RBS slapped with higher-than-expected £56m fine for 2012 IT glitch November 20, 2014 The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has agreed a £56m settlement with financial regulators for an IT system failure in June 2012 – £6m more than the £50m penalty analysts had expected. The glitch, which began during a software upgrade to the bank's payment processing system, left over six million of its customers unable [...]
Home loan rates set to drop more as HSBC introduces record low mortgage of 0.99pc November 19, 2014 Mortgage rates are poised to break new records and edge even further down. HSBC recently made headlines by introducing a record low mortgage rate of 0.99 per cent, with economists from the bank predicting policy rates would stay at their all-time lows of 0.5 per cent until at least 2016. It looks unlikely to end [...]
Towergate up for sale as investors flee insurance broker November 19, 2014 Europe’s biggest privately owned insurance broker Towergate is up for sale just a month after its boss Mark Hodges quit last month. The troubled firm reported pre-tax losses of £112.7m for the first three quarters of the year, compared with a loss of £19.1m over the same period of 2013. If it is not sold [...]
Finsbury cheers two decades with client number one November 19, 2014 Roland Rudd (pictured, above right), the chairman of financial communications specialist Finsbury, was celebrating 20 years since he founded the firm last night in a glittering reception at Tate Britain. Joining him and his colleagues were many of those who have benefited from Finsbury’s knowledge of the art of public relations over the years – [...]
Fed to raise interest rates before Bank of England November 19, 2014 US INTEREST rates are expected to rise before those in the UK, as the Federal Reserve last night indicated it will not slow down its path to tighter money despite wobbles in the world economy. Mark Carney has indicated the Bank of England will keep rates lower for longer as wages are not yet rising [...]
Garden bridge set for 7.1m visitors per year November 19, 2014 Park-over-the-river lays out restrictions THOSE who had envisaged long afternoons languishing amid the vegetation on Thomas Heatherwick’s £175m Garden Bridge may be in for an unpleasant surprise: it turns out that the bridge will be a privately managed tourist attraction, requiring large groups to book in advance. The bridge, supported very vocally by Joanna Lumley, [...]
RBS braced for £50m fine over 2012 IT systems failure November 19, 2014 RBS is today expected to receive a fine over its systems failures, which left millions of customers unable to spend or transfer money. The fine comes more than two years after the 2012 crash which watchdogs are investigating, and is expected to come to around £50m. City regulators have been investigating the 2012 failures, but it [...]
Japan sees its exports leap November 19, 2014 JAPAN’S exports jumped sharply in October in an encouraging sign that there are some drivers of growth in the economy, official figures showed this morning. The economy slipped into recession this week, and growth is slowing in key markets like China, but exports still managed to jump by 9.6 per cent on the year. Analysts [...]
BBVA puts €2bn bet on Turkey November 19, 2014 SPANISH lender BBVA yesterday bought another €2bn (1.6bn) stake in Turkey’s second largest private bank, Garanti. The 14.89 per cent stake comes from Dogus Holdings, and takes BBVA’s overall stake to 39.9 per cent. A global footprint was one fact which helped Spanish lenders BBVA and Santander through the financial crisis, as Spain’s domestic economy [...]
Pay gap falls as young women out-earn men November 19, 2014 THE GENDER pay gap has fallen to a record low, official figures showed yesterday, as young women now earn more than men. Among 22- to 29-year olds, women earn an average of 1.1 per cent more than men per hour. And for 30- to 39-year olds, women earn 0.2 per cent more. However, men still earn more [...]