Savers with money in both Northern Rock and Virgin Money will not be disadvantaged by Virgin’s takeover of the Newcastle-based bank if either of the banks collapses. Both Virgin Money and Northern Rock will keep separate banking licences following the £747 million deal, which is expected to be rubber-stamped in January. This means that the [...]
The government has announced the sale of Northern Rock to Virgin Money for £747m, representing a loss of £650m on the £1.4bn of public money it injected into the Newcastle-based bank. The chancellor, George Osborne said that the deal was “an important first step in getting the taxpayer out of the business of owning banks”. [...]
The Treasury Committee, which includes MPs from all political parties, has called for the cheque guarantee scheme to be re-instated and government departments have been ordered to accept cheque payments from customers. The Payments Council, the body which sets the strategy for payments in the UK, ended the cheque guarantee card in June. However it [...]
HSBC has re-iterated its threat to leave Britain if the government’s proposed banking reforms are introduced. The new capital rules, recommended by the Independent Commission on Banking, could cost HSBC $2.5 billion a year, a price which it may be unwilling to pay. HSBS has had its headquarters in the UK for the last 20 [...]
Lloyds Banking Group announced a loss of £3.8bn for the first nine months of the year, including a £3.2bn provision for payment protection insurance, compared with a £1.9bn profit in the previous year. The group’s shares, which fell by 25 per cent following news earlier this month that chief executive António Horta-Osório was on sick [...]
In an interim management statement today, banking giant Barclays said profits climbed 5% in the third quarter – boosted by cost-cutting measures. For the three months to the end of September, the bank said pre-tax profits were £1.34 billion, versus £1.27 billion for the same period a year earlier. However, revenues for the three month [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK public sector net borrowing fell last month. According to the ONS, public sector net borrowing came in at a lower than expected £14.1 billion in September, boosted by tax receipts. Analysts had expected borrowing to total £14.5 billion. Furthermore, the ONS revised down the borrowing [...]
US banking giant Citigroup has today reported a rise in its third quarter profit. Citigroup, which is the third largest bank in the US by assets, said third quarter profit came in at $3.77 billion, or $1.23 a share, compared with $2.17 billion, or 72 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. [...]
Credit ratings agency Fitch has today downgraded two UK banks and placed one on a negative watch. Fitch downgraded Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) long-term credit rating to an A rating from AA-. It also placed Barclays on a negative watch, meaning a downgrade is possible in the future. In a statement, Fitch [...]
Credit ratings agency Moody’s has today downgraded 12 UK financial institutions. The news sent banking shares down in morning trading today with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds down by around 3.5%. Moody’s cut its rating on state-owned banks RBS by two notches from Aa3 to A2 and Lloyds TSB by one notch from [...]
Figures from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have revealed that the three most complained about British banks are Barclays, Lloyds and Santander. According to the FSA, Barclays received more than a quarter of a million complaints in the first half of 2011. Lloyds received 181,907 complaints in the six month period, while Santander had 168,888 [...]
According to the BBC, financial institution NBNK is to submit a second bid for the 600+ branches which Lloyds Banking Group is putting up for sale. It is understood the branches could fetch around £1.5 billion, according to sources close to the matter. Lloyds is selling the branches under the orders of the European Commission [...]
The Independent Commission on Banking’s (ICB) final report has been published today and is recommending that UK banks should ring-fence their retail banking operations. According to the report, ring-fencing would protect banks from riskier investment banking divisions and would “make it easier and less costly to resolve banks that get into trouble”. The ICB, which [...]
Banking giant HSBC has today announced plans to axe 3,000 jobs at its Asian headquarters in Hong Kong over the next three years. The reduction in headcount is part of an ongoing global cost-cutting plan after comes shortly after the bank said it would axe 30,000 jobs by 2013. The bank, which is Europe’s largest, [...]
Unions have vented their anger at directors today after a report found that the average annual bonus for a director in a FTSE 100 company has soared by 187% in the last decade. The findings were in a report by the High Pay Commission and discovered that top executives received a bonus worth 90% last [...]
Shares in financial institution NBNK has had its shares suspended on AIM after it confirmed it is in merger talks. The bank, which is run by Gary Hoffman who is the former chief executive of crisis-torn Northern Rock, was established a year ago to make acquisitions and is set to build a significant presence in [...]
Leading think tank, the Ernst & Young ITEM Club, believes the proposed ring-fencing of retail and investment banks will reduce economic growth. The think tank’s prediction comes just a week before the publication of the Independent Commission on Banking’s (ICB’s) final report on ring-fencing. The ICB, which was established in June 2010, is considering forms [...]
Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) lost 10% today after it emerged that the bank is being sued by America’s Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) over the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBSs). The FHFA was established in July 2008 when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to be rescued which, at the time, [...]
Co-operative Group has reported a fall in first-half underlying profit to £230.8 million, down from £262.3 million a year earlier. The mutual has been hit by declining food sales in the face of strong competition, reduced government funding for prescriptions and a change in the income recognition policy on the sale of its funeral bonds. [...]
Barclays has improved its customer service, with new complaints down 9% in the first half of 2011, compared with the previous six-month period, to 251,563. However, in the general insurance and protection category, volumes increased 25% to 73,692 with payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints leading the surge. The bank expects PPI volumes to be even [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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