Exclusive: Cashplus hires new chairman after securing banking licence February 18, 2021 Digital challenger bank Cashplus has hired banking veteran Mark Sismey-Durrant as its new chairman just weeks after securing a new banking licence. Earlier this month the Prudential Regulation Authority granted Cashplus a full UK banking licence 16 years after it was founded. Sismey-Durrant, previously chief executive of Sun Bank, Heritable Bank and most recently Hampshire [...]
UK Treasury mulls scrapping EU cap on bonuses for City bankers February 18, 2021 The UK Treasury is reportedly considering scrapping an EU cap on bankers’ bonuses in a bid to keep the City competitive post-Brexit. The UK is now free to set its own regulatory agenda on financial services, with divergence from EU rules expected. The Financial Times reports that one potential change could be removing an EU [...]
Analysts: ‘Dogged’ Barclays weathering pandemic storm as investment banking arm booms February 18, 2021 Barclays’ investment banking arm is ‘firing on all cylinders’ after posting a record income earlier this morning. The division’s success has helped the bank to soften the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which hit profits repeatedly in 2020. John Moore, senior investment manager at Brewin Dolphin, deems the success of Barclays’ investment division ‘ironic’ [...]
Barclays to keep ‘significant presence’ in Canary Wharf despite pandemic February 18, 2021 Barclays chief executive Jes Staley today insisted the bank will keep a “significant presence” in Canary Wharf despite a shift to home working prompted by the pandemic. Staley last year prompted speculation that Barclays could cut down its office space in the financial hub after he said the outbreak of Covid-19 could make large offices [...]
Barclays to resume dividend as Covid loan provision hits £4.8bn February 18, 2021 Barclays today said it will resume its annual dividend as the banking giant’s profit suffered a less severe hit from the pandemic than expected. The bank announced a dividend of 1p per share, as well as a £700m share buyback, after regulators banned payouts last year following the outbreak of Covid-19. It came as Barclays [...]
JP Morgan makes Linklaters partner its co-head of UK investment banking February 17, 2021 Charlie Jacobs, senior partner at magic circle law firm Linklaters, will join JP Morgan as co-head of UK investment banking. Jacobs, who is one of the city’s major players in the M&A space, will replace Ed Byers who has been promoted to Vice Chair of UK Investment Banking. Jacobs will co-lead the investment banking operations [...]
City Moves 17 February: Who is switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? February 17, 2021 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. This week we see movements across the financial sector, with the City of London Group, BNP Paribas and Gateley Capitus all welcoming fresh additions. BNP Paribas AM gets new deputy CEO BNP Paribas Asset Management appointed a [...]
All eyes on dividends: What to expect from Barclays and Natwest this week February 16, 2021 Barclays and Natwest will be the first of the major high street banks to report full year results this week. It has been a difficult 12 months with Brexit weighing on sentiment in addition to the fallout from the pandemic. All eyes will be on dividend payments after the Prudential Regulation Authority effectively banned payouts [...]
Eurosceptic politicians form new post-Brexit City lobby group February 16, 2021 A group of Eurosceptic City figures and politicians have created a new UK financial services lobby group in a bid to trumpet the sector’s success post-Brexit. The body, launched yesterday, is called the CityUnited project and it aims to “combat and negate the EU’s actions” by “promoting bold new initiatives to exploit the UK’s expertise in [...]
UK to set up green finance research hubs in London and Leeds February 15, 2021 The UK government will set up a new green finance research centre based in London and Leeds to advise the private sector on sustainable investments. The £10m hubs will “provide world-class data and analytics to financial institutions and services such as banks, lenders, investors and insurers” to “better support their investment and business decisions by [...]