It has been reported that banking giant Barclays is considering purchasing one of Spain’s ailing regional savings banks. According to the Sunday Times, the bank’s chief executive, Bob Diamond, met with the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, last week. However, Barclays has declined to comment on the report and it is unknown which [...]
The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report on the Government’s Asset Protection Scheme (APS) and concluded that it failed in its aim of boosting bank lending. The scheme, which insurers against losses arising from toxic assets, also did not charge sufficient fees to the banks which participated. The scheme was established in 2009 [...]
HSBC’s chief executive, Michael Geoghegan, has threatened to leave the bank if he is not promoted to chairman. According to the Financial Times, a person familiar with the bank’s succession plan, said: “He [Geoghegan] was told the board was not ready to give him the chairmanship and he was not happy.” Earlier this month, it [...]
Metro Bank, which aims to make banking a “fun retail experience” opens in Holborn, central London today. The bank is Britain’s first new high street lender for more than a century and it has pledged to return to “core banking values”. The bank said it will employ more cashiers than the existing “big four” banks, [...]
Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan has kicked off the banking reporting season today with better-than-expected second quarter profits - due to better credit conditions. The bank reported net income of $4.8 billion (£3.1 billion) - a 75% increase on the $2.7 billion reported in the same period a year ago. Today’s figures from JP Morgan [...]
Consumer watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), has today revealed UK banks may soon be offering customers the ability to opt out of unarranged overdraft facilities. Should the procedure be put in place, it would mean consumers would avoid hefty fees if they slipped into the red. The announcement comes as the OFT took [...]
Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan has kicked off the reporting season with a bang by posting fourth quarter profits of $3.28 billion (£2 billion) compared with $702 million a year ago - at the height of the financial crisis. Meanwhile, the bank reported full-year profits of $11.7 billion, or $2.26 per share, on record revenue [...]
Supermarket giant Tesco has taken the next step in its quest to become a bank by signing up Fiserv. US-based Fiserv provides information management and electronic commerce systems to the financial services industry. Tesco said Fiserv will assist it in becoming a full-service bank by providing account information and banking transactions for Tesco Bank customers. [...]
Santander is attempting to lure new customers into opening a premium current account with an introductory special offer. New customers opening a Premier 50 Current Account at Alliance & Leicester or a Reward Bank Account at Abbey will pay account fees of just £5 per month for the first three months. After this introductory period, [...]
According to the European Central Bank (ECB), bank lending to companies within the euro zone declined for the first time ever in September, sparking fears that weak lending could hind a recovery within the economy. The euro zone, which comprises 16 countries, is still officially in recession and the fall in lending comes at a [...]
The topic of bank bonuses continues to hit the headlines with Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggesting a possible cap on bonuses within the banking industry, and indicating that bonuses should be based on long-term success. The PM added that banks should be able to “claw back” bonuses if the bank later performed poorly. Mr Brown [...]
Sir Richard Branson is looking to obtain a licence for his Virgin Group in a bid to become a High Street bank and return to the mortgage market. The billionaire entrepreneur told The Times: “We are going to get back into the mortgage business and we will become a bank either by acquisition or by [...]
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics today have revealed that national debt could be pushed up by as much as £1.5 trillion, following the bailouts of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds TSB. Billions of pounds were injected into the two banks last autumn to prevent them from collapse. Furthermore, both Northern [...]
Despite the bad news surrounding the economy this week, bank shares have recovered today following two weeks of heavy falls in the sector. Following decent increases yesterday, shares in Barclays were up 12% to 99p earlier today, following a 73% surge yesterday. Shares in the bank closed today at 89p. However, shares in Barclays are [...]
Bank shares on Friday took a battering amid speculation that more financial institutions will have to be rescued by the Government. Barclays stock was down 25% to its lowest level since 1993, while Royal Bank of Scotland lost 13%, the latter is 57.9% owned by the Government. Last week alone, Lloyds TSB saw its shares [...]
Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has admitted that 2009 will be a difficult year because the UK is far from through the recession. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Darling updated an earlier prediction that the downturn would run its course by the middle of the year. He said the forecast was [...]
The Government is reported to be considering a range of new measures that could free up lending. When the banks were bailed out with £50 billion of taxpayer cash in October, ministers made it clear that they expected the UK’s High Street banks to restore lending to businesses and individuals. Business Secretary, Peter Mandelson, has [...]
The announcement earlier this week of the £500 billion Government package of support for UK banks, plus a 0.5% cut in the Bank of England’s base rate, has met with disappointing results in the mortgage market. According to financial website, Moneyfacts.co.uk, home loan providers have continued to withdraw products with high loan-to-value (LTV) ratios, leaving [...]
As yesterday morning’s speaker on BBC Radio 4′s “Thought for the Day” urged a bleary-eyed nation to consider in its prayers the plight of bankers, whose lives may be torn apart by the credit crisis, and bear in mind their efforts in support of charity, a new day of financial turmoil was about to break. [...]
According to reports from Robert Peston at the BBC, both Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) and Lloyds TSB (LLOY) are in advanced talks on a merger. The news comes as HBOS shares show extraordinary volatility in London trading, so far trading anywhere between 88 pence and 214 pence per share according to Google Finance. HBOS [...]
John Lewis reports challenging trading environment
The John Lewis Partnership, which is regarded as a barometer of British retailing, has reported a marginal increase in sales and said trading conditions are “extremely challenging”. The renowned employee-owned chain, which owns the Waitrose supermarket chain, said sales rose 1% on a like-for-like basis in the six month period to 30 July. However, across [...]
European equities markets were higher Tuesday as banks came back from big declines on Monday, helped by a statement from Societe Generale’s (Euronext: GLE) CEO that his bank is healthy. The FTSE 100 was up 0.87 percent to 5,174.25 in London, while the FTSE 250 added 0.27 percent to 10,011, with banks the best performers [...]
Rics: Housing market remains in the doldrums
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has today reported that the UK housing market remained weak in August with house prices falling further. According to the Institution, homeowners remain reluctant to put their properties up for sale, while buyers continue to struggle to secure a mortgage and remain uncertain about the economic climate. The [...]
CML: Mortgage lending edges higher in July
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported the number of loans for house purchase rose in July. According to the Council, there were 48,400 loans advanced for house purchase in the month – up by 1,000 from June’s figure but almost 7,000 lower when compared with July 2010. Commenting on today’s figures, Paul Smee, [...]
UK inflation edges higher in August
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today announced Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) rose to annual rate of 4.5% last month from July’s rate of 4.4%. However, the figure was in line with analysts’ expectations. Higher inflation continues to be led by rising food costs but the main reason behind last month’s rise was a 5.1% [...]
Fresnillo down on silver prices
European equities markets were lower Monday on the possibility that Greece could default soon and on speculation that Moody’s Investors Service could cut its rating on several big banks with holdings tied to Greece. The FTSE 100 was down 1.63 percent to 5,129.62 in London, while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.65 percent to 9,983.75 as [...]
IFS warns of tough times for UK households
A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned that households will be squeezed for the next decade as they suffer from the harsh spending cuts introduced by the Government. It said households are suffering one of the worst attacks on their finances since the Second World War and that the impact of [...]
ICB final report recommends ring-fencing
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 [...]
Tullow Oil leads 100 in London
European equities markets were significantly lower Friday on an increased possibility that Greece could default on its debt as soon as this weekend, raising the concern level over the European region’s debt problems and ratcheting up worries that the economic recovery is faltering. Additionally, markets reacted to the resignation of European Central Bank board member [...]
SMMT: UK car sales rise in August
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have revealed UK car sales saw their first rise in 14 months in August. According to the trade body, car sales rose by 7.3% in August compared with the same month in 2010, with sales of smaller cars rising by more than 30%. The Ford Fiesta remained [...]
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