What are the UK-EU memorandum of understanding talks on financial services about? February 8, 2021 Last month the UK Treasury began talks with the EU to put in a place a memorandum of understanding for future financial services regulation on each side of the Channel. Much of the media discourse about these talks revolve around whether they will yield extended EU market access for the City of London, however any [...]
UK banks ‘shielded from the worst’ of the Covid crisis, says BoE deputy governor February 5, 2021 UK banks 'shielded from the worst' of the Covid crisis, says BoE deputy governor
Barclays CEO on the future of the City: ‘Forget Frankfurt and Paris’ February 5, 2021 Jes Staley, the CEO of Barclays, has said the UK financial services industry should focus on competing with the US and Asia, rather than the EU. Staley reportedly said that although jobs that would have been created in the Square Mile may have been moved to the EU, Brexit has given one of the UK’s [...]
SMEs turn to digital banks amid frustration with high street lending February 5, 2021 Small businesses have lost confidence in Britain’s biggest banks and are increasingly tempted to move across to digital challengers. New research from payment specialist Marqeta reveals 84 per cent of the UK’s SMEs are frustrated with their current banking experience with nine in ten calling for lenders to offer more digital services. High street lenders [...]
Deutsche Bank delivers first profit in six years after trading boom February 4, 2021 Deutsche Bank has recorded a net profit for the first time since 2014, helped by an increase in its fixed-income trading revenue. The German lender reported a net profit of €113m for 2020 after racking up nearly €6bn of net losses the previous year. It was helped by a 17 per cent rise in fixed-income [...]
Millions of NatWest customers to see Visa debit card switch to Mastercard February 4, 2021 Millions of NatWest customers will see their debit cards switch as the British bank plans to start using Mastercard over Visa, despite Mastercard’s plans to hike EU fees. NatWest has become the latest bank to adopt Mastercard, which has prior agreements with Santander UK, HSBC’s First Direct and Monzo. The move will divert around 16m [...]
TSB boss Debbie Crosbie’s salary falls to £1.17m after ‘challenging’ year February 3, 2021 TSB chief executive Debbie Crosbie banked a cool £1.17m last year but it marked a fall on the previous year as the high street bank nursed a hefty loss. This week TSB reported a £204.6m annual loss, nearly twice as big as the £105.4m loss it suffered in 2018 after its IT meltdown. The bank [...]
Regulator grants challenger lender Cashplus a full banking licence February 3, 2021 Digital challenger bank Cashplus has become the latest London-based fintech to secure a full UK banking licence. Following the Prudential Regulation Authority’s approval, Cashplus is the UK’s newest licensed bank despite being founded in 2005 and serving more than 1.6m small business customers. Like its digital peers, Cashplus offers current accounts for UK SMEs, currently [...]
Santander records biggest loss ever as pandemic bites and profits plunge February 3, 2021 Santander recorded its first ever annual loss today, as €1.14bn restructuring costs overshadowed positive core banking results in the fourth quarter. Net profit plunged 90 per cent to €277m in the quarter versus the same period a year earlier, below the €411m average forecast from analysts polled by Reuters. The annual net loss was €8.77bn [...]
Paykey launches trading functionality to compete with ‘wild west’ app market February 2, 2021 The Gamestop frenzy last week not only showed the power of retail investors but the popularity and risks associated with free trading apps. Robinhood, which promises no user fees, faced backlash from investors after sharp swings in the value of stocks meant it was forced to restrict trading. It has sparked debate over whether these [...]