Neil Woodford keeps flagship fund under lock and key July 1, 2019 Embattled stockpicker Neil Woodford remained defiant last night despite confirmation that his flagship Equity Income Fund will stay frozen for at least another 28 days. Read more: Woodford offloads stake in Raven’s property firm In a new video promoted on social media, Woodford defended his trademark strategy of focusing on “undervalued assets”, saying it “will [...]
Revealed: Starling Bank chief’s stake slides as billionaire backer tightens grip July 1, 2019 The chief executive of Starling Bank has lost her position as a major shareholder in the British fintech giant, following a large funding injection in February. Anne Boden, who founded Starling in 2014, ceased to be a person with significant control in the bank in April, according to filings on Companies House. A spokesperson for [...]
Mobile banking to overtake branch use by 2021 July 1, 2019 Mobile banking is set to overtake branch use in the next two years, as a boom in the fintech sector drives an increasing number of customers to digital formats. Research by data consultancy CACI revealed 25m customers, or almost half the UK’s adult population, are currently banking on mobile formats. Read more: Transferwise expands to [...]
Deutsche Bank considers cutting up to 20,000 jobs June 28, 2019 Deutsche Bank is contemplating cutting between 15,000 and 20,000 jobs from its global equities division according to reports from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. The news, revealed on Friday, would mean around 20 per cent of the company’s global workforce lose their jobs. Read more: Bank of Ireland sells UK credit card portfolio to London [...]
Bank of Ireland sells UK credit card portfolio to London startup Jaja for £530m June 28, 2019 Bank of Ireland has agreed to sell its UK credit card portfolio to digital finance company Jaja Finance for a face-value fee of £530m. The company announced on Friday its decision to sell the portfolio of cards comprising the existing Bank of Ireland UK, the AA and Post Office-branded credit cards. Read more: London Capital [...]
Losses jump more than 50 per cent at digital bank Monzo June 27, 2019 Losses at digital bank Monzo widened to £47.2m last year, its annual report published today shows. Losses increased 54 per cent from £30.5m the year previously. Personnel expenses for the year ended 28 February jumped to £25.6m from £9.2m in 2018. This reflects the company’s expansion, with more than 400 staff spread across its offices [...]
The FCA must stop making excuses and act to avoid another GRG scandal June 27, 2019 It is six years since the damning accusations came to light that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) had been decimating small businesses for its own benefit. It was in fact a businessman, an adviser at the time to Vince Cable as business secretary in the coalition government, who uncovered and pulled together the dossier [...]
Transferwise expands to the US with digital banking effort June 26, 2019 Fintech stalwart Transferwise has lifted the lid on its expansion to the US, opening up access to its banking arm across the Atlantic. One year on from its launch in Europe, Transferwise’s borderless banking account and debit card will be available to US users from today after a short beta-testing period last month. The firm [...]
UK banks restart no-deal Brexit planning June 26, 2019 UK banks are beginning to restart preparations for a no-deal Brexit, according to auditor EY. British financial institutions had paused their Brexit strategies over the past three months after the UK’s original 29 March departure date was extended until Halloween. Read more: Boris challenges Jeremy Hunt to commit to 31 October Brexit But banks have [...]
Regulator steps up scrutiny of fintech banks June 26, 2019 Applications to become the next Monzo or Revolut are falling under greater scrutiny, as regulators act on concerns about risk management. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) only approved four applications for banking licences in the 12 months to the end of February, down from 14 in the previous year. However the number of applications remained [...]