Lloyds Banking Group has announced it will close down its Equity Markets division – as part of its strategy to dispose of non-core assets. The division has around a dozen employees and the announcement comes shortly after the bank said 200 jobs would go at its insurance arm. Since the onset of the financial crisis, [...]
Banking giant Barclays is reducing headcount further – this time at its credit card arm, Barclaycard. The announcement comes just a week after the bank said it will axe 1,000 jobs as it ceases to offer financial planning advice in its branches. Meanwhile, the job losses within the credit card division are the result of [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 84% state-owned, has today announced it will dispose of its factoring unit in Germany to GE Capital, the financial services division of General Electric. In a statement, the bank said: “The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc has agreed the sale of RBS Factoring GmbH to GE [...]
Fears over US consumer spending were raised today after retailing giant Wal-Mart reported weaker than expected sales. The company, which is the world’s largest retailer, reported a 22% rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit, but sales at stores open at least 12 months disappointed the market. Quarterly sales fell to $113.65 billion – slightly below [...]
General Electric (GE) has revealed a poor performance between the July and September period as the US conglomerate’s finance arm was hit hard by the economic downturn. The group, which is seen as barometer of US economic health, reported earnings of $2.5 billion (£1.5 billion) for the quarter, compared with $4.3 billion in the same [...]
Telecoms giant BT has today announced plans to axe 15,000 jobs this year – with the majority being in the UK. The group also announced a full-year loss of £134 million due to a poor performance within its Global Services unit – which has written down £1.3 billion within the division. The loss of £134 [...]
According to the Financial Times, Deutsche Telekom, which owns T-Mobile, is under pressure to leave the UK market after disappointing financial results. The two main shareholders are the German government and the private equity group, Blackstone, are calling for the UK mobile telephone operations to be sold as they are under performing in an ever [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is believed to be in talks to sell its insurance operation to private equity firm, CVC, and Swiss Re for £6 billion. The division, which includes the Churchill, Direct Line, Privilege, UKI and NIG brands, was put up for sale earlier in the year, at a cost of around £7 [...]
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), which was appointed as the administrators of Lehman Brothers’ European division, have announced that 750 workers are to lose their jobs with immediate effect. PWC said the bulk of the losses will be made at the Canary Wharf offices in London and said all avenues have been exhausted and the jobs could not [...]
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, [...]
About | Privacy | Disclaimer | Resources | XML Feeds | Press Releases | Directory | Contact us
