Royal Bank of Scotland made a loss of nearly £2 billion last year but still paid out £785 million in bonuses to staff, including £390 million to investment bankers. The average bonus per group employee was £5,346, but the bank’s 17,0000 investment bankers received an average bonus of £22,941. Bankers’ bonuses have come under intense [...]
At his keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat conference, Business Secretary Vince Cable is today expected to say that shareholders should have more of a say when it comes to bonuses paid to executives. He is also expected to outline plans which will force firms to disclose their excessive pay packages. Mr Cable is expected [...]
British banking giant Barclays has today announced a fall in pre-tax profits for the first quarter. The bank said profits were 9% lower at £1.66 billion due to a 15% fall in revenues at Barclays Capital. Today’s results were lower than analysts expectations. However, profits from its retail and business banking operations rose by 21% [...]
Crisis-torn Northern Rock has today unveiled an underlying loss of £232.4 million for the 2010 year for its so-called “good“ bank. Despite the loss, the Newcastle-based bank will pay more than £13 million in bonuses to its 4,000-strong workforce. The bonus comes despite executive chairman Ron Sandler describing the losses as “disappointing”. He comments: “2010 [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 84% owned by the taxpayer, has today reported a net attributable loss of £1.13 billion for the 2010 year. While the loss is down from the £3.6 billion reported for 2009, it was higher than analysts had expected. The results are also a significant improvement on the £24.1 [...]
British banking giant Barclays has today kicked off the reporting season by announcing better profits than analysts had forecast. The bank posted pre-tax profits of £6.07 billion for the 2010 year - a rise of 32% compared with £4.59 billion in the previous year. Meanwhile, the bank said it lent over £43 billion to UK [...]
British banks are set to reveal their bonus payouts in the coming weeks, along with their results. Banking giant Barclays will be the first to reveal its results and 2010 bonus payout on Tuesday. There is still speculation that Barclays is reviewing its bonus structure. Chief executive, Bob Diamond, is understood to be considering paying [...]
After weeks of tense negotiations, Britain’s largest banks have agreed to lending targets and pay restraints. Chancellor George Osborne today announced that under the so-called Project Merlin, banks will lend around £190 billion to businesses this year - including £76 billion to SMEs. Last year, banks loaned £179 billion to businesses. The four financial institutions [...]
Chancellor George Osborne is today expected to announce that a deal has been reached between the Government and the banks with regard to lending targets and restraints on pay. The report comes a day after Mr Osborne confirmed he is maintaining the levy on banks, raising an additional £800 million this year and £2.5 billion [...]
Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed he is maintaining the levy on banks, raising an additional £800 million this year and £2.5 billion in the coming years. In a radio interview, he said he wants to ensure “banks make a fair contribution to closing the deficit”. Initially, Mr Osborne said the Government’s new bank levy would [...]
The controversial subject of bonuses has emerged again today after the Sunday Times reported Britain’s top banks will pay out a combined £6 billion in bonuses. The report comes despite the Government’s clampdown on bonuses as it endeavours to negotiate with the banks to commit to lending targets for small businesses and restraints on pay. [...]
Headhunters have warned that staff at some of Europe’s largest banks are threatening to quit over bonus rules and other regulations. The bonus review, the threat of big banks being broken up, as well as the growing pay divide between Europe and the US, is expected to bring a mass exodus of staff. However, new [...]
A report by the BBC has established that bank’s lending targets have not been met and pressure is now mounting for bank bosses to reduce bonuses and increase lending to businesses and homeowners. After talks, the Treasury has made it clear that the Government will threaten to break up big banks unless they agree to [...]
US banking giant Morgan Stanley has today announced fourth quarter profits surged by 60% - in line with forecasts. The Wall Street bank said net profit came in at $600 million (£375 million) for the final three months of 2010, against a profit of $376 million a year ago. Shares in the bank were up [...]
Business Secretary Vince Cable has said he could quit the coalition if he is “pushed too far” in negotiations with the Conservatives. Mr Cable, who is the most senior Liberal Democrat member of the coalition after Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, told undercover reporters from The Daily Telegraph the situation in the coalition was like [...]
