RBS chairman urges shareholders to put things into context at its AGM May 4, 2016 Perhaps feeling the chill of a shareholder spring in the air, the chairman of RBS has urged those present at today's AGM to put the bank's performance into context. Howard Davies remarked that, although it was disappointing to see RBS' share price 38 per cent lower than at last year's AGM, shares in the banking sector more [...]
Libor latest: Tom Hayes appoints new lawyer, and he’s making good progress on crowdfunding the legal fees May 4, 2016 Tom Hayes has instructed solicitor Karen Todner to lead the next stage in his appeal, it was announced today, as he turns to crowdfunding to raise his legal fees. Hayes, a former UBS and Citigroup trader, was convicted of offences related to manipulating the Yen-linked Libor last August. He was initially sentenced to 14 years in prison, [...]
Barclays has just started offering a 100 per cent mortgage (but bank of mum and dad is still required) May 4, 2016 We all know how well 100 per cent mortgages worked before the financial crisis – but now Barclays has become one of the first lenders since the crisis not to require a deposit from first-time buyers. Well, sort of. The lender said it has made changes to one of its first time buyer mortgages which means borrowers [...]
Societe Generale announces more cost-cutting measures, focusing on its global banking and investor solutions offering May 4, 2016 Societe Generale has revealed further plans to cut costs in its quarterly results today, focusing this time on its global banking and investor solutions unit. The new plans seek to slash €220m (£173.8m) from costs by the end of 2017, in an effort to offset rising taxes and generate more funds for investments. The bank has been [...]
After a difficult first quarter for UK-based banks, is the outlook finally beginning to brighten? May 4, 2016 Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says Yes. There is no doubt things are tough in the banking industry. But while performance in the first quarter was poor, it was generally ahead of expectations, which serves to underline the level of pessimism surrounding the sector. Progress has been slow since the financial crisis, and there [...]
Britain’s challenger banks had a bumper 2015 – but now they’re facing the challenges of scale May 4, 2016 Amid the misery and bad news associated with UK banks since the crisis, one of the positive rays of light has been the challenger banks. They have grown quickly, with several listing last year as the sector continues to attract both customer and investor interest. The challengers have also long been feted by politicians as [...]
Challenging market conditions cause HSBC profits dip, but it could have been worse May 3, 2016 Banking giant HSBC has today revealed that its profits had slipped in its first quarter of 2016, kicking off the start of a week of earning announcements from notable names. Shares in the company were trading down 0.9 per cent at 448.4p shortly before 9:30am London time. The figures The bank announced an adjusted profit before tax [...]
Why this boutique investment bank sees positives no matter which way the EU referendum goes May 2, 2016 It's difficult to find many investment banks feeling cheery about 2016. Global first-quarter revenues dropped to their lowest levels since 2009. Banking giants have reported double-digital percentage profit falls. And thousands of jobs have been lost. But Zeus Capital, a boutique investment bank founded in 2002, offers a success story. Albeit while operating on a [...]
Italy’s banking crisis deepens as failed capital offering sends stocks plunging across the industry May 2, 2016 The Italian banking sector took yet another blow over the weekend as one of its lenders failed to raise extra capital from shareholders causing stocks to plunge on Monday morning. Private sector investors agreed to buy just 7.7 per cent of the €1.5bn (£1.18bn) capital offering from Banca Popolare di Vicenza, which had been told by the European Central [...]
Credit Suisse just waved away the shareholder spring – but investors are still angry April 29, 2016 It was the best of times, it was the wurst of times at Credit Suisse's annual general meeting (AGM), as shareholders waved through controversial pay deals for its top team despite protests – and comfort ate frankfurters. At a meeting at which security was called as an angry shareholder disrupted proceedings, votes on directors' and executives' pay [...]