The state of Europe’s banks is far from steady August 1, 2016 Bank investors rejoice! The European Banking Authority (EBA) has declared stress tests should no longer be about pushing fresh capital into the system or drilling down into asset quality. No. The good news is that “steady-state monitoring” is what’s needed. So will this provide the assurance investors need? I’m not convinced. Even if stock prices [...]
Tom Hayes’ crowdfunding campaign breaks £30,000 mark August 1, 2016 The crowdfunding campaign to raise money for Tom Hayes' legal fees has broken the £30,000 barrier. The Fundrazr campaign, which has been set up to support the former UBS and Citigroup traders' appeal to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), has now raised £30,705, or 20 per cent, of its £150,000 target. The campaign had been stalled [...]
This bank feels fine about the Brexit vote so far August 1, 2016 While June's Brexit vote gave most of the banking sector a beating, one industry giant has revealed its business is doing fine, for the time being at least. Citigroup has revealed it is yet to feel its business be seriously shaken by June's Brexit decision. A regulatory filing published today noted Citigroup had "not experienced any significant negative impact [...]
HSBC’s online banking is down August 1, 2016 HSBC is suffering technical problems, leaving customers unable to access online banking services. The issue arose around 3pm according to Downdetector, which has had more than 900 reports of issues so far. HSBC said its service is currently unavailable, but did not elaborate on the reason behind the issue. The issue is also affecting First Direct, the [...]
Trading in Unicredit shares suspended as investors digest bank stress tests August 1, 2016 Shares in Italian bank Unicredit were suspended from trading this morning as the lender plunged by eight per cent following the publication of stress test results on Friday evening. Its counterpart Monte dei Paschi, which came bottom of the results but managed to secure new terms on a potential bailout, climbed four per cent in the [...]
UBS rogue trader Kweku Adoboli is sorry but warns it could happen again August 1, 2016 UBS rogue trader Kweku Adoboli has warned banking culture still has a lot to answer for. Adoboli was convicted on two counts of fraud in 2012 after his unauthorised trading lost Swiss banking giant UBS £1.4bn. He was released from prison last summer after serving around half of his seven-year sentence. Now, Adoboli has told [...]
Barclays is ditching telephone passwords for voice recognition August 1, 2016 Barclays is making passwords for telephone banking obsolete by rolling out voice recognition technology to all its customers. The use of biometric technology is being explored by several banks, but Barclays is the first UK bank to make the technology – which works in the same way as a fingerprint – widely available. Read more: Passwords are [...]
Banks need to act swiftly to avoid Brexit problems, warns report August 1, 2016 The banking sector needs to think quick to swerve some of the more negative effects of June's Brexit vote, a report out today suggests. The study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) warns that, not only will the worsened economic outlook take its toll on banking sector performance, banks need to be preparing for action now, [...]
Bad news expected from UK bank results this week, with profits forecast to slump at HSBC and a loss predicted for RBS July 31, 2016 Another bumper week of UK banking earnings is expected to bring a fresh dose of bad news, with profits expected to slide at HSBC and a loss forecast at RBS. Analysts have estimated banking giant HSBC, which will reveal earnings in the early hours of Wednesday morning, will report a fall in pre-tax earnings of 40 [...]
Interest rates could be about to get more interesting, with cut to 0.25 per cent widely expected next week July 31, 2016 Banks and savers alike will be bracing themselves for Thursday's Bank of England announcement, when it is largely expected interest rates will be chopped. The bank surprised many a few weeks ago when it opted to hold interest rates at its historically low 0.5 per cent level, where it has stuck since March 2009. Many [...]