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 [...]
Banks are back: How the UK’s banking sector got its mojo back as dividend payments rise March 26, 2015 The UK’s banks are back on form and could be the best place to invest for good and growing dividends. British banks such as Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays were once the best places to invest for solid dividends. Ten years ago, banks provided a quarter of all dividends in the UK market, according to figures [...]
Barclays and ARM weigh on FTSE amid a little sun from TUI – London Report March 25, 2015 BRITAIN’S leading share index gave up early gains yesterday, led down by a late drop in chip designer ARM and a fall in Barclays after a broker downgraded the stock. The blue chip FTSE 100 index was down 28.71 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 6,990.97 points by the close, having hit a record intra-day [...]
Barclays halves bonus payouts for top executives March 17, 2015 Barclays has slashed the payouts to its top bosses by half, yesterday revealing that the group of executives at the head of the bank received £16.5m in shares for deferred bonuses and new awards. That is a dramatic fall from £31.8m a year earlier, reflecting both the increased crackdown on payouts, and a shift away [...]
From Standard Chartered to Prudential: Changing the guard at banks – Bottom Line March 10, 2015 When floods of bosses quit, you should normally be worried. Think of the financial crisis, or the heads that rolled in the wake of the Libor scandal. But this time it is different, and that is surely a good sign. The Pru’s boss has unexpectedly quit, to replace Brady Dougan as the head of Credit [...]
Analyst predicts Barclays will cut investment arm March 10, 2015 Barclays will struggle to reform its investment banking operations, and could have to announce a series of major cuts to the unit, Macquarie analyst Ed Firth predicted yesterday. Chief executive Antony Jenkins and finance boss Tushar Morzaria last week committed to the arm’s future in the bank, but did note that more changes would be [...]
Institute of Directors presses for chair of Barclays’ pay board Sir John Sunderland to go March 9, 2015 Investors and business groups attacked Barclays’ long-serving director Sir John Sunderland yesterday, accusing the bank of failing to honour a pledge to replace him as chairman of the remuneration committee. Last April, Barclays said that Sunderland would leave the bank “at a date to be agreed”, and would be replaced by Crawford Gillies. But 11 [...]
Barclays accused of misleading shareholders over John Sunderland resignation March 9, 2015 Barclays has been criticised by a pensions advisory body for “misleading shareholders”. In a statement, the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) has called for John Sunderland, chairman of the bank's pay review committee, to step down immediately. It claims that ahead of its 2014 annual general meeting 11 months ago, Barclays said Sunderland would [...]