Italian parliament signs off on €20bn bank bailout fund, as country’s lenders creak under billions of euros of non-performing loans February 16, 2017 Italy's parliament has today given the thumbs up to the law which will create a €20bn (£17bn) bailout fund for the country's troubled banks. Parliament gave a decree for the bailout fund, which was issued by relatively new Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, the green light last December. Now, Bloomberg has reported the parliament's lower house has given final [...]
The City of London’s policy chair is taking up the chairman role at the firm which runs the UK’s cash machine network February 16, 2017 The firm responsible for running the UK's 70,000-strong cash machine network has appointed the City of London's policy chair as its new chairman. Mark Boleat, who will chair the policy and resources committee at the City of London Corporation until May and is also deputy chairman of think tank TheCityUK, will join Link Scheme as chairman shortly. [...]
Sir Vince Cable says Co-operative Bank sale is “bad news” February 16, 2017 Former business secretary Sir Vince Cable has poured cold water on the Co-operative Bank’s plans to sell itself, in an interview with the BBC this morning. The Co-op Bank surprised the market on Monday morning with its sale announcement Cable, a former Lib Dem MP, said selling the bank was “bad news” because it will [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland accused of fraud and forgery February 16, 2017 Royal Bank of Scotland has been accused of fraud and forgery by an ex-employee and former customers, according to a BBC report. A former employee of the lender told the BBC that two of his colleagues at RBS had fabricated complaints and alleged they were from five of his customers. Mark Wright, who worked at NatWest and [...]
Big five banks run up £100bn bill in bad loans and legal costs over the last five years February 16, 2017 The UK's big five banks, which report full-year results next week, have run up a bill of nearly £100bn over the last five years for a toxic mix of fines and bad loans according to a new analysis. However, the era of sour loans and megafines that dwarf the banks' dividend payouts could finally be [...]
Italy needs banking reform to continue “weak” recovery says OECD February 15, 2017 Italy must reform its banking system if it is to continue on a “weak” path to recovery, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The country should be prepared to force holders of Italian bank debt to lose money rather than using public funds to bail them out, according to a report [...]
ABN Amro profits leap in fourth quarter, beating analysts’ expectations February 15, 2017 ABN Amro beat expectations today by reporting its fourth quarter profits grew by more than a fifth. The figures The Dutch lender reported profits of €1.8bn (£1.5bn) for its 2016 full year, down six per cent on €1.9bn the year before. However, profits for the fourth quarter alone sprung up to €333m, an increase of 23 per cent [...]
Low interest rates knock Credit Agricole’s quarterly profits, but numbers beat expectations February 15, 2017 Credit Agricole became the latest European bank to report a slump in its profits this morning, as low interest rates continued to put pressure on its bottom line. The figures The French lender reported full-year net income of €3.5bn (£3bn), largely flat on the year before – although the fourth-quarter figure was €291m down 67 per cent from €882m. These [...]
Bank of England: Sorry, vegans. We’re keeping the polymer £5 note February 15, 2017 The Bank of England is keeping the £5 note – despite concerns from animal activists, it said today. Veggies were outraged in November after it emerged the plastic fiver, which was launched in September, contained tiny amounts of tallow, a form of animal fat. After a consultation, the Bank has not only said it's going [...]
Electronic broker’s boss doesn’t know what is Nex after success of Trump rally February 15, 2017 Trumped-up earnings at Nex, the fancy new name of financial broker of Icap, were not enough to stop its share price from sliding over two per cent this morning. Group revenue was up 11 per cent in the three months to the end of December on a constant currency basis, meaning its nine month performance was [...]