmanabhan, New Delhi, April 7 : India should be liberal in allowing takeovers of banks by both domestic and foreign entities and sell state-run financial institutions that are under-performing, says a high-level committee set up by the plan panel.

.

Read More

CDC Software Fuels Expansion in China with Investment in One of China’s Leading Providers of Business Intelligence …

CDC Software, a wholly owned subsidiary of CDC Corporation (NASDAQ: CHINA) and a provider of industry-specific enterprise software applications and business services, today announced it recently signed a binding term sheet to acquire a 22 percent stake in Tenly Software, one of China’s leading providers of business intelligence solutions. This investment is the latest move in CDC Software’s aggressive expansion in the world’s largest manufacturing market. The parties expect to complete the investment by May 2008.

The term sheet also provides CDC Software with the option to increase its stake in Tenly to approximately 37 percent. Upon completion of the initial investment, the parties intend that CDC Software will be entitled to appoint one representative to Tenly’s board of directors.

Read More

Japan’s foreign reserves rise to record

TOKYO, Japan (AP) — Japan’s foreign reserves rose in March to a record US$1.016 trillion (euro650 billion), boosted by the euro’s appreciation and interest earned on foreign bonds, the Finance Ministry said Monday.

The reserves — the world’s second-largest foreign-exchange stockpile — include convertible foreign currencies, gold and International Monetary Fund special drawing rights. Their value rose US$7.61 billion (euro4.84 billion) in March from a month earlier, data from the ministry showed, registering the tenth straight month of increase.

The further increase in Japan’s reserves, which topped US$1 trillion for the first time in February, may bring more debate over whether they should be invested more actively for better returns or should continue to be kept mostly in U.S.

Read More

Oracle looks to India for financial services business

Oracle plans to make its Indian subsidiary a hub for its strategy for the financial services market. I-flex solutions, the Indian banking software subsidiary of Oracle, said Friday that in line with these plans, it will change its name to Oracle Financial Services. .

Read More

(AFX UK Focus) 2008-04-07 07:39 GMT: E.ON submits UK planning application for 300 megawatt offshore wind farm

LONDON (Thomson Financial) – E.ON AG has today submitted a planning application for a 300 megawatt wind farm offshore north-east England and has called on the government to approve the project quickly in an effort to help meet the United Kingdom’s climate change targets.

The 300 million pound Humber Gateway wind farm is expected to produce enough electricity to power nearly 200,000 homes and, if approved, will be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the UK.

However, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has objected to the proposals after concerns were raised about the affect the wind farms may have on defence systems.

“E.ON is submitting the planning application despite recent objections by the Ministry of Defence to the wind farm,” E.ON said in a statement. “The MoD did not raise an objection when it was initially consulted about the project in 2004.”

Dr Paul Golby, chief executive of E.ON UK, said: “We’re speaking to both the MoD and BERR (Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) and we’re confident that we can find a way forward that is acceptable to all stakeholders.

Read More

Power of attorney can prevent financial ruin

Like young parents who put off writing a will because they can’t decide on a suitable guardian for the kids, many retirees loathe making arrangements for handling their finances if their mental capacity diminishes.

Regulators and advisers are raising the issue, however, as they contemplate the massive wave of baby boomer retirees, increased longevity and prevalence of Alzheimer’s and other diseases.

In a notice last fall, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority urged financial firms to review their procedures for dealing with elderly clients who they suspect might be losing their ability to make good financial decisions and to spot signs of suspected financial abuse by family members or outsiders.

“These sensitive issues were raised repeatedly by the firms we surveyed,” the securities-industry regulator said in the notice.

Read More