Contactless payments soar over £900m in UK lockdown June 3, 2020 Barclaycard today revealed it has processed over 25m contactless payments above £30 since the new £45 limit was introduced, with a total value of over £900m. As of April 1, when the spending cap was raised, the average of these payments has been £36.29, according to data released by the brand. The limit was raised [...]
UK bank shares rise on optimism about lockdown easing June 3, 2020 Shares in major UK banks rose today on increased optimism about lockdown measures easing globally. HSBC shares rose 2.2 per cent to 393p, Lloyds Banking Group shares rose nearly 4.7 per cent to 33.4p, Barclays shares rose nearly 2.5 per cent to 122p, Royal Bank of Scotland shares rose 2.6 per cent to 123p and [...]
BoE’s Andrew Bailey tells UK banks to up preparations for no-deal Brexit June 3, 2020 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has reportedly told UK banks to ramp up their preparations for a no-deal Brexit as the UK sticks to its target to strike a deal before the end of the year. Bailey told British lenders to accelerate their planning for a no-deal Brexit scenario in a call yesterday, according [...]
Bank of England governor Bailey to be interview by London Capital & Finance inquiry June 2, 2020 The Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey is to be interviewed as part of an inquiry into how regulators supervised collapsed mini bond firm London Capital & Finance (LCF), the investigations chair dame Elizabeth Gloster said today. LCF went into administration in early 2019 with 11,600 investors losing up to £237m. LCF was regulated by [...]
Coronavirus will increase investors’ appetite for sustainable strategies – and accelerate major changes in the way capital is allocated June 2, 2020 | City Talk The relative resilience of ESG strategies through the recent market rout could mark a watershed moment for sustainable investment. Fleeting trends are usually the first to be abandoned in the heart of the storm. This simply hasn’t happened with ESG strategies. In fact, quite the opposite, with many funds charting inflows through Q1 2020. Cynics [...]
FCA launches investigation into troubled subprime lender Amigo Loans June 1, 2020 City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has opened an investigation into subprime lender Amigo Loans, the company said today. In a stock market update, Amigo said the FCA started an investigation on Friday into whether Amigo’s creditworthiness assessment process and its governance oversight of this was compliant with regulations. Amigo said the FCA investigation [...]
Profit nearly halves at Nationwide as it books expected coronavirus losses May 29, 2020 Building society Nationwide’s annual profit nearly halved it said today as it warned of rising loan losses due to the coronavirus pandemic. The lender also said it was abandoning some of its member benefit targets in response to the crisis. Nationwide booked a £101m hit from expected credit losses and said it will focus on [...]
Competition watchdog secures £47m in overdraft refunds from major banks May 28, 2020 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has secured £47m in refunds for consumers from banks which failed to properly warn them about overdraft charges in the last two years. Customers with personal current accounts must receive a text alert warning of fees before banks charge them for an unarranged overdraft. Today, the CMA announced that [...]
FCA warns banks and brokers over risks of home working May 27, 2020 The financial services watchdog today warned that banks and brokerages are facing increased risks around the handling of sensitive information due to the rise of home working as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In its weekly bulletin, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that “working from home arrangements may raise new, additional risks around [...]
Small businesses borrow £18bn in three weeks under Bounce Back Loan Scheme May 27, 2020 Small and medium-sized businesses have borrowed more than £18bn under the government’s Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) in its first three weeks of operation. The BBLS was introduced by chancellor Rishi Sunk after criticism that the existing Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) was not being made accessible to many businesses by the banks administering [...]