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Forex trading and the Swiss Franc

The abrupt change of policy by Swiss authorities to relax the limit on the value of the Swiss Franc against the Euro has caused substantial chaos in foreign currency markets. Alpari, one of the leading forex trading platforms in the UK, has gone into administration and others such as Saxo Bank admitted they would incur losses as a result. In the case of UK listed company IG Group it had some impact on their share price and they had to say ...

Pensioner Bonds on Sale

The new bonds available from National Savings & Investments (NS&I) went on sale today (15/1/2015). Technically called "65+ Guaranteed Growth Bonds", they have been dubbed "Pensioner Bonds" by the media. You need to be 65 years of age or older to purchase these bonds but they do offer a very attractive interest rate in comparison with current bank deposit rates. Interest is either 2.8% per annum for a one year bond, or 4% for a three year bond. The maximum that ...

Naibu suspended

On Friday (9/1/2015) the shares of Chinese clothing company Naibu (NBU) were suspended  at the request of the non-executive directors "pending clarification of its trading position". The CFO had resigned on the 31st December and the trading update on the 24th November hinted the dividend might not be paid and profits reduced. The best comments on this event were probably those of Paul Scott who writes for Stockopedia. He has been consistently critical of Chinese companies listed on AIM and his words ...

Charles Stanley loses Finance Director

Charles Stanley announced yesterday (9/1/2014) that its Finance Director James Rawlingson was "leaving with immediate effect".  This follows the appointment of a new CEO in December after the publication of a dire set of half year results at the end of November. Funds under management were static and revenue from the Financial Services Division and platform Charles Stanley Direct were up substantially but higher costs resulted in a loss before tax of £3.9 million. The dividend was maintained at the half ...

Lloyds Banking Group ECN Scandal

Lloyds Bank issued Enhanced Capital Notes (ECNs) as part of its refinancing during the banking crisis. These were taken up by many retail investors. They were convertible bonds that the bank has the right to convert to equity or buy back if its core capital falls below a certain level. During recent Bank of England stress test, regulators ruled that the bonds no longer constituted part of the bank’s capital, triggering the possibility of redemption which Lloyds Bank is proposing to ...