Pandas ‘very well’ but jet lagged at Edinburgh Zoo. Two giant pandas are settling in “very well” in their new home at Edinburgh Zoo but are “jet lagged”, officials have confirmed. Tian Tian and Yang Guang, who arrived from China on Sunday by specially-chartered jet, are the first giant pandas to live in the UK for 17 years.
The leaders of France and Germany will hold crunch talks in Paris today amid frantic efforts to agree a deal to stabilise the eurozone.
Miroma Group has appointed McDonald’s senior marketing manager Richard Hirst as commercial director of Miroma Ventures, a new division incorporating non-barter interests.
Drinks company Diageo has signed a three-year deal to sponsor free travel on London transport on New Year’s Eve, with a focus on responsible drinking messages. Which is nice of them, seeing as London mayor, Boris Johnson, banned drinking on the tube.
Evgeny Lebedev, chairman of The Independent and the London Evening Standard, and his father Alexander (Lebedev), have today launched the Journalism Foundation, a body designed to promote, develop and sustain “free and fair” journalism around the world.
JP MORGAN CHASE & CO
JP Morgan Chase & Co has hired former Credit Suisse Group AG executive Neil Hounslow as the head of its prime brokerage in Asia-Pacific as the Wall Street bank looks to service hedge funds investing in the region.
CITIGROUP INC
Citigroup Inc’s head for mergers and acquisitions advisory in southeast Asia has left the bank, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.
MIT-educated Giles Ong was hired in 2004 from Merrill Lynch and was promoted to managing director in 2007.
CREDIT SUISSE
Credit Suisse named Angela Bow as managing director and market leader for the Philippines, in its private banking division from Dec. 6. Bow joins from UBS, and will report to Managing Director and Market Area Head for Emerging Asia Martin Kuenzler.
Credit Suisse also named Albert Ma as its private banking division’s managing director and team leader for the Philippines market, effective Jan. 18. Ma too joins from UBS, and will report to Bow.
M&G INVESTMENTS
European investment manager M&G Investments named James Tomlins as fund manager for its European High Yield Bond Fund. Tomlins has also been appointed as deputy fund manager for M&G’s High Yield Corporate Bond Fund.
BNP PARIBAS
BNP Paribas chief executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafe named three insiders, including finance chief Philippe Bordenave, as co-chief operating officers on Friday, a day after taking control of France’s biggest bank.
COMMERZBANK
Commerzbank picked Mercedes-Benz manager Stephan Engels as chief financial officer to succeed Eric Strutz from April 1, 2012.
Engels, 49, has been Head of Finance & Controlling at Mercedes-Benz Cars and Head of Group Controlling and Reporting at Daimler AG since 2007, Commerzbank said in a statement on Friday.
LLOYDS BANK CORPORATE MARKETS
The unit of Lloyds Banking Group named Howard Grubb as head of e-FX Algorithmic Trading. Grubb will be based in London, and joins from BNP Paribas.
