Asda, which is the UK’s second largest supermarket, has today announced it will create 7,500 new jobs in the UK next year through expansion and new store openings. The supermarket giant said it will recruit 3,500 staff at new stores, 2,400 for its home shopping service and a further 100 in new pharmacies. In addition, [...]
Prudential, which is Britain’s second largest insurer, is in fresh talks with AIA, the Asian arm of US company American International Group (AIG). Earlier this week, it was reported that as many as 20% of Pru’s UK investors will vote against the proposed takeover and, as a result, the insurance giant said it is in [...]
Prudential, which is Britain’s second largest insurer, has today outlined details of its £14.5 billion ($21 billion) rights issue, which will be used to help fund its acquisition of AIA, the Asian arm of US company American International Group (AIG). Earlier this month, fears were raised over the acquisition after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) [...]
Prudential, which is Britain’s second largest insurer, has announced today its $21 billion (£13.8 billion) cash call will be delayed due to intervention by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The insurance giant was due to embark on the rights issue in order to fund its acquisition of AIA, the Asian arm of US company American [...]
Virgin Money, which is set to launch as a retail bank later this year, has announced it will charge a monthly fee for current account customers. However, the company said the fees will be low and will replace high overdraft charges. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Money recently acquired regional bank Church House Trust. Virgin Money, [...]
The pound plummeted to a 10-month low today over fears of a possible hung parliament in the forthcoming election. Sterling lost 1.6% and dipped below $1.50 for the first time since May 2009 – it has already lost 7% against the dollar this year. The pound also lost ground against the euro and many other [...]
Prudential, which is Britain’s second largest insurer, has today confirmed it is to buy AIA, the Asian arm of US company American International Group (AIG), in a deal worth $35.5 billion (£23.3 billion). In a stock market statement today, Pru said the deal provided it with the opportunity to create South East Asia’s leading insurer. [...]
Exxon Mobil, which is the world’s largest oil company, has today announced a 23% fall in fourth quarter profits. The company reported profits of $6.05 billion (£3.8 billion) for the three months to December 31, compared with $7.82 billion in the same period a year earlier. Revenues grew 7% to $89.84 billion exceeding analysts expectations [...]
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Money has announced it is to buy regional bank Church House Trust for £12.3 million and will invest £37.3 million into the business. Virgin Money, which was unsuccessful in acquiring crisis-torn Northern Rock two years ago, already offers savings, credit card and investment products to around 2.5 million customers. The purchase [...]
Banking giant Barclays has agreed to buy Standard Life Bank for £226 million. Standard Life Bank, which is the savings division of Edinburgh-based life insurance company Standard Life, has just 287,000 savings accounts, an £8.8 billion loan book and 78,000 mortgage accounts. The banking arm is no longer part of the insurer’s long-term plans for [...]
Dell, which is the world’s second-largest maker of personal computers, is to acquire Perot Systems in a $3.9 billion (£2.4 billion) deal. Perot Systems, which is based in Texas, was founded by Texas billionaire and former US presidential candidate, Ross Perot. The company specialises in IT support for hospitals, Government departments and banks. Dell said [...]
Peru’s biggest banking group this week announced it has acquired a 77.1% stake in microfinance firm Financiera Edyficar. Banco de Credito said it has agreed to acquire the shareholding for $80 million. Chief executive Walter Bayly said the move is part of Banco de Credito’s plan to acquire 100% of Edyficar, which is currently controlled [...]
Savers who care about whether their savings are used to fund arms companies or renewable energy received welcome news today with the merger of Britannia Building Society and The Co-operative Bank. The merger aims to create a “trusted and ethical alternative to shareholder-owned bank.” All three million Britannia members have joined or been given to [...]
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Britain’s largest drugs company, has agreed to buy Stiefel Laboratories in a deal worth $3.6 billion (£2.5 billion). GSK is paying $2.9 billion in cash and will take on $400 million of Stiefel’s net debt. Stiefel, the US skincare specialist based in Florida, produces skin treatments for acne and psoriasis. The group is [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 68% owned by the taxpayer, has today reported a full 2008 year loss of £24.1 billion – the largest annual loss in UK corporate history. The loss was attributed to the “unprecedented turbulence” in financial markets according to the bank’s chairman, Philip Hampton. Mr Hampton warned that 2009 [...]
Japan’s largest stockbroking firm, Nomura, has reported its worst ever quarterly loss blaming the integration of Lehman Brother’s Asian and European operations, which it bought last September. Its quarterly loss (which related to the October to December 2008 period) amounted to 342.9 billion yen (£2.7 billion), compared with 400.37 billion yen for the same period [...]
Online payments provider, Neovia Financial, has acquired IDT Corporation’s European Prepaid Payment Services Division for a total cash consideration of $15.05 million (£10 million), which includes $10 million of banking regulatory capital. The agreement will create one of Europe’s largest independent pre-paid debit card businesses. The deal is for the entire issued share capital of [...]
The BBC reported over the weekend that troubled buy-to-let lender Bradford & Bingley (B&B) was set to be nationalised. It has emerged this morning that Spanish bank, Santander, which recently agreed to buy Alliance & Leicester, is to acquire B&B’s £20 billion savings base and its network of 197 branches. According to sources, talks ran [...]
Japan’s largest brokerage house, Nomura Holdings, is to buy some of Lehman Brothers’ European operations. Nomura is to acquire Lehman’s investment banking and equities unit in Europe and said it will pay a ‘nominal’ amount for the operations. The deal, which subject to regulatory approval, comes just 24 hours after Nomura announced it was to [...]
Japan’s largest brokerage house, Nomura Holdings, is to buy the Asian operations of Lehman Brothers. Standard Chartered and Barclays had also been interested in Lehman’s Asian assets, according to sources close to the matter. Banking giant Lehman Brothers went bankrupt last week and British bank Barclays has already acquired its US investment banking and capital [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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