The City should welcome apprenticeships to build a higher-skilled economy for all January 30, 2017 The City of London Corporation recently announced its pledge to hire 100 new apprentices. This figure, combined with 17 current positions, will give 117 career-starters a role in the organisation. This echoes Sadiq Khan’s recent calls for more powers to build skills among London’s workforce – and to help keep the capital globally competitive in [...]
With reports Barclays has chosen Dublin for its EU HQ, will Ireland be the beneficiary of any City Brexodus? January 30, 2017 Daniel Mahoney, head of economic research at the Centre for Policy Studies, says Yes. Although Theresa May has provided a degree of clarity on the Brexit negotiations, remaining uncertainties mean that financial service firms will, inevitably, seek to implement some restructuring and contingency planning. Ireland is well placed to take advantage of this. Ireland shares [...]
Treasury Select Committee chair hits back at chancellor over rules which could have blocked HBOS review January 30, 2017 The chair of the influential Treasury Select Committee has written to the chancellor, slamming powers which could have been used to block reviews into recent high-profile scandals like HBOS. In a letter dated last Tuesday, but not published until today, Andrew Tyrie warned Philip Hammond that powers granted to the Treasury to push the stop button on [...]
Former watchdog Tracey McDermott will join Standard Chartered to build relationships with regulators January 29, 2017 Tracey McDermott will join Standard Chartered as group head of corporate, public and regulatory affairs effective 20 March to build the bank's relationships with regulators and policy makers. The former acting chief executive of the UK's financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will report to group chief executive Bill Winters and will join Standard Chartered's global [...]
Amanda Staveley’s legal row with Barclays to reach crunch point this week January 29, 2017 It's a critical week for Amanda Staveley's legal battle with Barclays, with a judge due to decide whether the City financier can have access to documents key to her case. PCP Capital Partners, the investment vehicle Staveley founded, is suing the banking giant for almost £1bn over the way it handled a 2008 emergency fundraising. PCP [...]
Deposit protection limit for savings to be bumped back up to £85,000 tomorrow January 29, 2017 Savers will have an extra £10,000 safeguarded as of tomorrow, as the deposit protection limit is increased back up to £85,000. The deposit protection limit under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which is designed to protect consumers' cash should lenders run into hot water, was cut to £75,000 last year in an effort to put [...]
Deutsche Bank forecast to be in the red for 2016, with a net loss of almost €1bn predicted January 29, 2017 Deutsche Bank is predicted to announce it is almost €1bn (£850m) in the red when it releases its full year results for 2016 on Thursday morning. A consensus of analysts has forecast the German banking giant will report a net loss of €910m for the full year and €1.6bn for its fourth quarter. However, some analysts are predicting a full year loss [...]
Criminals made €8.6m of fake “Bin Laden” banknotes at the end of last year January 27, 2017 The European Central Bank (ECB) said it withdrew €8.6m worth of so-called "Bin Laden" banknotes in the final six months of last year. The notes, worth €500, are in the process of being phased out because of their association with money-laundering and terror – but they nevertheless made up just under five per cent of all [...]
Behind the deal: These are the bankers and advisers working on the £3.7bn Tesco-Booker tie-up January 27, 2017 Tesco’s £3.7bn deal for wholesaler Booker is an early boost for the UK’s 2017 M&A market, following a rather subdued 2016. Below are details of the bankers and advisers behind the deal. Tesco advisers It’s increasingly difficult to find a big UK deal without a boutique investment bank at its centre. And this £3.7bn merger proved [...]
Profits down, but UBS beats expectations and is optimistic for 2017 January 27, 2017 UBS has beaten expectations with its fourth-quarter results and said improved investor confidence should benefit its wealth management business. The figures The Swiss bank this morning reported a 47 per cent fall in full-year net profits to 3.3bnSFr (£2.6bn), down from 6.2bnSFr in 2015. In its fourth quarter, net profit came in at 738mSFr, while diluted [...]