Sector: Finance

Far from restoring confidence in the banks and the world financial system, Eurozone bailouts, however necessary in the short term, seem only to have emphasised the fragility of current arrangements. With interbank lending rates on the up again, as in the credit crunch, fears over sovereign debt have replaced concerns over impoverished and indebted US home-buyers as the markets’ bugbear.

Among smaller groups formerly overstretched, Manx Financial Group is looking for takeovers in insurance and banking as it taps investors for £1.8 million. The bank, supported by an overwhelmingly Manx deposit base, insists that it has avoided the toxic lure of fancy derivatives and sub-prime mortgages and is thought by local observers to be achieving margins of 8 per cent and more in asset-based lending to small businesses.

Steered by chief executive officer Denham Eke, chairman of Betinternet, who replaced vehicle insurance luminary Arron Banks at the helm after aggressive expansion led to problems, AIM-quoted Manx Financial is raising £1.8 million at 9p to expand its successful retail banking operations in the Isle of Man and pinpoint acquisition opportunities in banking and insurance.