Troubled Barclays braced for famously tough incoming new chairman John McFarlane April 29, 2015 It is hard to keep a straight face when calling PPI compensation and litigation costs “one-offs” at any of the big banks nowadays. Yet seven years on from the start of the financial crisis, Barclays and the other big banks are still treating the extraordinary costs as unusual items each quarter. Yesterday Barclays [...]
Barclays earmarks £800m for Forex scandal costs: How much have other banks set aside? April 29, 2015 Barclays announced today that it is putting aside an extra £800m in provisions for the fall out of the Forex scandal. The extra £800m makes it the bank with the second largest pool of provisional cash – after JP Morgan. The extra provisions bring the total set aside by the six banks to £5.1bn. In Novemeber, [...]
Barclays sets aside £800m for Forex as profits fall 26 per cent April 29, 2015 Barclays has put aside £800m to cover potential costs mainly resulting from legal action over alleged foreign exchange manipulation. The figures The bank made the announcement as part of its first quarter results, which revealed a 26 per cent drop in statutory profits, which came in at £1.34bn. The drop was mainly down to one-off [...]
UK’s big four banks face £19bn more in conduct fines April 27, 2015 Legal and compensation payouts are set to cost the big four UK banks another £19bn over 2015 and 2016, analysts at credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s said yesterday. Mounting bills come on top of the £42bn the four have already paid out over the past five years. The next nine largest lenders paid a further £6bn [...]
London Marathon 2015: After Mark Carney thrashed Barclays boss Antony Jenkins, how well does your race time compare? April 27, 2015 Mark Carney beat Antony Jenkins in the high-finance battle at the London Marathon yesterday. The Bank of England’s 50-year-old governor produced a mercurial run, beating Jenkins, the 53-year old Barclays chief executive, by an hour and a half. Carney’s time of 03:31:22 was faster than the men’s average of 04:04:30, and far faster than the [...]
Barclays’ bosses warn investors of pain ahead as Libor scandal fines and legal bills roll in April 23, 2015 Huge fines and legal bills are on the way, Barclays’ outgoing chairman Sir David Walker warned shareholders at yesterday’s annual general meeting. Walker joined the bank almost three years ago in the wake of the Libor scandal, aiming to clean it up. While he said he has made great strides in that direction, the City [...]
Barclays U-turn on account fees: Bank will pay customers £4 a month as competition hots up April 14, 2015 Barclays will offer to pay current account customers from next week, intensifying the battle sweeping the high street since the seven-day switching service made it easier to move banks 18 months ago. The bank has been losing customers to rivals through the seven-day service, as other lenders have won clients by offering financial rewards. Barclays’ [...]
Barclays account switch: The customer is king once more – Bottom Line April 14, 2015 An injection of capitalism was all it took. Not long ago, British banks were unpopular and unresponsive, and now they are listening to their customers. How times are changing. Barclays’ decision to radically change its offer to customers by giving them cash marks the latest stage in the development of this market – and shows [...]
General Election 2015: Labour’s non-dom tax change would hit some of UK’s biggest banks April 12, 2015 Labour's pledge to scrap non-dom tax status would affect top employees at some of London’s leading banks, including RBS, Lloyds and Barclays. Under the non-domicile rule, those with a permanent home abroad currently do not have to pay UK tax on overseas earnings. Only their UK income is taxed, although they have to pay £30,000 [...]
Bank of England stress test: British lenders assessed against global economic crunch March 30, 2015 Britain's biggest banks have to prove they could withstand a global economic crunch, under a stress test unveiled by the Bank of England yesterday. The fictional scenario is based on real fears that a slowdown in China and renewed recession in Europe could hit the UK economy and its banks. The six biggest banks [...]