Surge in buy-to-let loans dries up pipeline for lender Paragon May 24, 2016 Specialist buy-to-let mortgage lender Paragon has recorded a 84.6 per cent increase in loans in the first six months of 2016, to £823.6m. “We saw a surge in applications from people trying to beat the stamp duty hike and as a result expect the second half to be weaker than usual,” chief executive Nigel Terrington told [...]
Bank customers missing out on financial advice as mobile channel fails to drive engagement May 24, 2016 Banks are failing to provide customers with enough financial advice, a new survey has shown. The second annual Performance Against Customer Expectations (PACE) index from banking software firm FIS has revealed 82 per cent of UK banking customers receive no financial advice as the fast growing mobile channel struggles to offer the same level of engagement [...]
UniCredit CEO Federico Ghizzoni resigns amid shake-up of Italy’s biggest bank May 24, 2016 UniCredit chief executive Federico Ghizzoni resigned today after admitting the bank needs a new boss. Ghizzoni, who became CEO in 2010, came under pressure to resign after facing fierce shareholder discontent over the bank's falling share price and low profitability. Last week, shareholders accounting for 15 per cent of the bank approached the bank's chairman Giuseppe Vita to take measures to replace [...]
The bosses of eight challenger banks have slammed the CMA for failing to push for change on capital requirements May 24, 2016 Chief executives from eight challenger banks have slammed the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for failing to look at the capital requirements on small lenders. The CMA's report into the retail banking sector, published last week, called on banks to set maximum monthly charges for unauthorised overdrafts and to ease the process of switching current [...]
Investment banks endure worst first quarter since financial crisis May 24, 2016 The world's 12 largest investment banks endured their slowest start since the financial crisis, in what's typically their most lucrative period. Their revenue fell 25 per cent in the first quarter from a year ago as a wave of volatility rippled through financial markets, according to research by industry analytics firm Coalition. European bank shares hit multi-year lows [...]
CYBG: PPI pushes on for the UK’s latest challenger bank May 24, 2016 Clydesdale Yorkshire Bank, one of the UK's latest challengers after it was spun-off by National Australia Bank earlier this year, said net interest margin rose in the six months to the end of March – but it reiterated that PPI is still taking its toll. Read more: Public hungry for challenger banks, research finds The figures [...]
Nationwide posts strong profit growth as mortgage lending reaches pre-recession levels May 24, 2016 Nationwide lent more money to house-buyers last year than it has done since the financial crash starting in 2007, helping the society to post strong profit growth. The figures Gross mortgage lending at the building society was up 20 per cent to £32.6bn, as the firm helped 57,200 first time buyers into a home of their own. [...]
Libor latest: Accused ex-Barclays trader says he was just doing what he was trained to May 23, 2016 A former Barclays trader accused of Libor-rigging related offences told the court today that email requests by staff for certain rates were indicative of what they were trained to do. Jay Merchant, along with fellow former traders Stylianos Contogoulas, Alex Pabon and Ryan Reich and former Libor submitter Jonathan Mathew, is standing trial charged with conspiracy to defraud [...]
FCA must act to cap monthly charges on unauthorised bank overdrafts says Labour MP May 23, 2016 Labour MP and Treasury committee member Rachel Reeves has called on the FCA to go beyond the recommendations of the Competion and Markets Authority and install a cap on banks' unauthorised overdraft charges. The CMA last week proposed that banks should be forced to set their own cap on the amounts that they can charge customers [...]
Card is king? The UK is closer than ever to being a cashless society May 23, 2016 The old adage that cash is king is about to be kicked into the long grass, new research suggested this morning – with card payments about to whoosh ahead of cash payments. A study by Payments UK found although cash is still the biggest method of payment – some 45 per cent of all UK [...]