Atom Bank set for first year of profit after three quarters in the black July 18, 2022 Digital lender Atom Bank is on track to post its first full year of profits after revealing today it had spent three quarters in the black in the full year to March. The Durham-based bank, founded by chief executive Mark Mullen in 2014, notched underlying pre-tax losses for the year of £2m, a £34m improvement [...]
War for talent swells new starter City pay packets July 18, 2022 Pay packets in the Square Mile are bulging as banks, insurers and brokers try to outbid each other to lure top talent amid a tight jobs market, reveals a new survey released today. Finance workers that switch employers received an average 25 per cent pay bump in the three months to June, according to recruiter [...]
UK banks ramp up lending after Covid-19 support cliff edge July 18, 2022 UK banks are ramping up lending, marking the end of a loan drought after government Covid-19 support schemes were ditched. The total value of lending to UK businesses climbed £12bn to £533bn in the nine months to May, according to research based on Bank of England data published today by debt advisor ACP Altenburg Advisory. [...]
Stock market volatility stems profit slide at Morgan Stanley July 14, 2022 Strong trading activity driven by investors navigating choppy financial markets stemmed a profit slide at Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley, the firm announced today. A five per cent jump in equity net income in the three months to June compared to the same period a year ago kept the bank’s bottom line in reasonable [...]
Return of loan loss reserves crimp JP Morgan profits July 14, 2022 Swelling reserves set aside to deal with a historic inflation surge raising the risk of US consumers defaulting on their debts has eroded investment banking giant JP Morgan’s profits, the firm announced today. Net income dropped 28 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, driven by a $428m (£360m) [...]
Barclays on the hunt for Chinese banking partner to enter $4.3tn asset management market July 14, 2022 Barclays is on the hunt for a Chinese Banking partner as it looks to grow its footprint into the Chinese asset management market, according to reports today.
ECB president Christine Lagarde gets fake text messages from former German chancellor Angela Merkel July 12, 2022 The European Central Bank revealed this afternoon that its president Christine Lagarde was targeted in an attempted cyberattack but no information was compromised. The attempt took place “recently”, the Frankfurt-based central bank for the 19 countries that use the euro said in an emailed response to a query about a report by Business Insider. The [...]
City watchdog tells banks to treat small businesses ‘fairly’ during cost-of-living crunch July 12, 2022 The UK’s financial watchdog has told Britain’s top banks to improve their treatment of struggling small business owners when collecting and recovering debts. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Britain’s banks should take action to ensure fair treatment of small and medium enterprise (SME) customers, after the watchdog uncovered repeated instances of failures during [...]
Big banks axe dealmaker jobs as revenues tumble July 12, 2022 Major investment banks have started cutting dealmaker jobs after last year’s hiring binge as revenues fall. 12 big banks have slashed their investment banker roles in the second quarter of 2022, according to research from data provider Coalition Greenwich, as reported by Financial News London. These include Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit [...]
Exclusive: Political turmoil causing ‘uncertainty’ and jeopardising rules reform, Starling boss warns July 11, 2022 The chief of digital bank Starling warned that political volatility was causing “uncertainty” for businesses today as she voiced concerns that the government’s business reform agenda could be blown off course. In comments shared exclusively with City A.M., Anne Boden, who founded the digital bank in 2014, warned the tumult of Boris Johnson’s resignation last [...]