Arbuthnot profit leaps after rate hikes but bank backs ‘conservative’ model as UK prospects ‘not clear’ March 30, 2023 Arbuthnot Latham saw its profit surge with rising interest rates boosting its coffers, as the lender sought to distance itself from recent difficulties in the banking sector. Pretax profit in 2022 lept to £20m, up from just £4.6m last year as net interest income grew by over £30m. The boutique bank said this increase [...]
HSBC, SocGen and BNP Paribas raided in France as part of ‘cum cum’ tax probe March 28, 2023 French authorities today raided the Paris offices of five major banks – including HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Société Générale – in relation to an ongoing fraud and money laundering investigation. In a statement, France’s national fraud prosecutor said the raids relate to a preliminary investigation into so-called ‘cum cum’ schemes, which was opened in December [...]
Rival brokers FinnCap and Cenkos Securities merge to make City’s largest mid-tier investment bank March 23, 2023 Rival brokers FinnCap and Cenkos Securities have agreed an all-share merger which will create the City’s largest investment bank focusing on small cap growth companies. Together the combined company has expected revenue of more than £50m and over £20m on its balance sheet. Both companies’ shareholders will hold 50 per cent of the equity in [...]
First Republic: US stocks rally after 11 banks including JP Morgan, Citi and Goldman stump up $30bn in rescue effort March 17, 2023 US stocks rallied on Thursday after a group of big banks offered a lifeline to the bank that investors had zeroed in on in their hunt for the industry’s next victim. The S&P 500 jumped 1.8 per cent for its best day in nearly two months after 11 of the biggest banks said they would [...]
Silicon Valley Bank collapse poses ‘tremendous opportunity’, lawsuit funder LCM says March 14, 2023 The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank poses a “tremendous opportunity” for more lawsuits, funder Litigation Capital Management (LCM) has said. The firm is readying itself to profit on an uptick in bankruptcies as the global economy hits a slump, the company’s chief executive has said. The Australian financier, that in February made £7m in profits [...]
Wall Street stocks tumble: Why Bank of America and Citigroup have been hardest hit after Fed chair Powell’s testimony March 10, 2023 Stocks stumbled on Wall Street on Thursday and added to the week’s losses as markets remain anxious about the prospect of more aggressive action by the Federal Reserve to fight inflation. Major indexes started the day higher and gradually lost ground until they fell sharply in late trading. The S&P 500 fell 73.69 points, or [...]
Private finance firms have fewer women leaders than listed rivals, new research shows January 23, 2023 Financial services companies that are structured as privately-owned partnerships have significantly fewer women in leadership positions than their publicly-listed rivals, new research shows. Fewer than one-sixth (15.1 per cent) of partners in privately-owned finance firms are women, according to research from employment law firm Fox & Partners. By comparison, women account for 43 per [...]
Asset managers show signs of rebound as assets tick up and outflows slow January 18, 2023 London-listed asset managers Liontrust and Rathbones showed signs of a rebound today as assets under management ticked upwards and the volume of investors pulling their cash from funds began to slow. London’s big money managers have suffered a torrid 12 months as markets descended into turmoil in the wake of war in Ukraine and soaring [...]
How recession in the US is expected to affect bank earnings this week January 11, 2023 US earnings season kicks off later this week with a string of results from some of the country’s largest banks. JP Morgan, Citi Group, Wells Fargo and Bank of America will all release results on Friday in an interesting environment – to say the least. While higher interest rates have led to record levels of [...]
Millennials ignored by UK’s financial institutions as boards stumble towards gerontocracy January 9, 2023 The boards of banks, asset managers and fintechs are outstripping their European rivals at female representation, but failing to take on any millennials, according to new research. EY’s report found that there were no board members under 40 in any of the UK’s top financial services firms. The report on board diversity shows that in [...]