City workers pocket above average 13 per cent pay rise as financial services jobs tumble July 27, 2023 City workers pocketed an average 13 per cent pay increase when switching jobs over the last quarter, a rise that is above the national average, new research out today shows. Salary increases handed down to new starters at the Square Mile’s banks, brokers and insurers have ebbed over the last year as activity in the [...]
Bankenheimer: Number of banks shunning nuclear weapons jumps 10 per cent July 27, 2023 As Christopher Nolan’s epic about Oppenheimer, Godfather of the atomic bomb, hits cinema screens, new research shows banks globally are pulling back from funding nuclear weapons. According to a new report from Don’t Bank on the Bomb, 109 financial firms worldwide have published policies restricting investment in nuclear weapon producers. This was roughly 10 per [...]
Complaints of sexism emerge around forced resignation of Natwest boss Alison Rose July 26, 2023 Complaints of sexism have emerged after Natwest boss Dame Alison Rose was forced to resigned late last night after admitting she was the source for an inaccurate BBC report on Nigel Farage’s Coutts account closure. Rose stepped down in the early hours of this morning after an extraordinary late-night board meeting – just hours after [...]
Banks agree to protect freedom of expression after Farage furore July 26, 2023 Bank bosses today agreed to protect freedom of expression after they were hauled in for talks with City minister Andrew Griffith following the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account. In a meeting today with bank bosses in the Treasury, representatives from Natwest, HSBC, Nationwide, Lloyds, Santander and Barclays committed to not ‘debank’ customers because of [...]
Deutsche Bank flags cost cuts as investment bank slump lowers profit July 26, 2023 Deutsche Bank on Wednesday posted a 27 per cent fall in second-quarter profit as investment banking revenue slumped and warned of the need for cost cuts even though higher interest rates fuelled gains at its retail division. The German lender downgraded its outlook for the investment bank, saying it now expected revenues to be slightly lower [...]
Nigel Farage calls for entire Natwest board to go after Rose resignation July 26, 2023 Nigel Farage has called on the entire Natwest board to go after chief executive Dame Alison Rose resigned overnight after an extraordinary late-night board meeting – just hours after the bank’s chairman issued a statement offering her their full confidence. Rose outed herself as the source of a BBC story into the finances of Nigel [...]
Higher interest rates lift Santander UK profit to £1.2bn, warns mortgage market is cooling July 26, 2023 Santander UK saw its profit rise significantly in the first half of the year, but the bank also noted that applications for mortgages had been hit by recent economic volatility. In the first half of the year pre-tax profit climbed 18 per cent to £1.2bn from £993m last year. This came thanks to a 10 [...]
Lloyds profit remains flat on last year despite boost from rising rates but guidance lifted for the year July 26, 2023 Lloyds’ profit remained flat on last year despite the benefit of rising interest rates as the bank set aside more than anticipated to cope with bad loans. In the second quarter the high street bank recorded a pre-tax profit of £1.6bn, flat with last year but slightly lower than company compiled consensus. However, the profit [...]
Natwest should have stuck to its guns and kept politics out of the City July 26, 2023 Even the most trigger-happy of football chairmen usually leave a few days or weeks in between expressing full confidence in a manager and giving them the heave. Natwest board supremo Lord Howard Davies gave Alison Rose a matter of hours. What happened between the announcement just before 6pm that the Natwest CEO would be staying, [...]
Alison Rose: How the first woman to lead a major British bank ran Natwest July 26, 2023 Dame Alison – or just Ms Rose as she was at the time – made history in 2019 when she became the first woman to take the top job at one of the UK’s big four banks. She took over a bank from New Zealander Ross McEwan, which had stabilised after the financial crisis nearly [...]