New hub to help grow UK’s £6 billion fintech sector February 13, 2017 | City Talk A new specialist fintech hub, backed by the UK and Scottish governments, will open its doors to entrepreneurs in May 2017. The hub will be the first of its kind in Scotland and will be based in Entrepreneurial Spark at Royal Bank of Scotland’s base in Edinburgh. It will launch one year on from the [...]
Banks stumbling over hurdles as they race to embrace cloud technology February 13, 2017 Worries about overseeing risk and concerns over security breaches are among the hurdles preventing banks from taking up cloud technology as quickly as other firms, according to a study released today. The report by law firm Pinsent Masons and the British Bankers' Association (BBA) highlights how lenders could become more agile and reduce their costs by using [...]
Hedge funds bank on Sky takeover bid success February 12, 2017 Two US hedge funds have banked on the Murdoch family succeeding in taking over the UK-based communications giant, Sky plc. According to reports in the Sunday Telegraph, the two funds, HBK and Pentwater, each disclosed they have amassed positions worth £310m and £300m respectively. In December last year, 21st Century Fox announced that it would be [...]
RBS on track for ninth straight year of losses, as struggling bank pressed to close branches and cut jobs in digital push February 12, 2017 Royal Bank of Scotland looks set to announce a multi-billion pound loss for 2016, its ninth straight year wallowing in the red, while it is also being pushed to cut branches as customers flee to digital banking. The 73 per cent state owned bank, which will reveal its annual results on 24 February, racked up losses attributable [...]
London’s financial services can thrive says EU commissioner – but only if we work together February 10, 2017 London’s financial services can continue to thrive after Brexit but only if it works with the EU on regulation, according to a top EU diplomat. In a speech in the capital Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU’s commissioner for financial services, called for a more harmonised international regulatory system, in which the UK can play a central [...]
Nationwide blames low interest rates as profits drop – but building society’s results were still ahead of expectations February 10, 2017 Nationwide profits dropped during the nine months to 31 December, with the building society blaming continued low interest rates. The figures Underlying profit before tax dropped by 23 per cent to £866m from £1.13bn in the same period of last year. Statutory profit before tax was down 16 per cent to £946m from £1.12bn – [...]
The UK government’s crackdown on encryption threatens to undermine London’s fintech boom February 10, 2017 Talk of calamity befalling corporate Britain as we negotiate our EU exit is typically overblown. Nevertheless there is a potentially serious conflict in the making between the UK government’s stated desire to maintain access to certain online data for reasons of national security and the continental European determination to institute a modern system of information [...]
Treasury Committee chair tells City watchdog to spill the beans on RBS’ GRG February 10, 2017 The chair of the influential Treasury Committee is today calling on the City watchdog to reveal more details from its review into Royal Bank of Scotland's Global Restructuring Group (GRG). The bank was accused of purposely pushing small businesses into GRG, and effectively driving them into the ground for its own gain. Last November, the Financial [...]
Stress tests could be watered down in Dodd-Frank shake up February 9, 2017 The days of US stress tests for banks in their current guise could be numbered as Donald Trump and his team dismantle the Dodd-Frank rules. The President signed an executive order earlier this month to review the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulations. Now, a leaked memo from House Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling, which has been seen by [...]
This is our best chance to scrap the toxic American tax law that makes pariahs out of US citizens February 9, 2017 We have President Trump in our sights. Having this week officially launched the Washington DC-based Campaign to Repeal FATCA, we’re lobbying to have America’s toxic, imperialistic global tax law swept into the dustbin of history. I’ve been an outspoken critic of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) since it was rushed through Congress by [...]