HSBC has received a record $1.9 billion (£1.2 billion) fine from US federal and state authorities after its poor money laundering controls allowed it to be used as a conduit for drug barons and nations on which sanctions had been imposed, including Iran. Following a multi-agency investigation HSBC was charged with violating sanctions by transferring [...]
Nationwide Building Society lent £2.5 billion to 20,000 first time buyers in the first six months of 2012-13. This is double the amount it lent in the first half of the 2011-12 financial year and nearly as much as it lent to 24,000 first time buyers in the whole of the year. In proportion to [...]
Andrew Haldane, the Bank of England’s executive director for financial stability, has warned that the planned safety measures for banks need to be strengthened, the Independent reported. Speaking to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Banking Standards Mr Haldane said that the Vickers Report’s recommendation to ring-fence investment banking operations should be implemented fully. He also said [...]
HSBC Holdings is planning to stop offering Islamic financial services in the UK as part of a global restructuring strategy which will see non-core businesses shut down. Along with the UK, it is closing its Islamic banking operations in United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Singapore and Mauritius. HSBC will offer Islamic banking only in Malaysia, [...]
UK trade minister, Lord Green, will have to answer some “serious questions” over HSBC’s involvement in money laundering, Chris Leslie, the shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, said. Lord Green was chief executive of HSBC from 2003 and 2006, and was chairman until 2010 when he resigned to become part of the coalition government. A [...]
Marks and Spencer has confirmed rumours that it is launching a new high street bank in partnership with HSBC. The retailer announced today that it will open 50 in-store bank branches as an extension of its existing M&S Money joint venture with HSBC. M&S bank will offer current accounts, mortgages, and other financial products and [...]
Rumours are growing that Marks & Spencer is planning to open its own chain of bank branches within its stores. The branches would be likely to keep the same opening hours as the stores, offering banking services at the weekend. The first branch is expected to open next month, at the retailer’s Marble Arch store [...]
HSBC has announced plans to lend more than £15 billion in mortgages this year, with £3m of this ring-fenced for first-time buyers. This should provide mortgages for up to 150,000 home buyers during 2012, including 27,000 people buying their first home. The sum amounts to 11 per cent of all the mortgage borrowing predicted for [...]
Following the recent revelation that HSBC subsidiary NHFA mis-sold asset-backed investment products to elderly people in care, HSBC has promised to consider complaints dating back to before it took over NHFA in 2005. The decision means that HSBC could face thousands more potential claims for compensation, adding to the £30m compensation bill it already expects [...]
HSBC subsidiary NHFA, which offered advice on financial provision for people in long-term care, has been fined £10.5m by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). NHFA was found to have mis-sold asset-backed investment products to 87 per cent of 2,485 elderly people or their representatives, who bought the products to fund care costs. The products were [...]
HSBC claims to have launched the only mortgage with a rate of less than 4% for first-time buyers and has also promised to make a further £350m available to borrowers with smaller deposits by the end of the year. It latest mortgage offers a rate of 3.84% for two-years to borrowers with a deposit of [...]
Not so long ago houseowners could rely on the equity in their existing property, generated by its growing market value, to fund a move to a larger home, but new research from HSBC confirms that this is often no longer an option. The bank suggests that a fall in property prices means that first time [...]
HSBC has re-iterated its threat to leave Britain if the government’s proposed banking reforms are introduced. The new capital rules, recommended by the Independent Commission on Banking, could cost HSBC $2.5 billion a year, a price which it may be unwilling to pay. HSBS has had its headquarters in the UK for the last 20 [...]
Banking giant HSBC has today announced plans to axe 3,000 jobs at its Asian headquarters in Hong Kong over the next three years. The reduction in headcount is part of an ongoing global cost-cutting plan after comes shortly after the bank said it would axe 30,000 jobs by 2013. The bank, which is Europe’s largest, [...]
Manufacturing activity in China grew for the first time in four months in August, two separate surveys have revealed. Firstly, the official China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) said its purchasing managers’ index (PMI) edged higher to 50.9 last month from July’s reading of 50.7. The index remains just above the crucial 50 level, [...]
Banking giant HSBC has today announced it has disposed of its US credit card division to Capital One Financial, as part of a global strategic cost-cutting exercise. The announcement comes shortly after the bank said it would slash its underperforming US branch network by half and also announced it would axe 30,000 jobs globally in [...]
Banking giant Barclays is the latest bank to report its half-year profits and announce job losses. The bank said pre-tax profits came in at £2.6 billion for the six months to the end of June, down one third from the same period a year ago. However, chief executive Bob Diamond said he was pleased with [...]
Manufacturing activity in China eased further last month, two separate surveys have revealed today. Firstly, the official China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) said its purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 50.7 last month from June’s reading of 50.9. Secondly, the HSBC China Manufacturing PMI also suggested activity is slowing with the index falling [...]
Banking giant HSBC has today announced plans to shed 25,000 jobs by 2013 after reporting a rise in half-year profits. The bank, which is Europe’s largest, has already unveiled 5,000 job cuts, 700 of which are in the UK. HSBC has a global workforce of 335,000 worldwide, with 52,000 in the UK. It said the [...]
Credit Suisse, which is Switzerland’s largest bank, has today revealed it will axe 2,000 jobs after unveiling poor results in the second quarter. The job cuts represent approximately 4% of its 50,700-strong global workforce. The Swiss banking giant has been hit by weak trading activity and the strong Swiss franc. Net profits dived to SwFr [...]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products. Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than [...]
Home rental costs down in November
The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. [...]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax. Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees [...]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on [...]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society. The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed. Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages [...]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report. The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit [...]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting. People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE [...]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes. Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months. The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings [...]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data. Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though [...]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A [...]
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