Barclays profits tumble 25 per cent as investment banking woes continue April 27, 2016 Barclays pre-tax profits have fallen by almost a quarter year-on-year as the investment bank division struggled to perform. But with a sign of progress being made, and confidence about the outlook for the rest of the year, Barclays' share price rose 3.9 per cent in early trading. The figures Barclays' first quarter pre-tax profit dropped 25 per [...]
All aboard! The banking rollercoaster ride is here April 27, 2016 The UK’s banks have been on a rollercoaster ride since the dark days of the credit crunch in 2008, from PPI mis-selling to Libor and the Forex scandal. Recent woes include market volatility, capital buffers and low interest rates depressing margins. As first quarter reporting season kicks off with Barclays today, some good news at [...]
Former Barclays boss Bob Diamond confirms bid talks for bank’s Africa unit April 26, 2016 Bob Diamond, the former Barclays chief executive who resigned from the bank in the wake of the Libor-rigging scandal, has taken another step towards seizing Barclays' Africa arm. Atlas Mara, the London-listed investment company Diamond co-founded in 2013, today revealed it was in talks for Barclays Africa unit which was put up for sale last month due [...]
Investment banks in talks over possible merger with energy-focused boutique April 26, 2016 Investment banks Perella Weinberg and Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Co are understood to be in talks over a possible merger. New York-based Perella, which recently advised Deutsche Boerse on its proposed merger with the London Stock Exchange, is the bigger of the two banks. Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Co is an energy-focused boutique bank based in Houston, Texas. [...]
Mega fines for the UK banking industry might be about to end April 26, 2016 The era of multi-billion pound fines, compensation payouts and litigation charges for UK banks could be drawing to a close, one of the world's leading ratings agencies has said today. In a new report that is sure to make for welcome reading in City boardrooms, Standard and Poor's (S&P) said that 2016 will be the final [...]
Emails between staff about fixing Libor were “improper”, says former Barclays senior executive April 26, 2016 A former senior executive at Barclays has today called emails between staff at the bank about setting Libor to better suit their trading position "improper". Eric Bommensath was formerly global head of fixed income at the bank and today gave evidence in a trial against five former Barclays employees accused of offences relating to manipulating US-dollar linked [...]
Standard Chartered’s share price leaps as troubled bank begins to show signs of turnaround April 26, 2016 Standard Chartered's share price leaped more than 10 per cent today, as the beleaguered bank revealed green shoots in its turnaround plan. The figures This time three months ago, StanChart was revealing an $876m (£601bn) underlying pre-tax loss, today it has reported a profit of $539m. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2015, operating pre-tax profit was up 264 per [...]
There’s still more to come from UK banks’ connections to the Panama Papers, says the financial watchdog April 26, 2016 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is still looking into the link between UK banks and the so-called Panama Papers tax avoidance leaks. The financial watchdog has written to around 20 banks and other financial institutions asking about their connection to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The FCA gave firms a deadline of 15 April to undertake an initial review but there's still a [...]
Now we can all bank like the super-rich – as Goldman Sachs offers bank accounts to the hoi polloi April 25, 2016 Goldman Sachs might be used to dealing with the wealth of the world's highest rollers – but now you can feel just as exclusive, after the bank launched a drive for new retail bank customers. Yep – having revealed last week it had completed the acquisition of online retail bank GE Capital Bank and rebranded it as GS [...]
Warnings over number of interest-only mortgages maturing in 2016 as wave hits April 25, 2016 Up to 20,000 interest-only mortgage holders across the country could be without plans to repay their home loans when they mature this year. As many as 40,000 interest-only mortgages are set to be called in during 2016, kicking off a new wave of maturities expected to run until 2020. The high level of mortgages reaching maturity has sparked [...]