Challenger banks face an uphill battle as George Osborne widens levy net July 15, 2015 The heads of the UK’s fast-growing crop of challenger banks were entitled to reach for a stiff lunchtime drink as they absorbed the first Conservative Budget for two decades last week. At a stroke, George Osborne’s decision to impose a super-tax on industry profits above £25m undermined everything he has said about broadening competition [...]
Rationale of bank surcharge under fire as IFS think tank blasts George Osborne’s 2015 July Budget July 9, 2015 A leading think tank has criticised the volatility of the UK’s bank levy and the thinking behind a new bank surcharge as part of a wider assault on what it described as a “deeply disappointing” Budget. There would have been 13 different bank levy rates in 10 years by 2020 under Wednesday’s Budget plans, [...]
July Budget 2015: George Osborne pledges lowest corporation tax in G20 but new bank tax hits UK small lenders July 8, 2015 Chancellor pledges lowest corporation tax in the G20 – but casts punitive net over the UK’s small lenders Chancellor George Osborne ushered in a new tax regime for British banks yesterday, dialling down the controversial bank levy while introducing a new corporation tax surcharge for the entire lending industry. In a summer Budget that the [...]
July Budget 2015: Challenger bank share prices plummet – Aldermore, Virgin Money, Shawbrook and OneSavings suffer worst day ever July 8, 2015 Publicly-traded British challenger banks suffered their worst day on record yesterday, as chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne said yesterday that a new corporation tax surcharge would take a significant chunk out of the industry’s profits. Reading-based retail bank Aldermore, which floated on the London Stock Exchange earlier this year, saw its share price [...]
The 2015 July Budget did far too little to reform Britain’s highly damaging taxes on banks July 8, 2015 I've been taken aback in recent months by the number of international bank executives who have been telling me just how damaging the UK’s bank taxation policies are. The global banks constantly review where they base their business around the world. They carry out detailed cost-benefit analyses in pounds and pence, or dollars and cents, [...]
Challenger bank Shawbrook appoints new chairman Iain Cornish to replace Sir George Mathewson July 6, 2015 Challenger bank Shawbrook has appointed former Yorkshire Building Society chief executive Iain Cornish as its new chairman. Cornish replaces former RBS boss Sir George Mathewson who will step down as chairman and as director with immediate effect. Cornish is a senior independent director of debt manager Arrow Global and wealth manager St James's Place. Read more: Challenger [...]
Neil Woodford-backed challenger Atom gets thumbs-up from regulators June 24, 2015 A mobile-based bank backed by City superstar investor Neil Woodford and launched by a founder of Metro Bank has been granted a banking licence, it said this morning. Durham-based Atom, launched by former Metro Bank chairman and First Direct chief executive Mark Mullen, will launch as a mobile app at first, with a desktop version [...]
RBS hiring drive to aid challenger bank Williams & Glyn disposal June 14, 2015 One-fifth of the hires RBS is looking to make fall within the Williams & Glyn challenger bank being carved out of the state-backed lender, illustrating the scale of the task at hand as RBS readies itself to launch the revived brand as its deadline draws nearer. Of the 1,235 open positions being advertised on the [...]
RBS could be ordered to beef up new lender Williams and Glyn May 28, 2015 George Osborne yesterday asked the competition authorities to look into the RBS spin-off Williams and Glyn to make sure it is big enough to challenge other banks in the market. Bailed-out giant RBS has to carve the unit out of its existing branch and customer network, under terms imposed by the European Commission at the [...]
Financial challengers Zopa and Metro Bank join forces to bring peer-to-peer lending and high street banking together May 19, 2015 Peer-to-peer lender Zopa has teamed up with challenger bank Metro Bank to lend funds through the latter's marketplace. The deal marks the first of its kind in the UK as Metro Bank, already lending funds to Zopa's consumer borrowers, recognises peer-to-peer (P2P) lending as a new asset class. Zopa's chief executive Giles Andrews described it [...]