Virgin Money shares slide as profit falls by a quarter on higher provisions for bad loans May 4, 2023 Virgin Money’s pretax profit slipped by a quarter in the six months to March as the bank set aside more funds to cope with expected impairment losses. Richard Branson’s challenger bank recorded £144m in provisions for bad loans compared to just £21m in the same period last year. Its shares were trading over five per cent [...]
Allica Bank’s Richard Davies on navigating crises and plans for business banking domination May 4, 2023 Amid a crowded field of UK challenger banks, Allica's function-over-fashion approach is serving it well, says CEO Richard Davies
Editorial: Pay CEOs more? What a jolly good idea May 4, 2023 Shareholders and the board should decide whether a CEO is worth their paycheque, but competing with US salaries is vital for the London
Ex-Barclays boss: New tech and social media have power to ‘turbocharge’ bank runs May 4, 2023 New technologies and social media have the power to “turbocharge” bank runs, former Barclays boss Antony Jenkins has said, commenting on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Speaking to City A.M., Jenkins said “technology is a wonderful thing” that has drastically improved the experience for financial services customers in many different ways. But while [...]
Calm for now: US regional banks make small gains ahead of Fed rate decision May 3, 2023 Regional banks in the US notched small gains on Wednesday as the sector seemed to calm down following yesterday’s sell-off. Pacwest was trading 3.3 per cent higher while Western Alliance was up 2.1 per cent. The KBW Regional Bank index was up 1.2 per cent. Larger lenders were more mixed. JP Morgan was down 1.1 [...]
Barclays’ AGM disrupted by climate activists furious over bank’s fossil fuel investments May 3, 2023 Environmental protesters have disrupted banking giant Barclays’ annual meeting for shareholders in central London. A few minutes into the meeting, chairman Nigel Higgins was interrupted by a chorus of singers causing several minutes of disruption. Singing a version of the Spice Girls’ Thank You Very Much, the group sang: “Stop right now, no more oil [...]
Metro Bank reports continued profitability as turnaround efforts slowly bear fruit May 3, 2023 Metro Bank recorded its second consecutive quarter of profitability as the bank’s turnaround plans continue to bear fruit. Although it did not provide details, Metro Bank confirmed in a trading update today it was profitable on a statutory basis in the first quarter of this year. This comes after the bank reported profitability in the [...]
BNP Paribas first-quarter revenue beats expectations as trading outperforms May 3, 2023 BNP Paribas’s first-quarter sales beat market expectations as trading business at the eurozone’s biggest bank outperformed most of its peers, while it started to reap the benefits from rising interest rates. BNP’s quarterly profit more than doubled in the first quarter from a year earlier, bolstered by gains from its much-anticipated sale of its U.S. [...]
Lloyds profits swell by nearly 50 per cent as bank boosted by interest rate rises but guidance remains unchanged May 3, 2023 Lloyds first quarter profits rose 46 per cent as the bank became the latest UK lender to see its bottom line boosted by a hike in interest rates. The lender’s pre-tax profits came in at £2.3bn compared to £1.5bn the same quarter last year. Charlie Nunn, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group said: “The group [...]
US regional banks face big sell-off despite First Republic rescue deal May 2, 2023 Regional banks across the US were under pressure today as investors became increasingly nervous about the state of the banking sector despite JP Morgan’s acquisition of First Republic Bank. The KBW regional bank index, which includes a range of regional lenders, shed 6.6 per cent. Pacwest Bancorp shares were down nearly 30 per cent, while [...]