The chief executive of nationalised Northern Rock is leaving the crisis-torn bank to join NBNK. According to reports today, Gary Hoffman will assume the chief executive’s role at NBNK – the banking institution set up by two City financial-sector heavyweights. NBNK is set to build a significant presence in the UK and is now trading [...]
British Airways (BA) chief executive, Willie Walsh, has today said the airline is ready to operate a near-full service should further industrial action take place. Cabin crew have been in a long-running dispute with the airline over cost-cutting measures, which include a pay freeze, a switch to part-time working for thousands of staff, as well [...]
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 Airways (BA) chief executive, Willie Walsh, has rejected a bonus worth £334,000. The news comes just one day after the final series of cabin crew strikes ended. This is the second consecutive year that Mr Walsh has turned down a bonus, and in its annual report, the company said no-one would receive a cash [...]
In an interview with Sky News, HSBC chief executive Michael Geoghegan has warned of the dangers of the new super tax, introduced by the Government to claw back some of the bailout funds used to rescue the banking industry. The warning comes just a week after London Mayor, Boris Johnson, warned that high-earning bankers are [...]
Bank of America is to repay the $45 billion (£27 billion) of US Government bailout funds. The banking giant received the funds at the height of the financial crisis after accepting the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The repayment of the loan will see the bank escape curbs on executive pay, which in turn, has [...]
Supermarket giant Morrisons has announced that a record number of customers visited its stores in the three months to November. The UK’s fourth-largest supermarket said 10.8 million customers visited its stores during the period and the group said its sales “continued to grow well ahead of the market”. The group announced that like-for-like sales, excluding [...]
The Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) chief executive is calling for ethical behaviour within the financial world. Hector Sants, chief executive of the City regulator, said he is “unconvinced” that top executives have accepted the need to change and operate in a different manner following the financial crisis that rocked the world. In a speech to [...]
Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), has warned that Britain faces a “Japanese-style lost decade” if it returns to its old ways of the boom years (where consumers and businesses adopted a spend not save approach). The bank boss, who was appointed in November 2008 (when the bank had to be [...]
The group chief executive of Barclays is predicting that UK house prices will see a peak-to-slump fall of between 25% and 30%, against a backdrop of a shrinking economy. John Varley has been speaking out in an interview for Sky News, ahead of unemployment figures due to be release by the Government on Wednesday. He [...]
The head of Nationwide Building Society, Graham Beale, is predicting that UK house prices could fall by as much as 25% from their peak last autumn. Speaking to BBC News, the chief executive said that signs of a recovery in the housing market may be delayed until 2010 and that prices will continue to fall [...]
Former vice chairman of Barclays, Gary Hoffman, has been named as Northern Rock’s new chief executive. Newcastle-based Northern Rock will pay Mr Hoffman almost £2 million over two years to manage the crisis-torn bank. Mr Hoffman’s basic salary is £700,000 plus three separate payments of £400,000 in compensation for the loss of his participation in [...]
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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