Barclays plc (LON:BARC) has appointment Dennis Watson as its new Head of Asset Finance within the Corporate Bank.Watson is already responsible for the bank’s real estate, project finance and mezzanine debt origination teams and will assume control of the Asset Finance business, taking over from Alex Brown who has moved across to spearhead Barclays representation in the education, local authority and social housing sectors.
The change of leadership comes as Barclays reshapes the way asset finance is delivered to its corporate banking clients.
Dennis Watson explains: “We are not changing our appetite for asset finance, far from it, but what we are doing is bringing asset finance alongside our other asset backed and working capital debt propositions, enhancing the client experience by identifying needs earlier and supporting them with the right capital structure from a wider range of products.
"In today’s uncertain world it is important that a client’s debt needs are viewed in the round rather than on a single asset or transaction basis.
"Alex ran the asset finance business with great success in recent years, putting the business on a solid footing for the future and it is only through the efforts of him and his team that asset finance has become such an important instrument in the debt toolbox for Barclays”.
Money from mobile remains elusive - AZCentral.com
SAN FRANCISCO - Mobile ads are the Holy Grail of revenue for anyone with a social-media plan.
The market for the ads that dot smartphone and tablet screens is expected to soar to $10.8 billion in U.S. sales by 2016, from $2.6 billion expected this year, according to research firm eMarketer. That's a tiny slice of the $169.5 billion market for media ad spending in the U.S.
Yet mobile ads are crucial to the growth of many companies, including newly public Facebook, though few businesses have been able to capitalize on the promise.
Some speculate that the popularity of such devices, in part, comes from their lack of ads. Others think the larger screen expected on Apple's forthcoming iPhone is a concession to demands for extra space to accommodate content and ads.
"It underscores the importance of real estate on (mobile) screens," says John Faith, senior vice president of mobile at Whale Shark Media, a leader in online coupons and deals.
Mobile Web traffic is up 35 percent in less than a year, while all Web-browser use on Windows-based PCs declined 10 percent in a six-month period from 2011 to 2012, says market researcher Chitika Insights. About 20 percent of traffic comes from tablets and smartphones, it says. Retailers such as Target, Best Buy and Macy's have noticed, and are charging into mobile ads, which will become staples as millions ditch PCs for smartphones and tablets, ad experts say.
"Everyone 'gets' the implicit contract that free content comes with ads," says Raghu Kakarala, senior vice president of technology at Engauge, which has helped create mobile app features for Coca-Cola's MyCokeRewards and Chick-fil-A.
Sites such as Forbes have "optimized the mobile experience" with clean ads at the top or bottom of the screen, with content in middle.
Google has the early lead in the U.S. in monetizing mobile, with 51 percent of the market, largely due to its success with mobile search ads, says Noah Elkin, an eMarketer analyst. Phone numbers embedded in mobile ads on Google's click-to-call feature, for example, generate about 15 million calls per month.
Facebook barely registers yet, though the company has the potential to rake in $2.54 billion from mobile advertising, according to Chitika. Facebook Sponsored Stories -- an ad that appears on a member's Facebook page, and generally consists of a friend's name, profile picture and an advertiser the person "likes" -- now appears in a user's mobile news feed.
Money Flies Out Of Spain as Regions Pressured - Moneynews (blog)
Spain is the next country in the firing line of the eurozone's debt crisis, with spendthrift regions and shaky banks threatening to blow a hole in state finances and pushing funding costs towards levels that signal the need for a bailout.
The European Commission gave new help on Wednesday, offering direct aid from a eurozone rescue fund to recapitalize Spanish banks and more time for Madrid to reduce its budget deficit.
That helped lower the risk premium investors demand to hold Spanish 10-year debt rather than the German benchmark on Thursday, but it remained close to the euro-era record, at 520 basis points.
Bank of Spain data showed a net 66.2 billion euros ($82.0 billion) was sent abroad last month, the most since records began in 1990. The figure compares to a 5.4 billion net entry of funds during the same month one year ago.
Spaniards are worried about the health of their banks, hit by their exposure to a 2008 property crash, and have been sending money to deposit accounts in stronger economies of northern Europe.
The capital flight data predates the nationalization of Spain's fourth biggest lender Bankia in May when it became clear the bank could not handle losses from bad real estate investments, compounded by a recession.
Spain's centre-right government has contracted independent auditors to assess the health of its financial system in an effort to restore faith in its banks.
Spain must lay out its restructuring plans for Bankia to the European Commission (EC), a spokesman for the EU executive arm said on Thursday. He added that a domestic solution to the country's bank crisis would be better than a European rescue.
The government said on Wednesday it would finance a 23.5 billion euro rescue of the bank through the bank fund, FROB but senior debt bankers said that the syndicated bond market is currently closed for Spanish agencies.
REMOVING UNCERTAINTIES
The prospect that Spain might not be able to handle losses at its banks has pummeled shares and the euro, although both regained some stability on Thursday.
"What we need first of all is for the Spanish government to tell us its restructuring plans for Bankia, what options it is considering," said European Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj in a radio interview.
"From there, we will study the plans and see whether they comply with requirements for public aid."
Spain should carry out the refinancing of its banking sector, laid low by a decade of unsustainable lending during a property boom, by market mechanisms or government funds, rather than a European rescue which would have negative connotations, Altafaj said.
"The sooner uncertainties are removed the better," he added.
The government also hopes to clear doubts on Friday about how it plans to ease financing problems among its 17 autonomous regions.
Treasury ministry sources said a mechanism to back the regions' debt would be agreed at the weekly's cabinet meeting and figures showing they were on track to meet their spending cuts targets would be released.
Fitch Ratings downgraded eight regions on Thursday, warning that a failure from the government to adopt new measures would result in further ratings cuts.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria is due to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and International Monetary Fund Director General Christine Lagarde in Washington on Thursday.
The deputy PM will outline Spain's measures to tackle its crisis during the meetings, which were convened before Spain's situation reached boiling point, a government spokesman said.
© 2012 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.
Virgin Money cuts interest-only maximum LTV to 70% - Money Marketing
Virgin Money has reduced its maximum loan-to-value for interest-only mortgages from 75 per cent to 70 per cent.
The revised policy applies to all decisions in principle generated from May 31.
There is no impact on existing customers with interest-only loans.
All pipeline applications which have been agreed prior to the new policy will be honoured.
Borrowers wishing to use the sale of another property to repay an interest-only loan will only be able to borrow up to 60 per cent of the property’s value.
Existing customers wishing to port their mortgage to a new property are able to do so, providing there are no changes to the loan size or the term length.
In the past two months, lenders including Santander, ING Direct, Leeds Building Society, Nationwide Building Society and Coventry Building Society have all cut their maximum LTVs from 75 per cent to 50 per cent while Skipton Building Society has cut its maximum LTV from 75 per cent to 60 per cent and The Co-operative Bank has pulled out of this type of lending altogether.
Earlier this month, the FSA revealed a number of lenders have asked it to ban interest-only lending as part of the mortgage market review.
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