Britain risks ‘sleepwalking’ towards Swedish-style cashless society December 19, 2018 An unplanned rush towards a cashless society would risk excluding millions of vulnerable people, especially the elderly and those living in rural areas. Ten years ago, cash was used for six out of every ten payments, but the number of cash payments are now down to one in three. If cash use continues to go down [...]
Singapore bans ex-Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner for life after 1MDB scandal December 19, 2018 Singapore has banned a former Goldman Sachs director from the country’s securities industry for life after he admitted to criminal charges connected to the 1MDB scandal. Tim Leissner was banned by authorities for 10 years in 2017 but has been hit with a lifetime ban after he pleaded guilty in the US to conspiracy to [...]
Estonia arrests 10 in Danske Bank money laundering case December 19, 2018 Ten people have been detained in Estonia relating to the Danske Bank money laundering investigation, the country's state prosecutor said yesterday. Danske Bank is currently facing probes from Estonian, Danish, British and US authorities over an alleged €200bn (£180bn) money laundering scandal involving so-called non-resident clients at its Estonian branch between 2007 and 2016. Estonian prosecutors said [...]
Santander fined £32.8m for ‘serious failings’ in processing accounts of deceased customers December 19, 2018 Santander has been fined £32.8m for “serious failings” in processing the accounts of deceased customers as thousands of families were left waiting for their inheritance. The bank failed to transfer more than £183m to the beneficiaries of dead customers when it should have done, the Financial Conduct Authority ruled. In some cases funds were kept [...]
Eleven banks chosen to join £350m RBS scheme to boost business banking competition December 19, 2018 Eleven banks have been chosen to join a £350m scheme to encourage small businesses to move away from RBS in a bid to boost competition. Challenger banks including Monzo, Metro and Starling as well as Santander, Co-operative, CYBG and TSB were selected by the Banking Competition Remedies body (BCR) and funding amounts will be revealed [...]
Barclays fined $15m by US authorities over whistleblower unmasking scandal December 18, 2018 US authorities have slapped Barclays with a $15m (£11.87m) fine over its attempts to unmask a whistleblower two years ago, led by chief executive Jes Stanley. A New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) investigation found Staley personally told the bank’s head of security to try to identify the author of two whistleblowing letters in [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland lines up female interim chief financial officer for permanent role, reports December 18, 2018 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) reportedly is on the cusp of shaking up the male-dominated boardrooms of the country’s biggest banks by naming interim chief financial officer (CFO) Katie Murray as its permanent head of finance. The bank is waiting for approval by banking watchdog the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) before naming Murray as CFO, [...]
Malaysian criminal probe into Goldman Sachs extends across borders to units in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore December 18, 2018 Goldman Sachs units in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong have been hit with criminal charges connected to a money laundering and corruption investigation in Malaysia, as the authorities target businesses outside the country’s borders. Malaysian authorities published a charge sheet yesterday naming London-based Goldman Sachs International, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) PTE and Hong-Kong based Goldman [...]
Banks could be banned from charging higher fees for unarranged overdrafts as part of crackdown on high cost credit sector December 18, 2018 The City watchdog has proposed radical changes to overdraft fees charged by banks as part of a crackdown on the high-cost credit sector. The Financial Conduct Authority wants to scrap fixed daily or monthly charges on overdrafts in favour of a single interest rate, it said today. Banks could also be banned from charging higher [...]
European banking watchdog tells lenders to stop keeping customers in the dark over Brexit December 17, 2018 The EU’s banking watchdog has hit out at lenders for not telling customers how they might be affected by Brexit. In a reproachful statement released this afternoon, the European Banking Authority (EBA) said it had found “little evidence of financial institutions communicating effectively to their customers on how they may be affected by the UK [...]