German banks press EU for action on Brexit equivalence June 22, 2020 The Association of German Banks (BDB) has called for the EU to prioritise equivalence rules in discussions surrounding the UK’s upcoming exit, arguing they are vital for achieving market and financial stability on both sides. “Clarity regarding future market access arrangements should be provided at the earliest possible date,” the BDB said in a position [...]
Bailey: Bank of England will reverse QE before raising rates June 22, 2020 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey believes the Bank of England must begin reversing quantitative easing before hiking interest rates from record lows. Bailey said today that a reveral of QE should come before lifting rates from their historic lows of 0.1 per cent, signalling an upending of long-standing Bank of England policy. Bailey said [...]
Amigo warns of ‘material’ hit from new wave of complaints June 22, 2020 Amigo has warned of a “substantial increase” in complaints pouring in after reaching a £35m deal with the financial regulator to clear a backlog of thousands of customer issues up to June. The loans provider has set aside £35m to deal with around 9,000 complaints received in 2020 under a deal with the Financial Conduct [...]
FCA proposes extending coronavirus consumer credit payment holiday June 19, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed allowing consumers to extend a payment freeze on their credit cards by a further three months to support borrowers struggling financially amid the coronavirus pandemic. Under the proposals from the markets watchdog, those who have not yet asked for a payment freeze on credit cards or for an [...]
Bank of England apologises for historic slave links June 19, 2020 The Bank of England has apologised for the involvement of past governors and directors in the slave trade and vowed to remove all statues and paintings of them from its City headquarters. New analysis of a University College London (UCL) database found that 25 previous governors and directors of the Bank of England benefited from [...]
ING names veteran as new chief executive as Ralph Hamers departs June 19, 2020 ING has announced that Steven van Rijswijk will take over as chief executive when current boss Ralph Hamers departs for UBS in July. Van Rijswijk is a veteran of more than two decades at ING, and became its chief risk officer in 2017. Hamers, who is credited with helping the Netherlands’ largest bank develop its [...]
Exclusive: Lib Dems urge all UK retail banks to create ‘green accounts’ June 18, 2020 Acting Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has called for all the UK’s high street banks and building societies to offer green accounts Davey said the entire UK banking sector should make environmentally sustainable banking available for everyone, with funds from green accounts “invested in green technology and the green economy, on projects like renewable energy [...]
Open banking: UK banks could pay to access central hub of Brits’ financial data June 18, 2020 British banks would pay for access to a central open banking resource under proposed next steps to introduce the concept in the UK, an industry body said today. Open banking functions to let people share their spending habits, regular payments and payees with other banks would move into a separate service company, under next steps [...]
Commerzbank fined £38m by FCA over anti-money laundering failures June 17, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority has fined Commerzbank London £37.9m for failing to have proper controls to prevent money laundering over a five-year period. Announcing its second-largest ever fine for failures to combat potentially illegal transitions, the FCA said Commerzbank’s failures to put anti-money laundering systems in place between 2012 and 2017 had “created significant risk”. [...]
HSBC to cut 35,000 jobs as bank resumes redundancy plan June 17, 2020 HSBC is resuming a massive redundancy plan that had been put on pause after the outbreak of coronavirus, with 35,000 jobs set to be cut. The job cuts will be made over the medium term, while the lender will also freeze almost all external recruitment, said chief executive Noel Quinn in a memo sent to [...]