Virgin Money begins the search for a new chairman January 24, 2020 Virgin Money today announced that its chairman, Jim Pettigrew, will be stepping down from his role. Pettigrew will retire in September 2021 – when his tenure on the board will hit the new nine-year limit for chairmen. Virgin Money said that Pettigrew’s departure is “in line with the board succession plan and good corporate governance [...]
RBS boss Alison Rose sets aside £1bn for female entrepreneurs January 24, 2020 RBS’ new boss Alison Rose today announced £1bn in funding through Natwest to support female entrepreneurs in the UK. Rose will aim to support the creation of 50,000 startups by 2023 by inspiring half a million people to consider starting a business, of whom at least 60 per cent will be women. Read more: Female [...]
Wells Fargo’s ex-boss receives lifetime banking ban January 24, 2020 The ex-boss of Wells Fargo has received a lifetime ban from the financial industry and has agreed to pay $17.5m (£13.3m) to settle charges concerning the US bank’s false accounts scandal. John Stumpf cannot work “in any manner” in the finance sector ever again after revelations that the bank set up millions of fake bank [...]
Banker named in alleged Angola fraud found dead January 23, 2020 A banker named in the investigation into the source of Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos’ wealth has died in Portugal in an apparent suicide. Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha, the director of private banking at Portuguese lender Eurobic, was found dead at his house in Lisbon on Wednesday, Lusa news agency said today, citing a police [...]
Ex-HSBC executive sues top managers including former boss John Flint January 23, 2020 HSBC’s ex-global head of currencies and commodities is suing its former chief executive and three senior managers as part of an unfair dismissal claim. Frederic Boillereau, who left the bank in 2018, is bringing a whistleblowing case against HSBC next week, according to Bloomberg reports. It is thought that Boillereau’s departure came as a result [...]
Tighten scrutiny of City regulators after Brexit, major report says January 23, 2020 The government should increase the scrutiny of financial regulators once Britain leaves the EU and ensure UK rules take into account international finance standards, a major report into post-Brexit regulation has said. The report, from the International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) and law firm Linklaters, said that after Brexit the UK’s financial regulation system will [...]
Close Brothers shares fall on subdued trading update January 22, 2020 Shares in UK merchant bank Close Brothers have dropped after a trading update showed economic weakness taking a toll on its banking division and it said that costs are likely to grow. The update – which covered the five months to 31 December – said the lender’s loan book remained flat, while modest growth in [...]
DEBATE: Is the Bank of England out of ammunition for the next recession? January 22, 2020 Is the Bank of England out of ammunition for the next recession? Jumana Saleheen, chief economist at commodities consultant CRU Group, says YES. Lessons from history: central banks need to cut interest rates by about five percentage points in a recession. So if rates were six per cent, they would need to drop to one [...]
Empty pockets: Why shops going cashless is good for business — and consumers January 22, 2020 In the market stalls, pop-up shops, and beer taprooms of our great city, card payment is increasingly common. And it’s not just a London trend — while card-only shops are primarily cropping up in the capital, they have appeared up and down the country too. This is a phenomenon dominated by small businesses, and it’s [...]
UK fintech Monese nears unicorn status January 21, 2020 UK fintech Monese is in talks to raise £100m from investors in a deal that would give it a valuation of more than £1bn. The fundraising would give the business so-called unicorn status. The Financial Times first reported the talks which are expected to lead to a deal with new and existing investors in the [...]