Natwest online banking outage: Bank apologises as customers unable to access accounts April 29, 2019 Natwest customers have been frozen out of their accounts this morning due to an online outage. The bank confirmed on Twitter that it had been experiencing issues and has been instructing customers to delete temporary internet files and try again. Read more: TSB online banking outage hits customers The outage began at around 5am, according [...]
Non-Standard Finance extends deadline for Provident shareholders to accept £1.3bn hostile takeover April 29, 2019 Non-Standard Finance (NSF) has set 15 May as its final closing date to secure its hostile takeover of rival Provident Financial, urging shareholders to back it to break the “status quo”. Read more: Provident lashes out at 'unlawful' NSF payments amid takeover dispute The new date signals a week’s delay to the previous deadline to [...]
Top banks inject $9m into London fintech startup Mosaic Smart Data April 29, 2019 The venture capital arm of Commerzbank and London investor Octopus Ventures have co-led a $9m (£7m) funding round into fintech startup Mosaic Smart Data. Existing backer and client JP Morgan also participated in the round, adding to its minority stake in the startup. The bank signed a multi-year deal to use Mosaic’s technology – which [...]
Exclusive: Lawyers who took on Lloyds and Tesco launch new funder-backed firm April 29, 2019 A group of lawyers who are taking on Lloyds Banking Group and Tesco in multi-million pound group actions have launched a new firm backed by a heavyweight litigation funder. The new firm – Harcus Parker – is a breakaway from London firm Harcus Sinclair led by its head of litigation Damon Parker. The firm has [...]
Financial investment fraud cases jumped 74 per cent in 2018 April 29, 2019 Reported fraud cases related to financial investments rose 74 per cent to 6,890 last year, up from 3,950 in 2017. The most commonly reported cases were related to share and bond sales which saw an increase to 860 last year, up from 200 in 2017, and pyramid or Ponzi schemes, which saw an increase to [...]
Financial Conduct Authority dawn raids nearly doubled in 2018 April 29, 2019 The number of dawn raids conducted by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has almost doubled over the past year, from 13 in 2017 to 25 in 2018. Financial services regulatory consultancy Fscom said one of the drivers of the jump in raids was likely to be an FCA crackdown on unregulated investments. Read more: London [...]
City forum intervenes in Barclays’ battle with Bramson April 28, 2019 A forum for City investors has intervened in Barclays’ battle with activist investor Edward Bramson, ahead of the bank’s general meeting this week. Investor Forum has written to Barclays in recent weeks at the prompting of major institutional investors to raise a number of concerns, Sky News reported. The news comes before Barclays’ general meeting [...]
The left is upping its campaign against the free market – and the City in particular April 28, 2019 John McDonnell and the Labour party have long talked of the need to “democratise” our economy. Their plans for sweeping nationalisations, a state-run investment bank and the forced reallocation of shares to the workers are all couched in the language of taking power from the fat cats and making finance a servant of the public, [...]
Lloyds Bank to pay £10m to up to 200,000 customers over administrative error April 26, 2019 Lloyds Banking Group will pay out around £10m to up to 200,000 customers following an administrative error made seven years ago. The company failed to notify thousands of customers that it had cut interest rates on a number of Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds savings accounts in 2012. Read more: Lloyds Bank stars as [...]
Deutsche Bank slashes revenue target after Commerzbank merger talks collapse April 26, 2019 Deutsche Bank cut its revenue target this morning following the collapse of merger talks with German rival Commerzbank. The bank said it expected revenue to be flat this year as it reported that revenue in the first quarter was down nine per cent year-on-year to €6.4bn. Read more: Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank merger talks collapse [...]