According to a report by the Financial Times, Barclays chief executive, Bob Diamond, is looking to reform bonuses, in a move which will radically change the way it pays its senior bankers. The report suggests the newly-appointed chief executive is considering paying a large amount of bonuses in special contingent convertible bonds (known as “cocos”) [...]
Following a review, City watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced financial advisers must hold accreditation if they want to provide independent or restricted advice from the start of 2013. The FSA said retail investment advisers will need to possess a Statement of Professional Standing (SPS) if they want to give independent or restricted [...]
Banking giant Barclays has received a fine of £7.7 million – imposed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) over poor investment advice. The City Watchdog has also ordered the bank to compensate up to £60 million to customers of two investment funds. The bank has apologised for the failures and said it will “put things [...]
Barclays chief executive, Bob Diamond, faced a grilling from MPs today over his reported £8 million bonus. The Treasury Select Committee, who questioned Mr Diamond, asked whether he would waive his bonus for a third year. Mr Diamond responded: “I haven’t been offered a bonus, that’s a decision that will be taken by the remuneration [...]
Barclays chief executive, Bob Diamond, will today face questions from MPs over his reported £8 million bonus. Bonuses have been a major issue for some time now and have sparked public outrage since many argued that excessive bankers’ bonuses reward the risk-taking culture that led to the financial crisis. The Treasury Select Committee, who will [...]
Banking giant HSBC has announced some changes to its management team. The announcement is part of a boardroom reshuffle under incoming group chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, who is set to replace Michael Geoghegan next year. Paul Thurston will assume the role of Chief Executive, Retail Banking and Wealth Management with effect from March 2011. His [...]
Banking giant Barclays has today admitted that bonuses for its staff total just over £2 billion, despite the bank admitting these were “challenging markets”. It said it has set aside £1.5 billion to pay out in bonuses for its 25,000 staff so far this year and comes despite the bank’s investment unit, Barclays Capital, unveiling [...]
Banking giant Barclays has today announced it made a pre-tax profit of £4.3 billion in the first nine months of the year, despite a slump in income at its investment banking division. The bank, which is one of the few not to have received any financial help from the Government, said activity at its investment [...]
Barclays president Bob Diamond has warned of the dangers that new taxes could have on British banks. The American multi-millionaire, who is set to take over the chief executive role from John Varley next year, made the remarks shortly before the Bank of England unveiled proposals to overhaul the banking system. In a speech at [...]
Banking giant Barclays is understood to be exploring a number of options that would boost its capital reserves, in order to meet new Basel III regulations. The Basel III rules recently agreed banks need to look to capitalise around 7% and Barclays is rumoured to be issuing a special bond that would enable it boost [...]
The bosses of Britain’s top six banks have revealed a £1.5 billion fund, designed to kick-start lending to small businesses. It was announced in August that the chief executives of Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered and the heads of the UK operations of HSBC and Santander, would address the shortage [...]
Banking giant Lloyds has received the highest number of complaints in the first half of 2010 with 288,717 gripes. Figures from City regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said Barclays and Santander were second and third in the complaints league, with 250,667 and 244,978 complaints respectively. The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which like Lloyds [...]
Banking giant HSBC has this weekend confirmed several boardroom changes after days of speculation. The bank, which is Europe’s largest, confirmed that its chief executive, Michael Geoghegan, will be replaced by investment banking chief Stuart Gulliver. Meanwhile, outgoing chairman Stephen Green (who is moving on to take up the post of trade minister with the [...]
Two of the UK’s leading banks have today announced changes in leadership. Barclays’ chief executive, John Varley, will be departing next year and will be replaced by Bob Diamond, currently president of Barclays PLC and chief executive officer of the group’s Corporate and Investment Banking and Wealth Management units. In addition HSBC chairman, Stephen Green, [...]
British banking giant Barclays has been charged with breaching the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act in dealings between 1995 and 2006. The bank has been involved in illegal financial transactions with banks in Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma, according to the Justice Department. The bank violated US [...]
According to a report in the Financial Times, British banking giant Barclays has refused to sign up to Government lending targets, suggesting they could encourage irresponsible lending. Steve Cooper, head of Barclays’ small business division, told the FT: “I’m not going to sign up to a target. I don’t want to create an expectation that [...]
Today’s results from Barclays has reinforced that the banking sector is in recovery mode after the bank reported a 44% rise in profits. The bank, which is one of the few not to have received any financial help from the Government, said pre-tax profits came in at £3.95 billion for the six months to the [...]
Only two out of seventeen high street banks allow people going through bankruptcy to open a basic, no credit bank account, new research has found. A study by the Citizens Advice Bureau found only the Co-operative and Barclays offer bank accounts to undischarged bankrupts, despite there being no legal reason to deny these people access [...]
Bovis has reported a steady half year in terms of sales, although the new homes market remained “subdued” with first-time buyers limited by “liquidity issues”. However, the house builder delivered “solid” weekly private sales rates in the six months to the end of June 2010, and achieved prices that were ahead of expectations. During the [...]
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 [...]
About | Privacy | Disclaimer | Resources | XML Feeds | Press Releases | Directory | Contact us
