Natwest launches fingerprint payment trial for contactless card purchases March 11, 2019 Natwest will trial fingerprint payment technology to allow customers to make purchases worth more than £30 when using their contactless card. The trial, which will begin in the next few weeks, will allow shoppers to verify payments above the £30 contactless limit using their fingerprint rather than having to enter their Pin number. Read more: [...]
One Savings Bank and Charter Court shares soar after merger talks confirmed March 11, 2019 Shares in One Savings Bank and Charter Court Financial Services soared this morning on the news that the firms are in the final stages of talks regarding a potential merger. One Savings Bank saw its share price jump 9.84 per cent to 406p this morning, while Charter Court’s stock was up 10.31 per cent to [...]
Provident Financial brands £1.3bn Non-Standard Finance takeover offer ‘strategically and financially flawed’ March 11, 2019 Doorstep lender Provident Financial has doubled down on its rejection of a takeover bid by rival firm Non-Standard Finance (NSF) this morning. Provident said it believes the proposed £1.3bn deal is “strategically and financially flawed” after NSF published a document outlining the terms of the offer over the weekend. Read more: Non-Standard Finance targets Provident [...]
Revolut fights back: Nik Storonsky on negative press, growing pains and what’s next March 11, 2019 Revolut has endured a torrid start to 2019. Drawing the City watchdog’s attention after causing concerns by temporarily shutting down its sanctions screening system last year, the fintech starlet was revealed to have lost its finance chief, and drew further negative publicity when a customer complained of a bungled £70,000 payment. Its woes were compounded [...]
Nicky Morgan ducks investigation into Treasury role in RBS GRG unit March 10, 2019 Former Cabinet minister Nicky Morgan has ducked an investigation into the relationship between the Treasury and RBS's disgraced global restructuring unit GRG. Morgan, who chairs the Treasury Select Committee, responded to a letter from Sir Vince Cable in which the former business secretary called for a probe into allegations the Treasury may have “actively encouraged” the activities [...]
One Savings Bank and Charter Court Financial Services Group confirm £1.6bn merger talks March 10, 2019 Challenger banks One Savings Bank and Charter Court Financial Services Group are in final talks over a potential £1.6bn merger, the firms have confirmed. The companies said they are in advanced discussions regarding an all-share combination, which would see One Savings Bank chief executive Andy Golding become the boss of the combined group. Read more: [...]
Leading challenger banks in advanced talks about £1.6bn merger March 9, 2019 OneSavings Bank and Charter Court Financial Services Group are in advanced talks about a merger that would create a lender worth more than £1.6bn Discussions have been ongoing for a number of months between two of Britain's biggest challenger banks and an announcement could confirm a deal within the next fortnight, according to Sky News. Read [...]
Investors fear £236m given to London Capital & Finance is lost after firm collapses March 9, 2019 London Capital & Finance (LCF) has collapsed and thousands of people who collectively invested £236m into a high-risk bond scheme fear they may have lost everything, according to the BBC. The scheme was marketed as a "Fixed Rate ISA" and the company, now in administration, is under investigation for mis-selling products. Many of those who put [...]
Bank of England takes action over Visa card payment outage March 8, 2019 The Bank of England (BoE) has taken action against Visa following an outage last year that caused more than 2m card transactions to fail. The BoE has announced supervisory action to ensure that Visa Europe enforces the recommendations made following an independent review by EY in the wake of the incident. Read more: TSB online [...]
Non-Standard Finance targets Provident takeover despite rejected bid March 8, 2019 Sub-prime lender Non-Standard Finance is continuing to target a takeover of troubled rival firm Provident despite its offer being rejected, the company revealed in its full-year results this morning. The figures Read more: Provident Financial resolves regulation issues with City watchdog Revenue increased 47 per cent to £158.8m from 107.7m in the 12 months to [...]