Banking giant HSBC is in talks with South African insurer Old Mutual about acquiring a majority stake in Nedbank Group – South Africa’s fourth biggest bank. The media has speculated that the price could be around £4.5 billion for a 52% stake, in the latest in a series of assets Old Mutual has been forced [...]
Today’s results from Barclays has reinforced that the banking sector is in recovery mode after the bank reported a 44% rise in profits. The bank, which is one of the few not to have received any financial help from the Government, said pre-tax profits came in at £3.95 billion for the six months to the [...]
Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM), the so-called bad bank, has today reported it has returned to profit. The crisis-torn bank, which was the first victim of the credit crunch, said pre-tax profit for the first six months to the end of June were £349.7 million, compared with a loss of £724.2 million a year earlier. [...]
The UK’s banking reporting season has got off to a flying start today after banking giant HSBC reported profits more than doubled, exceeding analysts expectations. Europe’s largest bank has today announced a pre-tax profit of $11.1 billion (£7 billion) for the six months to the end of June, compared with $5 billion in the same [...]
There is further evidence today that China’s economy is cooling after two official independent surveys revealed a slowdown in manufacturing activity. Firstly, the HSBC China Manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI), fell to 49.4 in July from 50.4 in June. As a result, manufacturing contracted for the first time in 16 months as any reading below [...]
British companies should look east for the most profitable business opportunities, HSBC has claimed. Research by HSBC Commercial Banking found 14% of UK companies recognised the importance of eastern consumers in developing lucrative business opportunities. If British businesses are to compete in the global marketplace, they must take note of this “fundamental and fast paced [...]
Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) secured the accolade of sustainable bank of the year at this year’s Financial Times Sustainable Banking Awards. HSBC was announced as the runner up, while Itau Unibanco, Brazil won the award for emerging markets sustainable bank of the year. “We are seeing a much greater commitment by financial institutions in both [...]
From 1 July, Alliance & Leicester (A&L) will attempt to reduce its queues by making customers with cash cards withdrawing less than £300 to use the branch cash machine. The bank, which is to be renamed Santander later this year, said the change will bring the bank brand in line with other banks in the [...]
Europe’s largest bank HSBC has today announced underlying pre-tax profits for the first quarter of 2010 were well ahead on the same period a year ago. The bank, which does not report full quarterly results, said bad debts fell to their lowest level in two years, while its struggling US business made its first profit [...]
One in four children have reduced their spending because of the recession, according to new research published this week. The study, commissioned by HSBC and the Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg), found that children’s attitudes to money have been strongly impacted by the recession. Eight in ten of the 1,000 children polled said they would [...]
Consumer watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), has today revealed UK banks may soon be offering customers the ability to opt out of unarranged overdraft facilities. Should the procedure be put in place, it would mean consumers would avoid hefty fees if they slipped into the red. The announcement comes as the OFT took [...]
HSBC has reunited customers with £10.4 million held in lost or forgotten bank accounts. The bank, which started searching out owners for unclaimed funds in September 2008, said over 7,000 customers have been reunited with dormant accounts. The average money in each account was £1,400. People in London are the most forgetful about money left [...]
Surveys by the Chinese Government and HSBC have today revealed China’s manufacturing activity continued to grow in February, albeit at a slower pace. The HSBC China Manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dipped to 55.8 in February from 57.4 the previous month. However, a reading above the crucial 50 mark means the sector is expanding. In [...]
Europe’s largest bank, HSBC, has today said pre-tax profits fell to $7.07 billion (£4.6 billion) last year compared with $9.3 billion in the previous year. The banking giant said loan impairments charges and other credit provisions were $26.5 billion in 2009 – a rise of 9% compared with the previous year. Stephen Green, chairman of [...]
According to reports, banking giant HSBC has bowed to shareholder pressure and abandoned plans to raise its chief executive’s salary. The Financial Times said the bank had consulted shareholders on proposals to raise Michael Geoghegan’s salary by 36% to £1.4 million ($2.2 million). The FT also reported that the bank had planned to up the [...]
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 [...]
Banks are increasingly tempting their current account holders with mortgage offers, as they seek to become “one-stop shops” in financial services. Research from financial products analyst, Defaqto, suggests the number of mortgage offers available exclusively to current account customers is on the rise. According to the firm, Abbey offers free valuations and cash back on [...]
Euroclear, which is Europe’s largest settlements group, has today announced that Tim Howell will become the group’s chief executive officer. Forty-nine-year-old Howell is currently the Global Head of HSBC Securities Services, where he is responsible for the custody, fund administration and corporate trust businesses of the HSBC Group. He has been a member of the [...]
HSBC has jumped on the bandwagon of January sales by launching cut-priced mortgages, savings accounts, and insurance products. “All over the world, people are making New Year resolutions and sorting out their finances is often high on that list,” said Brendan Cook, HSBC spokesperson. “This year, we want to make it easier for our customers [...]
In a bid to boost circulation of the £5 note, the Bank of England has said it will urge major banks to increase the availability of £5 notes in their ATMs. Fivers change hands quickly and, as a result, only last around a year before becoming too damaged to use. In comparison, the £50 note [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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