Pacwest shares slump as US lender moves to boost borrowing capacity May 11, 2023 Shares of Pacwest Bancorp slumped 25 per cent premarket on Thursday as the bank pledged additional assets as collateral to increase its borrowing capacity under the US Federal Reserve’s discount window and said it had $15bn (£11.9bn) of immediately available liquidity. The lender pledged an additional $5.1bn of its loans to the central bank on [...]
Interest rate boon for UK banks coming to an end despite BoE’s 25 basis point hike May 11, 2023 Banks have been revelling in the BoE’s sharp rate hikes, but today’s 25 basis point hike – which brings interest rates to 4.5 per cent – is unlikely to improve banks’ bottom line significantly, analysts said. Increasing competition and regulatory pressure means banks will likely have to pass on more of the rate hike – [...]
Fraudsters stole £1.2bn in 2022 as UK labelled ‘fraud capital of the world’ May 11, 2023 The UK has much further to go in its campaign against fraud as the latest figures show that over £1.2bn was stolen in 2022. According to new figures from UK Finance, £2,300 was lost every minute to authorised push payment (APP) fraud and unauthorised fraud. Commenting on the report, chief executive of UK Finance David [...]
Despite bank collapses, US lenders report record $80bn in quarterly profits May 10, 2023 Profits at US banks in the first quarter reached record levels, rising by a third to a total of $80bn, even as the sector dealt with the fallout of the Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse. The banking turmoil was in fact a significant contributor to the profit boost. Half of the increase came from First [...]
Nationwide, Santander, TSB and Virgin Money probed over ‘measly’ savings rates May 10, 2023 An influential parliamentary body has expanded its inquiry into the low savings rates paid by the UK’s retail banks, describing the current rates on offer as “measly”. Having investigated the UK’s four largest retail banks, MPs at the Treasury Committee have now sent letters to Nationwide, Santander, TSB and Virgin Money. These lenders account for [...]
Credit crunch: Data suggests high street banks reining in small business lending already May 10, 2023 Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly concerned about lending conditions as new data shows that high street banks are pulling back from SME lending.
US regional banks slip again as PacWest leads peers lower following Fed’s lending survey May 9, 2023 US regional banks continued their slide on Tuesday with Western Alliance dragging down a number of its peers the day after the Fed’s latest lending survey. LA-based lender PacWest was trading nearly seven per cent lower while Western Alliance was nearly five per cent lower. Fellow struggling regional lender Comerica was 3.6 per cent down. [...]
Britcoin: BoE’s CBDC head says digital pound will have ‘very highest standards of privacy’ May 9, 2023 The Bank of England’s director of fintech batted away concerns that a digital pound would threaten privacy as he confirmed that it would not be exchangeable with cryptocurrencies as they currently exist. Speaking at the Financial Times’ Crypto and Digital Assets Conference, Tom Mutton – who is responsible for leading the CBDC unit at the [...]
Banking crisis: DIY investors piled into Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank trades during turmoil May 9, 2023 Do-it-yourself investors piled into banking trades in the first quarter of the year as the sector was shaken by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and shotgun sale of Credit Suisse to UBS, new data has revealed.
Meet the man who quit the City to reinvent the film industry, one documentary at a time May 9, 2023 City banker Julian Bird set up Lorton Entertainment to show that investing in films could be profitable, and documentaries on Diego Maradona, Oasis and Wayne Rooney have proven him spectacularly right. “I’m not really a massive film fan,” says City banker-turned-unlikely movie mogul Julian Bird. It’s perhaps a surprising statement from someone who has been [...]