Credit Suisse halts redemptions on $10bn Greensill-linked funds March 1, 2021 Credit Suisse has suspended redemptions and subscriptions on a range of investments linked to the Softbank-backed finance firm Greensill Capital. Greensill Capital is the brainchild of former Citigroup and Morgan Stanley financier Lex Greensill and it employs former PM David Cameron as an adviser. Greensill specialises in supply-chain finance where businesses borrow money to pay [...]
Brexit: Labour calls for ‘more ambitious’ UK-EU financial services talks March 1, 2021 Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds has called for the UK to be “more ambitious” in its post-Brexit talks with the EU on future financial services regulation. Dodds said today that the government “seems to be trying to manage expectations down” about the Memorandum of Understanding talks and that getting equivalence from the EU should be the [...]
Bank of Ireland to shut 103 branches as digital shift reaches ‘tipping point’ March 1, 2021 Bank of Ireland has announced it will close 103 branches across the island as the bank shifts to a digitally driven service. The closures are part of a cost cutting initiative which will shut 15 of its 28 branches currently operating in Northern Ireland. In August, the bank said it was aiming to cut 1,400 [...]
Barclays faces renewed shareholder challenge on fossil fuels February 26, 2021 Barclays faces a second consecutive year of shareholder pressure on its position as Europe’s largest fossil fuel financier, after a shareholder resolution has been filed for the bank’s upcoming AGM on 5 May. The resolution calls for financing and exposure to coal, oil and gas to fall in line with the Paris Agreement’s climate goals. [...]
HSBC to cut jobs in London-based equities team February 26, 2021 HSBC plans to cut jobs in its London-based equities division, in a further shake up to the UK office. In the last two days, the holdings company informed staff of its plans to make cuts to the London equities team, Financial News first reported. The job cuts are part of HSBC’s ongoing restructuring work, first [...]
Financier Amanda Staveley loses High Court battle with Barclays February 26, 2021 Financier Amanda Staveley who sued Barclays over the behaviour of bank bosses when negotiating investment deals during the financial crash has lost her court battle. The high-profile trial centred around the claim that Barclays gave Staveley’s private equity firm PCP Capital Partners less favourable treatment than other parties in the emergency £7.3bn fundraising that saved [...]
EU considers crackdown on short-selling following GameStop saga February 25, 2021 Ugo Bassi, director of Financial Markets in the European Commission’s DG FISMA (Financial services), said today the EU may consider tweaking disclosure rules for short selling to create more transparency. During a meeting of the European Parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs, he said he could envisage the possibility of lowering the 0.5 per cent [...]
Cathie Wood: Low rates and quantitative easing drive interest in Bitcoin February 25, 2021 Cathie Wood, the well-known U.S. investor and founder of Ark Investment Management, said today that Bitcoin is in its “early days” given its diverse use cases. However, Wood emphasised Bitcoin’s potential as a hedge in a global economy of low rates and quantitative easing. “The dollar is down which is normally a positive cue for [...]
Challenger bank Monument raises £28m ahead of summer launch February 25, 2021 A new challenger bank that wants to target wealthy savers has raised £28m from individual investors ahead of its launch this summer. Monument is targeting “mass affluent” clients, including property investors and entrepreneurs, offering a similar service to private banking. The neobank has said it will offer customers the opportunity to seek property investment loans [...]
Atom Bank taps investors for cash as it targets IPO February 25, 2021 Digital challenger Atom Bank is looking to raise £40m from existing investors as it targets an IPO in the next few years. The neobank Atom is confident it will move to profitability from its mortgage and business lending “within a year”. The optimism contrasts with its fintech peers which have faced difficulties since the outbreak [...]