TSB plunges to bottom of banking customer service poll following IT meltdown August 31, 2018 TSB has plummeted from 4th to 11th in a banking customer service poll following its recent IT disasters. Forty nine per cent of those who graded TSB’s service in the MoneySavingExpert.com poll rated it as “poor” with just 23 per cent describing its service as “great”. Read more: TSB forced to delay switch from Visa to [...]
What went Wronga? Payday lender pays price of poor reputation and rip-off loans August 30, 2018 As recently as five years ago, Wonga was flying high. A £1bn New York listing was on the cards even on a fairly conservative valuation for a firm mentioned in the same breath as tech unicorns – and which even featured as Newcastle United’s shirt sponsor for four years. Yet today the payday lender collapsed [...]
Wonga goes under: Controversial payday lender placed into administration August 30, 2018 Controversial payday lender Wonga has filed for administration, after a barrage of compensation claims pushed it over the edge. Grant Thornton will be appointed as administrator of the stricken lender's UK operations tomorrow. The collapse threatens the jobs of around 250 UK employees in the firm's London Bridge headquarters. The firm's operations in South Africa, [...]
Deutsche Boerse boss rows back on landgrab, but German finance minister Olaf Scholz insists ‘large parts’ of euro clearing will leave London after Brexit August 30, 2018 The head of the Deutsche Boerse has appeared to row back on his immediate plans for a post-Brexit landgrab on London's euro clearing industry. Speaking on Thursday morning at a conference organised by German newspaper Handelsblatt, Theo Weimer put the odds of increasing his exchange's current market share of around eight per cent at just “50-50”, according to [...]
UBS hires Freshfields to help with misconduct procedure investigation after rape allegation August 29, 2018 UBS has hired magic circle law firm Freshfields to carry out a review of its misconduct procedures after a young female trainee alleged a senior colleague raped her. In a statement, UBS said it “has decided to conduct a review, as we regularly do after significant cases”. UBS had not instigated a disciplinary procedure against [...]
Business owners launch last-ditch effort to force action against Royal Bank of Scotland GRG bankers August 29, 2018 Business owners who claim to have been mistreated by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are writing a new report on the bank’s alleged misconduct in a last-ditch effort to force regulators to take action against senior bankers. The group, SME Alliance, said its report will cover new evidence of events in RBS's global restructuring group [...]
Europe needs global banks, says Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing August 29, 2018 Deutsche Bank still aims to be a global presence in investment banking amid increased appetite for European banks to merge, according to the German lender’s chief executive. Christian Sewing today said that the bank is standing by its international operations as well as home, after pressure from some investors to cut back its once mighty [...]
Wonga’s brand perception is struggling amidst negative headlines August 29, 2018 Over the last week rumours have swirled around one of Britain’s biggest payday lenders, Wonga, with suggestions that the brand may be close to collapse. This apparent crisis facing the short-term loan provider relates to an apparent surge in customer compensation claims. Wonga’s financial issues have resulted in a £10m emergency cash injection from shareholders [...]
Bank of Cyprus sells €2.8bn of bad loans to Apollo August 28, 2018 Bank of Cyprus Group has agreed the sale of €2.8bn (£2.5bn) in bad loans to US private equity giant Apollo in a deal that the bank – laid low by the Eurozone crisis – said will be “transformative”. Apollo, which manages assets worth $270bn (£209bn), will pay €1.4bn for the non-performing loan (NPL) portfolio – [...]
Lloyds stock lift as it completes £1bn share buyback programme August 28, 2018 Lloyds Banking Group completed its buyback of £1bn of shares today. The London branch of investment bank UBS managed the buyback, which started on 8 March, paying for 1.6bn shares over the four-month process before selling them back to Lloyds. Read more: Paddy Power buys back £200m in shares The bank kicked off the buyback [...]