Banking giant HSBC has today said net profits grew 58% to $4.153 billion in the three months to 31 March on lower taxes and bad debt charges. However, the bank, which is Europe’s largest, said the group’s pre-tax gains were driven down by rises in other exceptional costs – such as the £269 million it [...]
Fresh strike action is looming at British Airways (BA) after the Unite union has announced plans to ballot its 12,000 cabin crew members next week, unless the long-running dispute is resolved. So far, cabin crews have held 22 days of strikes after being involved in a long-running dispute with the airline over cost-cutting measures, which [...]
Last week, the Unite union announced cabin crew members at British Airways (BA) will strike for four separate five-day strikes in May and June. The further industrial action comes after Unite members rejected a fresh deal for cabin crew earlier this month. Unite said 81% of the cabin crew it represents voted against BA’s offer, [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 84% owned by the taxpayer, has today announced it is reducing headcount by a further 2,600 as it continues with its cost-cutting programme. The bank has already announced more than 20,000 job cuts across its business since it was bailed out at the height of the financial crisis. [...]
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has today announced it will axe a third of its global petrol station network and shed a further 1,000 jobs by the end of next year, as part of its ongoing cost cutting programme. The Anglo-Dutch firm, which is Britain’s second largest oil company, has been hit by a slump [...]
Telecoms company Vodafone has announced plans to cut a further 375 jobs as part of its £1 billion cost-cutting programme, undertaken last year by the company as a result of a sharp decline in revenues from its core UK market. The company, which is the world’s largest mobile phone operator, said the job losses would [...]
Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson is to eliminate a further 1,500 jobs, as it posted a 92% slump in fourth quarter profits. The company said net profit for the October to December period was 314 million kronors (£27 million), compared with 3.89 billion kronors in the same period a year earlier. The results were far [...]
It has been reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to axe 9,000 jobs, with 4,500 positions to go in the UK. The job losses are part of a £2.5 billion cost-cutting programme, scheduled to take place over the next two years. The move has been described as “truly devastating” by unions. The [...]
Northern Rock has announced that it is to cut fewer jobs than originally anticipated as part of its ongoing cost-cutting measures. The nationalised bank has said it now plans to make 1,300 people redundant compared with original plans to axe 2,000 jobs. The lender said 500 staff will leave voluntarily. The crisis-torn bank was hit [...]
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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