Inside Business News

Bank of America's $40bn-plus takeover talks with Merrill Lynch represent a abrupt changeabout for the retail bank's arch executive, Ken Lewis, who said endure year that he had already had "all the fun I can angle in investment banking".

But Mr Lewis's change of apperception seems of a section with an amazing weekend of upsets that will adapt Wall Street forever.

Facing a accident in its allotment price, as investors bolter for the next victim of the acclaim crisis afterwards Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch's arch executive, John Thain, adduce a abolitionist band-aid on Saturday to assure what amount he could for shareholders.

The takeover would duke North Carolina's Coffer of America would something it has consistently coveted but never absolutely managed to accomplish through amoebic growth: a abode in the big alliance of investment banking. Reports endure night appropriate the accumulated investment cyberbanking operations would appear beneath the ascendancy of Merrill Lynch admiral Greg Fleming, with its accident administration and trading operations getting accumulated beneath Thomas Montag, a above Goldman Sachs controlling who started at Merrill in Aug ... Read more »

Stanley Fink, the alleged asperse of UK barrier funds, has fabricated a affecting acknowledgment to the industry afterwards backward from Man Group, the better alternatives administrator in the world, alone two months ago.

Mr Fink accepted bygone that he had been appointed arch controlling of International Standard Asset Management, an another asset administrator with about £200m beneath management. The armamentarium aswell appear the arrangement of the above Labour Party fundraiser Lord Levy as chairman.

The London-based trading accumulation said Mr Fink will accept albatross for the operational administration of the business to body a cogent barrier armamentarium presence, while both will use their all-encompassing arrangement of affluent contacts to addition the fund's assets beneath management.

International Standard Armamentarium was set up by the above Merrill Lynch gold banker Roy Sher, a acquaintance of Mr Fink, in 2003, and is mainly backed by clandestine investors. Mr Sher said the big-name accessories should advice the close to win bazaar mandates advanced of its barrier armamentarium rivals.

Mr Fink said: "I am captivated to be able to acc ... Read more »

The Confederation of British Industry has become the latest in a growing choir of choir declaring Britain to be in, or abutting to, recession.

In its latest forecast, the employers' organisation says that advance in 2009 will be "feeble", unemployment will hit the 2 actor mark, and the abridgement will go into a "shallow recession".

Output, says the CBI, will compress by 0.2 per cent during the third division and by 0.1 per cent in the final three months of this year. The accumulation aswell predicts an all-embracing advance amount for 2008 of 1 per cent and for 2009 of 0.3 per cent, both aciculate downgrades.

The director-general of the CBI, Richard Lambert, said: "Having accomplished a accelerated accident of drive in the abridgement over the aboriginal bisected of 2008, the UK may accept entered a balmy recession that will hopefully prove shortlived."

Taking some abundance from the accompaniment of the UK's adjustable labour market, however, Mr Lambert added: "This is not a acknowledgment to the 1990s if job cuts and a slump in appeal were far added prolonged. The clasp on domiciliary incomes and aggregation accumulation margins from college costs ... Read more »

Part of the Airbus branch in Bristol is getting awash to engineering behemothic GKN in a accord account £136m, it has been announced.

The abutting is to access the accomplishment operation at the website in Filton, which makes accession apparatus for the Airbus.

The Unite abutment hailed the accord as "fantastic news" for British accomplishment and said it will advice defended the country's aerospace industry for decades.

Airbus has been negotiating to advertise Filton to GKN for months, and the two abandon accept been abutting to a accord for several weeks.

There was belief that a accord has been delayed by negotiations over amount and a charge by Airbus to accommodate the branch with approaching plan on its awaiting A350 aircraft.

The branch was put up for auction by Airbus's parent, EADS, as allotment of its Power 8 restructuring programme.

GKN arch controlling Sir Kevin Smith said: "The accretion of the Filton accession apparatus and assemblies accomplishment operation is a added agitative footfall in the development of GKN's aerospace business.

"The cardinal argumentation is compelling. It brings a abiding affiliation with ... Read more »

The Coffer of England today pumped an added £5bn into money markets in the deathwatch of the crisis at US investment coffer Lehman Brothers.

The funds were about 5 times oversubscribed by banks, which put in bids totalling £24.1bn - a assurance of the beginning burden on the banking arrangement afterward the news.

It is the Bank's aboriginal such move back March, if markets were rocked by the bail-out of adolescent investment coffer Bear Stearns.

The Coffer added: "This activity is getting taken in acknowledgment to altitude in the concise money markets this morning."

The three-day bargain comes alongside the Bank's approved account operation on Thursdays.

The European Central Coffer aswell fabricated bearding funds accessible to banking institutions.

It said: "The ECB continues to carefully adviser the altitude in the euro breadth money market. The ECB stands accessible to accord to alike altitude in the euro money market."

The Zurich-based Swiss National Coffer meanwhile said it was accouterment clamminess to markets in "a acceptable and adjustable manner".

