ECJ confirms HSBC rigged Euribor but bank avoids £30m fine January 12, 2023 The European Court of Justice confirmed that HSBC rigged the Euribor rate, but confirmed that HSBC would not pay a £30m (€33.6m) fine. In a ruling released today, the ECJ dismissed HSBC’s “action challenging the finding that it participated in the cartel at issue”. The European Commission investigated HSBC, Credit Agricole and JP Morgan and, [...]
Blackrock poised to cut 500 jobs as the world’s biggest money manager hit by downturn January 12, 2023 Blackrock is planning to lay off 500 staff globally, according to reports, as the world’s largest asset manager continues to grapple with 2022’s market sell-off. The planned redundancies, first reported by Reuters and Insider, represent a roughly 2.5 per cent reduction in Blackrock’s global workforce. They were communicated to employees in an internal memo from [...]
UK review of ‘golden visas’ finds risk of links to corruption among wealthy foreign investors January 12, 2023 A “small” number of wealthy foreign investors were “potentially at high risk” of having links to corruption or serious organised crime, a review of so-called golden visas has found. Home Secretary Suella Braverman set out the findings after the government shut down the tier 1 investor visa route last year over security and financial crime concerns. Those eligible for the visa, [...]
Exclusive: City asset finance chief on how to stay calm amid eye-watering inflation January 12, 2023 Inflation numbers hit record levels in 2022, while the cost of living crisis raged and interest rates went through the roof. Without a doubt, it was – and continues to be – a turbulent and uncertain time for many players in the City and beyond. Time for City A.M. to catch up with Mike Randall, [...]
Tesco: Bumper Christmas sales will put shares in the spotlight this morning January 12, 2023 TESCO enjoyed a bumper Christmas period, it told markets this morning, with like-for-like sales up nearly 8 per cent despite bruising economic headwinds. The supermarket told markets this morning it had seen customers switching to Tesco across December. The boost meant revenues hit a cool £19.7bn in the UK and Ireland for the quarter to [...]
Number of cash withdrawals in the UK rises for first time in 13 years January 11, 2023 Cash usage increased for the first time in 13 years in 2022, according to fresh data from Nationwide, as Brits responded to the cost-of-living crisis by budgeting with physical money. “For the first time in years we are seeing a natural rise in cash withdrawals as people return to using cash to help avoid getting [...]
City watchdog slaps Al Rayan Bank with £4m fine for ‘egregious’ anti-money laundering failures January 11, 2023 The Financial Conduct Authority issued a £4m fine to Al Rayan Bank on Wednesday for “egregious” failures in its anti-money laundering rules. The FCA said that between April 2015 and November 2017, Al Rayan allowed money to pass through the bank and be used within the UK “without carrying out appropriate checks.” Al Rayan is [...]
How recession in the US is expected to affect bank earnings this week January 11, 2023 US earnings season kicks off later this week with a string of results from some of the country’s largest banks. JP Morgan, Citi Group, Wells Fargo and Bank of America will all release results on Friday in an interesting environment – to say the least. While higher interest rates have led to record levels of [...]
Standard Chartered mulls sale of £3bn aviation arm days after First Abu Dhabi Bank drops takeover bid January 11, 2023 Standard Chartered is considering selling its £3bn aviation finance business, the bank said today. Standard Chartered’s aviation business, which is based in Ireland, accounts for around two per cent of its total income. The business owns and manages over 120 aircraft, leasing them to over 30 of airlines around the world, according to Airfinance Journal’s [...]
Exclusive: Surge in fraud and scams sends shivers through the City’s financial services space January 11, 2023 Close to half of Londoners believe the financial services industry is more vulnerable to fraud and scams than ever before. And for good reason. In fact, with fraud costing the UK £9.3bn a year, identity theft leaping 11 per cent to an all-time high in 2021 and, for the year ending September 2021, overall fraud was [...]