A meeting between Business Secretary Vince Cable, Chancellor George Osborne and the bosses of the UK’s top five banks has been delayed after Mr Osborne is stranded in the US due to bad weather. The meeting, scheduled for this afternoon to discuss the controversial issue of bonuses, had to be cancelled due to transport problems. [...]
Business Secretary Vince Cable and Chancellor George Osborne are meeting with the bosses of the top banks today to discuss the controversial issue of bonuses. Mr Cable is keen to set a limit on bonuses and a commitment to increase lending to SMEs. Yesterday, Mr Cable warned banks that the Government will remain determined and [...]
As the bonus payment season draws near, Business Secretary Vince Cable has today warned banks that the Government will remain determined and not be “bullied”. Mr Cable added that the Coalition Government is in agreement on the subject of bonuses and said it will not be “bullied” by banks threatening to leave the UK as [...]
Chancellor George Osborne has had a rethink with regard to bankers’ bonuses, suggesting he may abandon the requirement for British banks to disclose the number of employees earning more than £1 million. The requirement for banks to disclose bonuses and salary payments over £1 million was brought in by former Chancellor Alistair Darling last year. [...]
A report by the BBC has revealed that Britain’s biggest banks are understood to be in talks about reducing the amount they receive in bonuses. 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 [...]
Annual credit card statements launched
Consumers are used to receiving a monthly credit card statement, either online or by post but from today they will receive an annual statement as well. The initiative has been launched by the UK Cards Association and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, as part of the credit card industry’s efforts to be more [...]
Hometrack reports increase in house prices
House prices increased by 0.2 per cent across the UK in March, according to property analytics business Hometrack, representing the first price rise in 20 months. The increase was helped by increased demand from first time buyers, a scarcity of homes on the market and strong interest in properties in London from overseas buyers. First [...]
Uninsured young driver numbers halved
A new law allowing the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) to cross-check its database against DVLA records has led to a substantial fall in the number of young people driving without insurance. The Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) law allows MIB to check which vehicles are registered with the DVLA. If a registered vehicle is not listed [...]
Barclays site slow to load during upgrade
The BBC today reported that around 10 per cent of Barclays’ customers are experiencing delays when they try to access online banking. The bank has been phasing in improvements to its site since January and the rebuilt site is proving slow to load today, which is one of the busiest days of the month for [...]
OECD says UK falling back into recession
The UK economy is expected to contract by 0.4 per cent on an annualised basis in the first three months of 2012, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This represents a contraction of 0.1 per cent compared with the final quarter of 2011 and means that the UK is returning to [...]
House prices and mortgage approvals fall
House prices have fallen for the first time in six months, with the decline attributed to changes in stamp duty. The average house price in March was £163,327, 0.9 per cent lower than in March 2011. It was the largest fall in house prices since June last year. Nationwide’s figures showed a fall in nearly [...]
Interest gap narrows between ISAs and standard accounts
There are just a few days left for savers to use their Isa allowance for the current tax year, which ends on 5 April. However, savers who miss out on this year’s allowance may get almost as good a deal from an ordinary savings account according to new research by consumer group Which? Isas have [...]
Halifax life-long policy misled pet insurance customers
The Halifax has been found by the Financial Ombudsman Service to have misled customers by offering life-long pet insurance. Halifax, which is part of Lloyds Banking Group, announced its decision to withdraw from the pet insurance market at the end of last year. The Ombudsman’s ruling follows a complaint by the owners of a dog [...]
Barclay’s contactless cards open to fraud
An investigation by Channel 4 has found that Barclays’ contactless credit and debit cards, which are used by up to 13 million customers, are at risk of fraud. In collaboration with mobile phone security company ViaForensics, Channel 4 discovered that smartphones integrated with near field communication (NFC) technology can steal data from the cards with [...]
Auto-enrolment aligned with tax and NI
The government revealed today that automatic enrolment rates for the tax year to April 2013 will be aligned with tax and National Insurance thresholds to make implementation simple for firms. Auto-enrolment is being phased in from 1 October, starting with the largest firms, and should be in full effect by the middle of 2017. It [...]
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