Bank spending on consultants jumps as fintech challenge and regulation keep lenders on their toes November 27, 2017 Banks across the world upped their spending on consultants by 8.4 per cent last year as they tried to navigate changing regulation and fight off the challenge from more nimble, newer competitors. Globally banks spent $13.6bn (£10.2bn) on consultants, a rise from the $12.5bn spent during the year before, according to data from Source Global [...]
Challenger bank OakNorth hits unicorn status as it grabs £154m to take its fintech global October 12, 2017 Money seems to be growing on the tree for OakNorth, a challenger bank which has just raised another £154m to take its proposition global. The business, which specialises in providing smaller loans to UK businesses, secured investment from Singapore's Clermont Group, Martin Hughes' asset management firm Toscafund and New York's Coltrane who have together bought [...]
Lloyds Bank chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio on stress: “It nearly broke me” October 7, 2017 Lloyds’ chief executive has said the job nearly “broke” him, dealing with serious insomnia shortly after joining the bank in 2011. In an interview with the Times magazine, Antonio Horta-Osorio discussed the details of his troubles. Within months of starting the top job, he spent nine days at the Priory clinic to prevent a nervous [...]
The highest starting City salaries across banking with M&A, sales and trading leading the rankings October 6, 2017 Banking may be well paid, but even by its standards, some pay better than others. Now salary benchmarking site Emolument has assessed salaries from 338 recent graduates starting their careers in banking, with M&A, sales and trading, looking at the institutions which come top for bringing in the most money early on. At £50,000, starting [...]
Goldman Sachs enters British savings market September 27, 2017 S investment banking giant Goldman Sachs today entered the British savings market with a leading rate which will add to pressure on incumbents. The bank's Marcus brand, named after one of its founders, will offer an annual equivalent rate of 1.5 per cent, which includes a 12-month bonus rate of 0.15 per cent. The [...]
Brevan Howard US fixed income head jumps ship and heads to Barclays September 6, 2017 A top trader from Brevan Howard’s New York office has left the renowned hedge fund to head up Barclays' macro trading team. The exit comes after City A.M. revealed last week that Brevan Howard’s chief operating officer had resigned and the fund was considering headcount reductions in New York and Israel. Michael Lublinsky will start [...]
Deutsche Bank bags Tesco’s Thomas Nielsen as its new chief digital officer for global transaction banking September 5, 2017 Deutsche Bank has hired Tesco’s chief digital officer, Thomas Nielsen. The German firm said today that Nielsen, as chief digital officer for global transaction banking, will drive its “digitalisation strategy”. At Tesco, Nielsen was responsible for a portfolio of digital platforms, websites and apps, including loyalty programme Clubcard. He previously spent more than 20 years [...]
Retailers back increase in contactless payment limit as transactions jump August 1, 2017 Retailers would back raising the contactless spending limit as the ultra-fast system for processing payments has pushed up transactions. Research released by Barclaycard today has found three-quarters of retailers who have introduced contactless payments into shops have experienced an uplift in transactions of 30 per cent on average. Read more: Is bPay a flop? Barclays' [...]
Asset manager Pemberton launches new debt strategy to fill funding gap left by banks July 5, 2017 Pemberton, a UK-based asset manager backed by insurance giant Legal & General, has launched a new private debt strategy to fund mid-market companies. The “strategic credit opportunities” strategy differs from Pemberton's previous offerings as it will provide junior capital, as well as senior. The junior capital, which has a lower repayment priority in event of [...]
Lloyds has unveiled a massive shake-up of its top team July 5, 2017 Lloyds Banking Group has revealed how it is preparing itself for its new strategic plan: a huge shake-up of its top team, which includes the departures of two of its senior executives. In a statement today the lender said Andrew Bester, the group director of its commercial banking team, and Simon Davies, its chief people, [...]