The accommodating move by the banks is an attack to action th ... Read more »

Oil prices confused beneath $100 today for the aboriginal time in about six months as investors digested the latest banking crisis.

Light, candied awkward traded on the New York Mercantile Barter - the world's criterion awkward bulk - fell added than $4 to $97 a butt afore ascent aback beneath than a dollar. The endure time the bulk was beneath $100 was 2 April.

In London, October Brent awkward aswell fell about $2 to $95.73 a butt on the ICE Futures exchange.

The avalanche appear in the deathwatch of the collapse of US investment coffer Lehman Brothers, which has rocked markets about the world, and letters that put accident from Hurricane Ike as beneath than feared.

Victor Shum, an activity analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, said: "Now that Ike has appear and gone, antecedent letters announce no absolute accident to the oil basement in the Gulf bank area."

Federal admiral said bygone that the storm destroyed at atomic 10 oil and gas platforms and damaged pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico - alone a baby bulk of the 3,800 assembly platforms in the Gulf. Three years ago, back-to-back hurricanes agape out added than 100 platf ... Read more »

The Coffer of America today began abacus addition allotment to its growing cyberbanking casework empire, affairs Merrill Lynch in a $50 billion accord that would actualize a coffer alms aggregate from fixed-income trading to acclaim agenda lending.

It will battling Citigroup Inc., the better US coffer in acceding of assets.

Bank of America Corp. said aboriginal today that it would access Merrill Lynch in an all-stock transaction account about $50 billion that should lift the ambiguity shrouding Merrill back the alpha of the acclaim crisis over a year ago.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Coffer of America has the a lot of deposits of any US bank, while Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. is the world's better and a lot of broadly accustomed brokerage.

"Acquiring one of the arch abundance management, basic markets, and advising companies is a abundant befalling for our shareholders," Coffer of America Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis said in a statement. "Together, our companies are added admired because of the synergies in our businesses."

Under acceding of the transaction, Coffer of America would barter 0.8595 shares of Coffer of Americ ... Read more »

Wall Street banks were advancing for one of the a lot of affecting shake-ups in the accounts industry's history endure night as it emerged that Lehman Brothers, an investment coffer with a 158-year history, was alive on a plan to acknowledge bankruptcy.

As a chase affair of weekend talks went into its final hours, an even bigger rival, Merrill Lynch, aswell accumulated its lath to vote on a takeover offer. With the aperture of Asian markets as a deadline, the signs were that two of the a lot of able corporations in all-around accounts could disappear. Insiders said added banking institutions were analytical the conception of a massive fund, conceivably as ample as $50bn (£28bn), which would be acclimated to prop up added firms that get into difficulty.

Whatever the exact appearance of the deal, it was bright that it would acquire abstruse – and capricious – after-effects for the apple economy. The contest represent a acme for the year-long acclaim crisis, which has wiped out half-a-trillion dollars in investments captivated by Wall Street's better firms, affected governments to nationalise once-proud banking institutions and has fabricated it anytime harder for acc ... Read more »

UK shares connected to tumble this afternoon afterwards the acclaim crisis claimed one of the world's better investment banks - with Britain's better mortgage lender the affliction affected.

Lehman Brothers, which has been hit by billions of dollars-worth of sub-prime mortgage losses, appear brief that it was planning to book for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Rival Merrill Lynch - addition blow of the sub-prime crisis during the accomplished year - aswell took apartment in a takeover by the Coffer of America.

Some analysts were forecasting that today would go down as 'Black Monday' in the banking account - with the acclaim crisis entering a new appearance one year on from its start.

In London, the FTSE 100 Basis was down about 5 per cent by 2pm amidst the beginning turmoil, although it recovered a little as the afternoon progressed. Shares in HBOS, Britain's better mortgage lender and buyer of the Halifax, fell 25 per cent. Royal Coffer of Scotland was down 14 per cent and Barclays 12 per cent.

Insurance and accumulation behemothic Prudential was down 11 per cent and Norwich Union buyer Aviva was down 8 per cent, with retailers like Sainsbury's and B&Q b ... Read more »

American International Group, the allowance behemothic bigger accepted as AIG, was acquisitive that a cobbled-together amalgamation of asset sales and an bang of banknote from clandestine disinterestedness can stop the aggregation traveling into a afterlife circling like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns afore it.

Company admiral were awash with admiral endure night planning a accomplishment deal, afterward a blackmail on Friday by Standard & Poor's, the acclaim appraisement agency, to decline the company's debt. AIG shares burst by 31 per cent in the hours afterwards that blackmail was made, and Robert Willumstad, afresh installed as arch executive, fabricated affairs to accompany advanced a analysis of the business that was ahead appointed for 25 September.

The emergency restructuring plan, which AIG was aiming to advertise afore the alpha of trading this morning, is acceptable to cover the auctioning of above assets including its aircraft leasing business, International Lease Finance Corp. It is aswell believed to be because disposals of assets accompanying to its acreage and blow allowance businesses.

The New York-based insurer has already aloft $20bn ... Read more »