London Sports Festival moves from 3×3 basketball success to pickleball at the City of London Corporation’s Guildhall Yard
The ECB has been keeping zombie banks alive February 18, 2019 A decade after the outbreak of the global financial crisis, banks in the euro area have still not recovered. The Eurozone financial stock index is 65 per cent below the pre-crisis peak, whereas the US S&P financial index has come close to the pre-crisis level. The varying fates of financial institutions is due to the [...]
Former Barclays chair will appear at SFO fraud trial February 18, 2019 Marcus Agius, the former chairman of Barclays, is set to appear as a witness for the prosecution at the high-profile trial of four of the bank’s former executives on fraud charges. Agius quit the bank nearly seven years ago over its role in the Libor-rigging scandal. He will be called on by the Serious Fraud [...]
Global dividends jumped to $1.37 trillion in 2018 on strong banking and mining growth February 18, 2019 Global dividends jumped 9.3 per cent to $1.37 trillion (£1.06 trillion) in 2018, with underlying growth of 8.5 per cent, the best performance since 2015. Nine in ten companies globally increased dividends or held them steady, with underlying growth for the year outstripping the long-term trend of five to seven per cent. Banking and mining [...]
Citigroup closes in on £1.2bn purchase of Canary Wharf headquarters February 17, 2019 Citigroup is in talks to buy its Canary Wharf headquarters for a reported £1.2bn in a major show of confidence in London’s status as a global financial centre. Citi is looking to secure the purchase of the 25 Canada Square skyscraper, which it currently leases, from owner AGC Equity Partners in a bid to double [...]
Investment banks in London may need ‘chaperones’ for EU clients in event of no-deal Brexit February 16, 2019 Banks such as Credit Suisse and Nomura have said they would have to loop in EU colleagues when talking to customers in Europe about specific advisory work and regulated products like loans or bonds. In the event of a no deal Brexit, even the cold-calling of company executives to pitch for new business out of [...]
Lloyds Bank poaches Morgan Stanley banker as new chief financial officer and will pay him £4.4m in forfeited share awards February 15, 2019 Lloyds Bank has appointed Morgan Stanley banker William Chalmers as its new chief financial officer. The bank said it would pay Chalmers £4.4m in unvested share awards forfeited as a result of leaving Morgan Stanley, where he is currently co-head of its global financial institutions group. Read more: Lloyds Banking Group set to create 8,000 [...]
Metro Bank tops customer service survey as challenger bank grows in popularity February 15, 2019 Metro Bank has topped an industry-wide customer service survey despite battling an accounting error, which has hit shares in recent weeks. The challenger bank knocked First Direct off the top spot in a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) survey based on whether customers at the UK’s 16 largest current account providers would recommend their bank to friends [...]
RBS raises dividend on booming profits, but warns on cost of Brexit February 15, 2019 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) boosted its dividend today on the back of doubling profits, but warned that Brexit could hit the bank’s recovery. The bank said it would return £1.6bn to shareholders, including almost £1bn to the government, which holds a 62 per cent stake in RBS following its financial crisis bailout. Chairman Howard [...]
Qataris pushed ‘quite aggressively’ for Barclays fee during investment scramble, court hears February 14, 2019 A Barclays boss warned his colleagues that Qatari investors were pushing “quite aggressively” to be paid for a controversial services contract at the height of the financial crisis, a court heard today. Richard Boath told fellow executive Rich Ricci that Doha was growing impatient with the bank, after it apparently missed the deadline to pay [...]
Deutsche Bank hits back over shareholder calls for cuts to investment banking division February 14, 2019 Deutsche Bank has hit back after investors called for more cuts at the German lender’s failing investment banking division. Germany’s biggest lender responded to reports that several major shareholders had demanded cuts, particularly in the US, by defending its plans to turnaround the unit. Read more: Deutsche Bank returns to annual profit for first time [...]