NatWest ups dividends as profits surge on the back of interest rate hikes July 29, 2022 NatWest today upped its dividend after its pre-tax profits increased 13 per cent to more than £2.6bn for the first half of 2022. Higher lending incomes on the back of the Bank of England’s interest rate hike lifted NatWest’s finances and saw the bank raise its full-year revenue forecast to around £12.5bn, up from previous [...]
Hefty £1.5bn trading error legal charge erodes Barclays profits July 28, 2022 A £1.5bn legal charge for a trading error has eroded British bank Barclays’s profits, it announced today. Hefty litigation and regulatory costs to deal with selling too many financial products dealt a major blow to Barclays’s first half earnings. Pre-tax profits dropped by a quarter to £3.7bn in the six months to June, down from [...]
Metro Bank losses narrow despite big loan-loss reserve charge July 28, 2022 A ramping up in lending to riskier borrowers and an anticipated uptick in defaults caused by inflation surging to a 40-year high has led Metro Bank to set aside millions of pounds of loan-loss reserves. The lender, which has been grappling with severe under performance for years, narrowed losses in the six months to June [...]
Surge in loan-loss reserves poison Santander profits July 28, 2022 Funds set aside to deal with an expected jump in loan defaults caused by borrowers’ being squeezed by a historic inflation surge has whacked Spanish bank Santander’s profits. The lender, which has a big presence in the UK, banked over €500m (£420m) in loan-loss reserves over the three months to June, up 25 per cent [...]
TSB’s profits more than double as lending and spending soars July 28, 2022 Edinburgh headquartered bank TSB today said its profits for the first half of the year had more than doubled, as its incomes were boosted by higher lending balances and increased card spending following the end of Covid restrictions. The bank said its statutory pre-tax profits had increased 139.9 per cent to £102.9m, as customer lending [...]
Exclusive: Pro-democracy activist Nathan Law labels HSBC a ‘cheerleader’ for Chinese Communist Party July 27, 2022 HSBC is “cheerleading” for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) campaign to strip away Hong Kongers’ human rights, Nathan Law, a pro-democracy activist, told City A.M. today. Law, a former member of Hong Kong’s parliament, accused Britain’s largest lender of putting profits ahead of taking a stand against Beijing eroding the city’s citizens’ freedoms through the [...]
Mining firms dish out dividends as UK shareholders pocket £37bn July 27, 2022 UK shareholders revelled in £37bn worth of dividends in the second quarter of the year as mining firms, banks and oil giants put bumper profits back in the pockets of investors.
Lloyds profits top City’s expectation on higher interest rates July 27, 2022 Higher interest rates have lifted Britain’s largest mortgage lender Lloyds’s profits above the City’s expectations. Net interest income, the difference between what a bank charges borrowers and pays depositors, surged 13 per cent over the first six months of the year to £6.1n, Lloyds said today. That boost hoisted the lender’s pre-tax profits to £3.66bn, [...]
Provident Financial’s growth-as-expected prompts City firm to issue interim dividend July 27, 2022 Provident Financial announced solid growth in line with market expectations for the first half of the year and is set to recommend an interim dividend of 5p per share. The specialist banking group’s continuing profit before tax was at £54.3m compared to £63.5m in the first half of 2021 which the company said showed growth [...]
British Business Bank pumps £30m into early-stage venture fund amid investment slowdown July 27, 2022 The state-backed British Business Bank revealed it had pumped £30m into a new early-stage venture fund today as it looks to fill a funding gap for small firms amid a major investment slowdown this year.