Bank of Scotland, which is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, has been fined £3.5 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The matter arose after the Financial Ombudsman Service received appeals from investors who said their complaints had been rejected wrongly. As a result, the bank has been ordered to pay customers around £17 [...]
It has been confirmed that Yorkshire Building Society will merger with smaller rival Norwich and Peterborough (N&P) Building Society. The announcement comes after much consolidation in Britain’s mutual sector, as a result of funding pressures. Meanwhile, the news comes after N&P, which is Britain’s tenth largest society, was fined earlier this week by the Financial [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today announced that it has fined the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (N&P) £1.4 million for giving unsuitable advice on its Keydata products. The Watchdog said the group failed to properly assess the financial circumstances of many of its customers and often designated them as having a higher tolerance [...]
Banking giant Barclays has announced it will axe 1,000 jobs as it ceases to offer financial planning advice in its branches. The job cuts will take place countrywide from February 18 as the bank focuses its investment service online. The announcement comes just a week after the bank was fined £7.7 million by the Financial [...]
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 [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and its NatWest subsidiary have been fined by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for “multiple failings”. The fine of £2.8 million was imposed because there was an “unacceptably high risk that customers may not have been treated fairly” due to not handling customers routine complaints in a proper manner. [...]
Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has been fined £20 million ($31 million) by the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA). The fine comes after Goldman failed to inform the FSA it was under investigation for fraud by its US counterpart. The FSA and Goldman Sachs have declined to comment but according to the BBC, the multi-million [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined David Jones, Northern Rock’s former finance director, for the misreporting of mortgage arrears at the bank. The Watchdog has fined Mr Jones £320,000 and banned him from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity. The fine comes after former deputy chief executive, David Baker, and former [...]
A record fine for JP Morgan Securities has been imposed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to protect client money over a period that spanned almost seven years. The largest ever fine of £33.32 million ($48.2 million) would have actually been £47.6 million but the firm agreed to co-operate during the investigation, thereby [...]
Edinburgh-based insurer, Standard Life, has today posted a 30% rise in sales for the first quarter of 2010 – far exceeding analysts expectations. The insurer said global sales grew to £4.6 billion in the first three months of the year compared with £3.56 billion in the same period a year ago. Long-term UK savings sales [...]
Swiss banking giant UBS has been fined £8 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) – the third largest penalty ever handed out by the UK regulator. However, the fine would have been £10 million but the Swiss bank agreed to settle with the FSA at an early stage. The bank, which is Switzerland’s fourth [...]
One of the UK’s leading sub-prime mortgage lenders has been fined £2.8 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for not treating its customers fairly. GMAC-RFC has also agreed to repay up to £7.7 million in total, plus interest, to over 46,000 of its mortgage customers. The FSA says the case sets a precedent in [...]
The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) has revealed that London has the highest number of uninsured drivers after a report discovered that more than 1.7 million people drove without cover last year. Thirteen percent of vehicles in Greater London were found to be driven illegally – the highest proportion for any region. The Bureau, which compensates [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined banking giant Barclays £2.45 million for reporting flaws. However, by agreeing to settle at an early stage, Britain’s second largest bank qualified for a 30% discount. According to the City watchdog, Barclays failed to report details of trade transactions accurately and was guilty of “serious” breaches in systems [...]
Three HSBC firms have been fined £3.2 million for losing customers’ confidential details, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said today. However, the fines would have totalled more than £4.5 million had the three firms not agreed to settle at an early stage, therefore receiving a 30% discount. According to the FSA, HSBC Life lost an [...]
Motorists who have been caught using their mobile phone whilst driving pay higher insurance premiums, research by AA Insurance has discovered. Increased premiums quadruple the cost of being caught, as the average premium increase is around four-times the cost of the standard fine. Meanwhile, drivers found guilty of dangerous driving whilst using a mobile find [...]
The Financial Service Authority (FSA) has fined the UK arm of the insurance broking group, Aon, £5.25 million for ‘suspicious payments‘. Aon, the UK subsidiary of Aon Corporation of the US, has made 66 suspicious payments worth $7 million (£4.6 million) to people and firms overseas to help it win or retain business overseas. The [...]
Halifax has announced a new current account that will charge overdrawn customers up to £2 per day. The Halifax Reward Account offers fixed cash payments for customers in credit, and fixed daily charges for overdrawn accounts. Customers who deposit more than £1,000 into their account at least once per month will be rewarded with a [...]
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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