Analysts banking on Lloyds and Barclays to have steamed ahead during 2016, as other UK lenders struggle February 19, 2017 Analysts are predicting Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays will race ahead of the pack when the UK's big banks report their earnings this week. Lloyds, which will report its 2016 full-year figures on Wednesday, is forecast a statutory pre-tax profit of £4.4bn, more than double the £1.6bn it reported in 2015, when its earning potential [...]
German minister hits out at London Stock Exchange bosses over mega-merger February 19, 2017 Politicians from the German state of Hesse say LSE bosses are insisting on London as the legal base for the merged LSE-Deutsche Boerse exchange due to concerns about the post-Brexit future. The proposed £21bn mega-merger is pending approval by the European Commission, and Hesse, the German state which includes the city of Frankfurt, home to [...]
The Treasury says RBS may not have to sell Williams & Glyn after all under £750m deal February 18, 2017 The government has announced RBS may not have to sell its 307 Williams & Glyn branches, with the bailed-out bank instead being forced to spend £750m on a competition-boosting fund for challenger banks. Europe’s commissioner for competition policy will start the process of finding an alternative to a sale, which could see a removal of [...]
These are the UK’s best and worst banks – look away now Barclays users February 17, 2017 Feeling disappointed by your service at Barclays? Well, research shows you're not alone. Barclays has been voted the worst British bank yet again, falling to the bottom of MoneySavingExpert's twice yearly poll. But Barclays isn't the only high street lender that had a poor showing. HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) came towards the bottom of the table, as 21 per cent of [...]
Sales of bad debt top €100bn in 2016 as Europe’s banks try to put crisis behind them February 16, 2017 European loan sales broke through the €100bn (£85bn) mark in 2016 as struggling banks look to offload big books of bad debt. Italian loan sales more than doubled year-on-year to comprise €36bn (£30bn), almost a third of the total European sales, according to analysis by Deloitte. Italy’s Unicredit was the biggest seller, followed by the [...]
Bank of England pushes back date for changes to Sonia, an alternative to Libor for some contracts February 16, 2017 The Bank of England today announced it was delaying changes to the way a key interest rate benchmark is calculated. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street was due to implement changes for how the Sterling Overnight Index Average (Sonia) is calculated by the end of this year, but announced this morning the new calculations would instead be [...]
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 [...]