Coutts & Co told to pay £5m by Swiss watchdog for anti-money laundering failures in dealings with 1MDB February 2, 2017 Coutts & Co has today been ordered to pay CHF 6.5m (£5.2m) by Swiss watchdog Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) over anti-money laundering failings in its dealings with scandal-hit Malaysian 1MDB. The watchdog, which launched enforcement proceedings last year, claims the private bank "failed to adequately clarify the circumstances surrounding a number of business relationships and unusually large, high-risk transactions". [...]
Government makes savings on latest board appointment for Premium Bond operator February 2, 2017 The government has appointed the new chief executive of National Savings & Investments (NS&I), the firm that looks after over £135bn of Treasury-backed savings. Ian Ackerley takes over from interim boss Steve Owen, who babysat the position after Jane Platt left last August following 10 years in the role. Platt moved on to concentrate on her position as a non-exec [...]
ING grows its full-year profits, as bank gets going with restructuring plan February 2, 2017 ING announced this morning its full-year profits for 2016 have climbed, shortly after the bank revealed it was undergoing a massive restructuring which would shed thousands of jobs. The figures The Dutch bank boosted its net profits for the year to €4.7bn (£4.1bn), up 16 per cent compared with €4bn the year before. Meanwhile, underlying [...]
Tesco Bank’s chief exec says lenders don’t pay customers enough interest on current accounts February 2, 2017 The boss of Tesco Bank has hit out at high street rivals, claiming they make billions of pounds by skimping on the rate of interest paid to customers. Benny Higgins, who led the lender through a mammoth cyber attack on Tesco Bank last November, said the amount of switching between providers remains "stubbornly low", something lenders [...]
Deutsche Bank’s management board has promised it won’t be the first to leave London after Brexit February 2, 2017 Deutsche Bank does not plan to be among the first tranche of financial firms shifting jobs out of London because of Brexit woes. Speaking at the bank's annual results press conference today, Sylvie Matherat, the German giant's regulatory chief, said: "We will not be a first mover". Instead, Matherat said the bank would be keeping [...]
Bringing back the bonuses: Deutsche Bank chief executive hopes 2016 a one-off year for annual sweetener slashing February 2, 2017 Deutsche Bank's boss has his fingers crossed it can offer staff a better bonus deal this year, after the bank was forced to slash annual sweeteners significantly for 2016. When grilled on bonuses at a press conference for Deutsche Bank's annual results, John Cryan said: "We hope to resume normal service in 2017." The bank had a turbulent [...]
Deutsche Bank more than €1bn in the red for 2016 – but it’s better than last year February 2, 2017 Deutsche Bank has racked up losses of more than €1bn after a difficult 2016, but still improved significantly on the year before. The figures The struggling German banking giant reported a net loss of €1.4bn (£1.2bn) for 2016, although that is a €5.4bn improvement on 2015's €6.8bn loss. The bank also recorded net losses of €1.9bn in its fourth quarter, again [...]
MasterCard profits up six per cent in Q4 January 31, 2017 MasterCard, the world’s second largest payments processor, saw revenues decline but profits increase during the final quarter of last year. Net income rose by 4.8 per cent to $933m, compared to $890m 12 months ago. Revenue fell slightly short of analysts’ estimates of $2.79bn, coming in at $2.76bn. Quarterly profits for the three months to [...]
There’s a new top dog at First Direct January 31, 2017 HSBC-owned First Direct has promoted its head of contact centres to head of the bank. Joe Gordon will replace Tracy Garrad, who, subject to regulatory approval, will be taking up the role of chief executive of HSBC in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man. "I can't wait to lead a bank that's recognised as one of the top [...]
Japan’s biggest brokerage Nomura doubles its profits in third quarter as fixed income activity rockets January 31, 2017 Japanese financial giant Nomura today revealed it raked in twice as much profit during the third quarter of its most recent financial year than it did the year before. The figures Net income at Japan's biggest brokerage shot up to ¥70.3bn (£496m), a 99 per cent increase compared with ¥35.4bn the year before and an increase of [...]