UK banks lend £15bn through coronavirus loan schemes May 12, 2020 The chancellor Rishi Sunak today said the UK banking and finance industry has provided almost £15bn to almost 304,000 businesses through three government-backed coronavirus loan schemes. In the week since the bounce back loan scheme (BBLS) launched, £8.4bn has been approved to 268,173 businesses – an average of 38,000 loans a day. Lenders have provided [...]
Lloyds says it has provided £4bn support to businesses during coronavirus crisis May 12, 2020 Lloyds Banking Group today said it has provided more than £4bn support to businesses during the coronavirus crisis. Britain’s major banks were heavily criticised for slow lending, bureaucracy and offering disadvantageous terms to customers following the coronavirus lockdown. Lloyds today said it accounted for approximately 28 per cent of lending under the government bounce back [...]
Bank of England must weigh up negative interest rates, says deputy governor May 12, 2020 Bank of England deputy governor Ben Broadbent has raised the possibility of negative interest rates in the UK, but said the BoE would have to think hard about the challenges they pose. Asked about negative rates on CNBC, Broadbent said it was “a question that’s been thought about on and off since the financial crisis [...]
The City View podcast, from City A.M., with Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient May 12, 2020 In this episode Christian is joined by Nigel Vaz, CEO of the digital transformation giant, Publicis Sapient. Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS Nigel has 20,000 employees across the globe in 53 offices, so he’s confronting changes to the world of work just like every other company. But his [...]
Exclusive: EU accused of ‘politicising’ City of London in Brexit trade talks May 11, 2020 EU negotiators have been accused of politicising the UK’s financial services sector in Brexit trade talks, after suggestions the bloc could shut the City of London out of its markets if the UK does not budge on other areas during negotiations. A senior EU official told City A.M. that Brussels will only grant the British [...]
Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski beefs up Metro Bank stake May 10, 2020 Colombian tycoon Jaime Gilinski has tightened his grip on Metro Bank after ramping up his stake in the troubled lender. Gilinski, formerly the largest investor in TSB’s Spanish owner Sabadell, has increased his holding to nine per cent, the Sunday Times reported. In December the mogul, who holds his stake through British Virgin Islands-based Spaldy [...]
Sajid Javid: UK should run the economy ‘hot’ and support lenders May 8, 2020 Former chancellor Sajid Javid has said the government should “run the economy hot” and lift coronavirus restrictions to encourage growth. He also suggested “bad banks” could be created to help the UK’s lenders which are set to struggle with bad loans as coronavirus crashes the economy. Javid’s intervention came after the Bank of England yesterday [...]
The City View podcast, from City A.M., with Stephen Jones – CEO of UK Finance May 8, 2020 Listen to our daily City View podcast as we chart the economic fallout and business impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In this episode, Christian is joined by Stephen Jones, CEO of banking industry group UK Finance, which is at the heart of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). Subscribe to The City View Podcast: [...]
UK economy: Is the Bank of England’s 2021 rebound scenario too optimistic? May 7, 2020 The Bank of England today said the UK economy could suffer its worst economic crash in 300 years this year as the coronavirus lockdown batters the economy. Yet it said it is likely to bounce back relatively quickly. Despite the dire report it stopped short of launching more bond-buying or “quantitative easing” (QE) and left [...]
Banks blasted over ‘disappointingly slow’ pace of lending as coronavirus loans hit £5.5bn May 7, 2020 Banks have lent over £5.5bn to SMEs through the CBILS scheme but a leading industry body has said the process is still too slow. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the improvement in the number of firms accessing CBILS is welcome. However, head of economics Suren Thiru said that with many firms “only having [...]