The Bank of Ireland has today reported a loss of €3 billion (£2.6 billion) in the first nine months of its financial year, with write-downs totalling €4 billion. In a statement, the bank said: “Revenues remain under pressure, in particular due to higher funding costs as we continue to extend the maturity profile of our [...]
UBS, which is Switzerland’s largest, bank, has reported a first quarter loss of SwFr1.98 billion (£1.2 billion). The bank said the losses were attributed to write-downs on risky investments. However the loss was less than the SwFr9.5 billion reported for the fourth quarter of 2008. The Swiss bank is among one of the worst hit [...]
Scotland’s largest building society is set to be on the brink of collapse as the UK government has announced that it is preparing a £60 million bail-out. Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy said that the Government will do all that it can to protect people’s money in what has been nicknamed as the Scottish Northern Rock. [...]
Barclays Bank has announced a full year pre-tax profit of £6.08 billion for the 2008 year – this represents a fall of 14% compared with the 2007 year. However, the profits still exceeded analysts’ expectations. The bank has also announced £5.4 billion of write-downs (nearly double a year earlier) and has cancelled its final dividend [...]
Shares in Barclays have plunged 9% to 96p this morning after Moody’s downgraded the bank’s long-term debt rating from Aa1 to Aa3, while its financial strength rating was cut from B to C. Moody’s said it expects the bank to announce considerable further losses on credit related write-downs. Barclays stock has been hit hard over [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) adds to the thousands of job losses in the UK this week by announcing that it is to axe 3,000 staff from its global banking and markets division. The news of the job losses follows a week of cuts after JCB, one of the largest construction equipment manufacturers in the [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has today announced an 8% fall in operating profits and stated that the economic slowdown will affect its financial results for the final quarter of the year. Furthermore, the bank has announced further write-downs on credit assets totalling £206 million, on top of the £5.9 billion it reported in the [...]
The Lloyds TSB/HBOS merger looks set to proceed after both banks have announced plans to raise up to £17 billion through the Government’s rescue scheme. Today, Lloyds said it plans to raise £4.5 billion from investors with the support of the Government and will offer the Government preference shares worth £1 billion. Meanwhile, HBOS said [...]
Credit rating agency, Standard & Poor, has warned that a recovery in the banking industry is at least a year away. According to the agency, US and European banks are entering a second phase of credit crunch related losses. The warning comes as investment bank, Lehman Brothers, had its forecast slashed by analysts after predicting [...]
Britain’s second-largest bank, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), has today posted a first-half pre-tax loss of £691 million – its first loss in 40 years and the second-biggest loss in UK banking history. Lloyds TSB holds the record for the first-biggest loss when it posted a £715 million loss in 1989, primarily due to difficulties [...]
Barclays Bank has today revealed that pre-tax profits fell 33% in the first six months to the end of June following more write-downs. Barclays made £2.75 billion, compared with £4.1 billion in the same period last year. John Varley, chief executive of Barclays, described the results as disappointing and apologised to shareholders who have had [...]
The credit crisis and weakening economy has led to HBOS posting a huge slump in profits. HBOS said pre-tax profit fell from £2.99 billion in the first half of 2007 to £848 million compared with the same period a year ago. Bad debts increased 36% to £1.31 billion as customers defaulted on loans. Furthermore, HBOS [...]
Citigroup, which is America’s largest bank, has posted a second quarter loss of $2.5 billion (£1.25 billion) as a result of further write-downs of $11.7 billion due to the credit crunch and mortgage related assets. Despite the loss, the results were better than Wall Street was expecting and shares gained 7.7% on Friday. Its shares [...]
Investment banking giant, JP Morgan Chase, revealed that second-quarter profits fell 52% as it suffered a £550 million ($1.1 billion) loss on mortgage-related write-downs. Net income at the third-largest US bank fell to $2 billion compared with $4.23 billion a year earlier. Revenue fell by 3% to $18.4 billion, above analysts expectations of $16.6 billion [...]
Swiss investment bank, UBS, has announced the resignation of 4 of its 12 board members as it attempts to recover from losses linked to the credit crunch. The overhaul sees directors Stephan Haeringer, Rolf Meyer, Peter Spuhler and Lawrence Weinbach step down in October. The banking giant said nominations for their replacements will be announced [...]
Swiss investment bank, Credit Suisse, has announced plans to axe 75 jobs in in its investment bank and support services division in the UK. Switzerland’s second largest bank said challenging market conditions and projected staffing levels needed to meet client requirements has resulted in a reduction in headcount. The bank, which has its UK operations [...]
HSBC, the UK’s largest bank, has announced it is to write-down a further $2.6 billion (£1.3 billion) in addition to the $12.2 billion of write-downs last year. However, profit in the first three months of 2008 exceeded that of a year ago, as growth in Asia helped counter some $5 billion in hits from bad [...]
As the credit squeeze continues, Citigroup, the world’s largest bank, has announced its second consecutive quarterly loss and has confirmed 9,000 job cuts. The US investment bank made a loss of $5.1 billion (£2.7 billion) in the first quarter, however, this was less than the $9.8 billion loss reported in the final quarter of last [...]
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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