Junior bankers at UBS in line for $40,000 bonus May 10, 2021 UBS will pay young bankers a $40,000 bonus when they are promoted as it looks to reward its junior employees after a gruelling year of dealmaking. The Swiss bank is set to pay the one-time bonus to global banking analysts promoted to associates on top of any regular salary increases, Bloomberg reported. It is reportedly [...]
Standard Chartered to face shareholder action over climate change policies May 10, 2021 Shareholders are set to eye Standard Chartered bank’s climate policies, according to environmental organisation Market Forces, revealing it has pumped $31.4bn into fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement. The scrutiny comes as the bank confirmed its participation in a $400m five year loan for global coal giant Adaro Indonesia, as part of a syndicate of [...]
Provident Financial to shut doorstep lending arm after 141 years as it crashes to loss May 10, 2021 Troubled sub-prime lender Provident Financial today confirmed plans to shutter its doorstep lending arm as it reported a hefty loss for the full year. The Bradford-based company said it was withdrawing from the home credit market after 141 years, adding that it has begun a consultation process for 2,100 employees. “In light of the changing [...]
UK business borrowing forecasts fall by £7bn on recovery hopes May 10, 2021 Forecasts for UK business borrowing have been slashed as the economy rebounds from the Covid-19 pandemic more quickly than anticipated. Banks are set to lend £19bn to British companies this year, up four per cent year on year but down from the £26bn forecast in February. Growth is set to slow further in 2022 to [...]
Lloyds in talks over £400m deal for retirement group Embark May 9, 2021 Lloyds Bank is in talks over a £400m deal to acquire retirement products provider Embark in what would be its biggest acquisition since it returned to private ownership four years ago. The lender is close to finalising a deal and an announcement could come as early as this month, Sky News reported. Embark, which was [...]
BoE does not expect wave of bankruptcies when Covid support measures end May 7, 2021 A tide of bankruptcies among UK firms is not expected when the government pulls its emergency Covid support measures like the furlough scheme later this year, BoE Chief Economist Andy Haldane has said. Many debts racked up recently by companies are spread over long durations “which increases the chances of them being able to be [...]
Activist investor sells stake in Barclays May 7, 2021 Activist investor Edward Bramson has sold his firm’s 6 per cent stake in Barclays, ending a three-year campaign against the bank. Since 2018, Bramson’s fund, Sherborne Investors, pressured Barclays CEO Jes Staley to scale back investment banking, and demanded his removal over his links to US financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but Bramson struggled [...]
FCA fines London boutique investment bank for failing to spot financial crime relating to cum-ex trading May 6, 2021 The City regulator has fined Sapien Capital £178,000 after it failed to carry out proper due diligence on a client likely participating in financial crime. Between 10 February and 10 November 2015, the boutique investment bank failed to have in place proper systems to find and mitigate the risk of being used to facilitate [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? May 5, 2021 City A.M.‘s Millie Turner provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. OneBanks hires ex–Lloyds chief as its first CTO Shared branch banking venture OneBanks has appointed a former Lloyds Bank executive as its first chief technology officer (CTO) this week. Andy Willmot, once [...]
Treasury minister trumpets City of London resilience post-Brexit May 4, 2021 City minister John Glen has trumpeted the City of London’s ability to adapt post-Brexit, saying there has only been a “modest” amount of jobs lost since the 2016 referendum. Glen said a great number of “journalists and academics” had been proved wrong about the expected mass movement of jobs from the City to other European [...]