There is growing speculation that Nationwide building society may be considering a bid for the 316 branches being sold by RBS group under EU rules. RBS was ordered to sell the branches under the terms of the £45 billion bailout it received from the UK government during the financial crisis. It had planned to sell [...]
Direct Line Insurance has revealed that its separation from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is ”substantially complete”. In an upbeat announcement the insurer said that it expects profitability to soar following the separation. RBS is selling Direct Line under the conditions imposed by European regulators on its bailout by the UK government during the credit [...]
In the wake of the IT meltdown at the RBS group earlier this summer, the Treasury Select Committee is calling on banks to check their IT systems. The error occurred on 19 June during routine maintenance of the RBS computer system. It caused automated batch processing software to malfunction and although this was quickly fixed, [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland could be more heavily involved in inter-bank rate fixing than Barclays, an MP has suggested. John Mann, a Labour MP on the Treasury select committee, speculated that RBS could receive a fine in excess of the £290 million incurred by Barclays, if the allegations prove true. A source from within [...]
Service at Ulster Bank should now be back to normal for most customers, following a computer failure almost a month ago at parent company RBS. The technical problem left 100,000 Ulster Bank customers without access to their accounts. NatWest and RBS customers also experienced problems after the computer failure on 19 June, but most of [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has promised to refund any bank customers who suffered a loss as a result of the recent computer failure. Customers of other banks can claim if they have been affected, as well as the millions of Natwest, RBS and Ulster bank account holders who were unable to access their [...]
Consumers and businesses are still suffering from the aftermath of the software failure which hit the RBS group two weeks ago. NIAVAC, a small Belfast-based firm claims that £50,000 in electronic payments has disappeared from its account with Ulster Bank. It was also revealed this week that some RBS and NatWest customers had duplicate debits [...]
Some customers of NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank are still experiencing difficulties in accessing their money, with problems caused by an IT failure dragging on into another weekend. Although the group claims that 99% of RBS and NatWest accounts are now up to date, hundreds of branches are opening with extended hours again this weekend [...]
Barclays, which has been fined £290m for misconduct by regulators in the UK and the US, could face criminal investigations, along with Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group. Barclays received the record fine for allegedly manipulating Libor, the London interbank lending rate, and Euribor, the European interbank lening rate. The bank is believed [...]
Most RBS and NatWest customers should now find that their accounts are up to date, although Ulster Bank customers may still be experiencing difficulties following the computer problems which started more than a week ago. With 99% of RBS and NatWest accounts updated, the banking group will turn its attention to Ulster Bank, whose customers [...]
Last week’s computer error is expected to continue causing problems for customers of Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster Bank until Tuesday, the bank said yesterday. The problems started after a software update was carried out on Tuesday. The update stopped transactions going in and out of customers’ accounts during the night, leaving customers [...]
The UK government is negotiating with Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds over the sale of a stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the BBC reported yesterday. It is believed that Abu Dhabi, which is part of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, could buy up to a third of the government’s 82% stake in the [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland made a loss of nearly £2 billion last year but still paid out £785 million in bonuses to staff, including £390 million to investment bankers. The average bonus per group employee was £5,346, but the bank’s 17,0000 investment bankers received an average bonus of £22,941. Bankers’ bonuses have come under intense [...]
Credit ratings agency Fitch has today downgraded two UK banks and placed one on a negative watch. Fitch downgraded Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) long-term credit rating to an A rating from AA-. It also placed Barclays on a negative watch, meaning a downgrade is possible in the future. In a statement, Fitch [...]
Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) lost 10% today after it emerged that the bank is being sued by America’s Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) over the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBSs). The FHFA was established in July 2008 when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to be rescued which, at the time, [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has barred some of its customers from using rival cash machines because the bank incurs a charge each time. The decision will affect almost a million people with basic bank accounts who do not have access to an overdraft or a cheque book. With immediate effect, they will only [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has today unveiled a loss of £1.4 billion for the six months to the end of June. The bank, which is 84% owned by the taxpayer, said its exposure to the Greek debt crisis and costs relating to the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) pushed it into a [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is being sued by a division of the US Government for millions of dollars over failed US mortgage bonds – residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Investors lost hundreds of billions of dollars when these types of investments went sour and resulted in the financial crisis in autumn 2008. RBS, which is [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 83% owned by the taxpayer, has today announced it has agreed to sell a portfolio of Spanish real estate loans and assets to Perella Weinberg Real Estate Fund I LP, in a deal worth £247 million (€286 million). RBS has been selling assets under the orders of [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 83% owned by the taxpayer, has disclosed details of the amount of money it paid to its key staff in 2010. The bank said its 323 key staff were paid a total of £375 million last year – after already divulging its chief executive, Stephen Hester, received a [...]
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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