The activist investor revolution has begun November 30, 2018 A year ago, anyone attempting to name a FTSE 100 stock that was likely to chart a double-digit share price rise would have been unlikely to name Whitbread. With a big exposure to the British consumer, the owner of Costa Coffee and Premier Inns seemed to have too many chips stacked on the wrong part [...]
Major UK banks pass ‘worst case scenario’ no-deal Brexit stress tests November 28, 2018 All of the UK’s major banks passed a beefed-up stress test as the Bank of England heralded the resilience of the UK financial system, it was revealed today. The seven banks – Nationwide, Santander UK, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Lloyds, Barclays, and RBS – had three and half times the capital ratio than before the global [...]
Tech outages at financial firms double as watchdog warns of data breach risk November 27, 2018 IT failures at financial institutions have more than doubled in the last year, the Financial Conduct Authority has revealed, as firms fight to update their legacy technology to keep apace with fintech startups. In the 12 months to October, the UK's financial firms reported a 138 per cent increase in technology outages to the FCA, as [...]
Barclays fights off cyber attack attempts every day, says digital defence head November 26, 2018 Barclays fights off attacks from cyber criminals every single day, according to the head of the bank’s cyber security operations centre. Former Europol cybercrime centre head of operations Paul Gillen told City A.M. that the number of attempts against the lender each day was “substantial”. However, the attacks vary in degree with the most common [...]
UK pharmaceutical company BTG shares soar as Boston Scientific announces £3.3bn takeover November 20, 2018 Shares in UK pharmaceutical company BTG soared more than 34 per cent this morning after US-based Boston Scientific proposed a £3.3bn takeover of the company. The London-listed company, which focuses on cancer, vascular conditions and emphysema treatments, saw shares jump from 620.5p to 826.01p following the announcement. BTG said the offer was “fair and reasonable” and [...]
Draper Esprit and Barclays back London fintech Form3 in $13m funding round November 20, 2018 Payments technology fintech startup Form3 will today reveal the close of a $13m (£10.1m) series B fundraising round, led by Graze and Perkbox-backer Draper Esprit. Existing investors Barclays Bank, Angel Cofund and several other individual backers also participated in the round. Established in 2016, the Monument-based startup builds payments-processing technology for banks and fintech firms [...]
Kleinman: Beat Barxit? Jes he can – for now November 16, 2018 Come again? The fawning of business leaders who dialled into a conference call with the chancellor and business secretary after Theresa May’s Brexit deal announcement on Tuesday was stunning in its obsequiousness. Particularly odd was Sir Gerry Grimstone who – sitting alongside fellow Barclays board members John McFarlane and Sir Ian Cheshire – took it [...]
CYBG axes deal with former Barclays boss following Virgin Money merger November 12, 2018 The new owner of Virgin Money has cancelled the bank’s partnership with a technology company run by former Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins. CYBG, which also owns Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, axed the deal following its £1.7bn takeover of Virgin Money in September, Sky News reported. Virgin Money had hired Jenkin's fintech start up 10X [...]
Showdown: Barclays boss set to meet troublesome activist investor November 11, 2018 Ever since the activist investor Edward Bramson revealed his 5 per cent stake in Barclays in March of this year, the two sides have danced around each other. The bank's chief executive, Jes Staley, aspires to lead an investment banking powerhouse. Bramson, on the other hand, wants that operation scaled back – favouring, in its [...]
Barclays bosses to meet activist investor Edward Bramson over calls to scale back investment bank November 11, 2018 Barclays chief executive Jes Staley and chairman John McFarlane will meet activist investor Edward Bramson in New York this week over calls to downsize the investment bank’s markets division. The meeting comes as Barclays received backing from top shareholder James Lowen, who told the Sunday Times that a decision to scale back the division would [...]