Close Brothers recovers from bruising start to the year while rising rates lifts fellow merchant bankers Arbuthnot May 24, 2023 Merchant banking group Close Brothers delivered a battling update as it attempts to calm investor nerves following a poor start to the year. In a trading update for its third quarter, Close Brothers reported that its loan book increased by two per cent to £9.2bn. This was driven by a strong new business in commercial [...]
Bank bombshell: Competition watchdog finds traders at five banks shared intel on UK bond sales May 24, 2023 Traders at five of the world’s biggest banks shared “commercially sensitive” data related to the purchase and sale of UK government bonds in Bloomberg terminal chats, the UK’s competition watchdog has provisionally found. A “small number” of staff at Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Canada shared information which, the competition [...]
Big tech and banks conspire in new scheme to combat fraud May 23, 2023 An alliance of banks, tech companies and telecoms groups are set to pilot a new scheme to collect information on scammers as attempts to tackle the UK’s fraud epidemic step up a notch. The new group, Stop Scams UK, has members including the UK’s largest incumbent banks, challenger banks, telecoms providers and big tech firms. [...]
First Citizens sues HSBC for poaching Silicon Valley Bank staff May 23, 2023 First Citizens, which acquired Silicon Valley Bank following its collapse, sued HSBC on Monday, accusing it of poaching more than 40 of the failed bank’s employees in order to launch its own U.S. venture banking business. The lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court says HSBC violated federal law by hiring away the workers so [...]
City breathes sigh of relief: Draft MoU on post Brexit UK-EU financial services welcomed May 23, 2023 Figures in the City seemed to breathe a sigh of relief following the publication of a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) on financial services between the UK and EU last week. Released last Friday, the agreement commits the two to “jointly endeavour to pursue a robust and ambitious bilateral regulatory cooperation in the area of [...]
History shows AI will create more jobs than it destroys, Deutsche Bank analysts argue May 22, 2023 Analysts at Deutsche Bank have become the latest experts to argue that AI will create more jobs than it destroys. In a note examining the history of technological advancement, Deutsche Bank’s Henry Allen and Jim Reid investigate the historical response to technological breakthroughs. Looking at long-term unemployment data, the analysts point out that changes in [...]
JP Morgan expects $3bn income boost from acquisition of First Republic May 22, 2023 JP Morgan predicts a $3bn boost to its interest income as a result of its acquisition of First Republic, revealing how the Wall Street giant benefitted from the regional banking crisis. According to a presentation made at its investor day, the US’s largest bank said it expects its net interest income to increase to $84bn, [...]
Pacwest shares climb after it announces sale of £2.1bn real estate portfolio May 22, 2023 Pacwest shares rose in pre-open trading today after it confirmed the sale of a portfolio of real estate loans worth $2.6bn (£2.1bn).
Central banks and governments pressured lenders to rig Libor rate, new book claims May 22, 2023 A new book alleges that banks were pressured by central banks and governments to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, in an attempt to boost confidence in the financial sector. The book, which is being serialised in The Times, claims that regulators and prosecutors knew about this pressure, but covered it up when [...]
The Notebook: Symphony CEO Brad Levy on getting clear on Whatsapp, Revolut’s regulatory woes and using AI May 22, 2023 The Notebook is a daily column where interesting people say interesting things. Today, CEO of Symphony Brad Levy writes ahead of Symphony Innovate conference on 23 May. Message received: Time for UK banks to get clear on Whatsapp In the last year, multiple banks in the US have paid a high price for staff use [...]