A round-up of the key stories across the specialist financial media, including how 10,000 RBS bankers face losing their jobs as the bank draws up plans to retreat from investment banking
RBS plan puts 10,000 jobs at risk
As many as 10,000 bankers at Royal Bank of Scotland face the prospect of losing their jobs, as the state-owned UK bank draws up detailed plans to retreat from investment banking.
International investors are buying record amounts of UK government bonds as demand is spurred by the Bank of England’s emergency quantitative easing programme as well as Britain’s status as a haven from turmoil in the eurozone.
The euro hovered just above multi-year lows against the yen and Australian dollar in Asia on Thursday as markets refocused on concerns about the euro zone debt crisis ahead of a French debt auction later in the session.
Chinese stocks finished at their lowest level in nearly three years to lead broad losses among major Asian markets Thursday, as worries about the property sector and tight liquidity conditions hit investor sentiment.
Asia’s hedge-fund industry is set to shrink in 2012 after a year in which growth stagnated, performance faltered and managers struggled to raise capital.
