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After struggling for more than a year to sell its stake in Gerling, the crumbling insurance concern, Deutsche Bank is close to throwing in the towel.
The bank said it would take another Ђ500m (US$552m) hit on its 34.5 per cent stake in Gerling, writing down the value to zero. But after protracted attempts to offload the holding, the struggle isn't over.
Bank insiders admit they have little choice but to continue to provide some sort of support to Gerling. "Too many of our customers are linked to Gerling themselves. They would kill us if we walked away," confides one.
25/04/2003
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A small bank in Norway is suing accounting giant KPMG after losing NOK 125 million on the bankruptcy of factor Finance Credit. KPMG had audited some of the biggest companies in the Finance Credit system.
The bank, Sparebanken Vest, and other banks that suffered huge losses in the wake of Finance Credit's bankruptcy, have complained KPMG failed to uncover or warn creditors of financial problems at the collapsed firm.
25/04/2003
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Zurich North America's Emerging Markets Solutions unit (ZEMS) has announced the signing of a political risk insurance cooperation agreement with the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI).
Under the Memorandum of Understanding, ZEMS will partner with ATI to offer a variety of insurance and financial solutions to infrastructure developers, multinational corporations and international banks looking for new business opportunities in ATI-member countries. These countries include Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
24/04/2003
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As more eastern European countries prepare to join the European Union next year, Poland has become the UK's leading export market in the region. According to the Office of National Statistics, some Ј1.6bn in British exports reached Poland in 2001, nearly Ј400m more than reached the Czech Republic and some Ј300m more than went to Russia.
24/04/2003
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China Construction Bank (CCB) and China Export & Credit Insurance Corp. (CECIC) have signed an overall cooperation agreement and a long- and medium-term business cooperation agreement. The bank-insurance alliance will provide export buyer's credit and export credit insurance to help domestic companies enter into international markets.
24/04/2003
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Gerling-Konzern, the struggling German insurance group, is reported finally to be making some headway in the planned sale of Gerling NCM, its credit insurance subsidiary, to Swiss Re, the Swiss reinsurance giant. Until now, German banking group Deutsche Bank, a substantial shareholder in Gerling, has been unwilling to agree on the valuation of Gerling NCM, but it is now said to have accepted a higher valuation for the Gerling subsidiary.
24/04/2003
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Despite a strong pound, weak stock market and the continuing political uncertainty in the Middle East, Britain’s export sector remains buoyant, according to research from leading business finance providers, Bibby Factors International. In fact, 84% of those surveyed believe that prospects for exporters will remain the same or get better over the coming 12 months, an increase of 23% on this time last year. This suggests that despite all the prevalent uncertainty, exporters are putting on a brave face.
23/04/2003
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GMAC Commercial Finance, the UK's largest independent invoice finance and asset based lending specialist, has agreed to a Ј5m refinancing deal with Stewart Group Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries, Stewart Plastics, the UK's leading manufacturer of garden containers, and Lotus Water Gardens, the oldest established water gardening brand.
23/04/2003
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Key Points
· Business confidence continues to deteriorate with half of SMEs less optimistic about business prospects.
· 37% of companies employing less than at this period last year, with the manufacturing sector shedding most jobs.
· 28% of manufacturers expect to employ less in the next 12 months, 20,000 industrial jobs at risk.
· Exports badly hit as 37% of companies reported that their exports have decreased in value in comparison to 12 months ago.
23/04/2003
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Small businesses are better placed to survive the current downturn than they were during the last UK recession, according to the Bank of England’s new representative in Scotland. BoE agents are charged with reporting business conditions in the regions and nations of the UK, ahead of each meeting of the monetary policy committee (MPC).
Tony Strachan, who took over three weeks ago as the bank’s Scottish "agent", said he believes the type of finance offered to small firms has changed for the better since the early 1990s, making it easier for SMEs to stay afloat.
23/04/2003
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Banco Comercial Portugues has reported net income for the first quarter of 2003 at Ђ95.6m, 36.7% up from the last quarter of 2002. Meanwhile operating costs were down by 6.9%, with staff and other administrative costs down by 5.1% and by 8.0%, respectively.
23/04/2003
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Muscat Finance Co Ltd, which is operating in three main areas such as retail financing, equipment leasing and factoring and working capital, has posted a higher gross profit of RO1.8 million in 2002 compared with RO1.6 million in 2001.
In fact, the company has come a long way in the last 15 years and, at present, offers a wide range of non-banking financial products and services that include leasing, factoring, hire purchase, home plan and working capital.
22/04/2003
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DrugMax, Inc. has announced that the company has secured a three-year, US$40m credit facility with Congress Financial Corp., a subsidiary of Wachovia Bank, NA. The new credit facility replaces the US$23m asset-based line of credit the Company had with LaSalle Business Credit, Inc.
22/04/2003
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Of the Rs 95 crore credit that the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust For Small Industries (CGTSI) has disbursed, Karnataka leads with an intake of Rs 17 crore.
The 623 SSIs that have availed of this facility are operating in the areas of food processing, paper manufacturing, IT and chemicals. And out of the 18 districts where these are located, Bangalore tops the list followed by Mysore and Dharwar.
22/04/2003
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The company registered good financial performance in the nine-month period ending December 2002. The funds deployed during this period grew 30.2 per cent to Rs 181 crore against Rs 139 crore in the corresponding previous period. The total income earned grew 16.3 per cent to Rs 22.03 crore and the net profit 15.5 per cent to Rs 7.24 crore.
22/04/2003
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