UBS profits drop below expectations July 26, 2022 A sharp fall in profits at UBS’s investment banking division caused by charges to deal with the fall out of the collapse of Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital and tumbling global stock markets has raided the Swiss lender’s bottom line. UBS profits sank around $100m (£83m) over the last year to $2.1bn (£1.7bn), it announced today, [...]
Liz Truss promises post-Brexit bonfire of EU rules that hinder UK growth July 22, 2022 Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has vowed to seize the opportunities posed by Brexit by scrapping EU regulations that hinder the UK’s growth. The Conservative MP said that if she becomes prime minister, she will scrap any EU rules that hinder investment or fail to support growth in the UK economy by 2023. If Truss [...]
Santander hands out four per cent pay rises to help 11,000 workers manage cost-of-living crunch July 19, 2022 Santander today pledged to give four per cent pay rises to all 11,000 of its workers on salaries of less than £35,000 a year. The bank said the pay rises, which will be handed out to around 60 per cent of Santander’s entire workforce, are aimed helping its staff deal with the UK’s cost-of-living crisis. [...]
City watchdog tells banks to treat small businesses ‘fairly’ during cost-of-living crunch July 12, 2022 The UK’s financial watchdog has told Britain’s top banks to improve their treatment of struggling small business owners when collecting and recovering debts. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Britain’s banks should take action to ensure fair treatment of small and medium enterprise (SME) customers, after the watchdog uncovered repeated instances of failures during [...]
Big banks axe dealmaker jobs as revenues tumble July 12, 2022 Major investment banks have started cutting dealmaker jobs after last year’s hiring binge as revenues fall. 12 big banks have slashed their investment banker roles in the second quarter of 2022, according to research from data provider Coalition Greenwich, as reported by Financial News London. These include Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit [...]
Theranos president Sunny Balwani convicted on 12 counts for role at collapsed health tech firm July 8, 2022 The former president of Theranos has been convicted on all 12 counts brought against him over his role at the now discredited health technology firm. Sunny Balwani’s conviction marks the end of years of legal troubles for the exec after Theranos collapsed in 2016. Following a 13-week long trial, the 57-year year executive was convicted [...]
Savings rates still too low to tempt regular investors to move more money into cash July 8, 2022 Regular UK investors believe savings rates are still not high enough to tempt them to move more money into cash. Just 35% say they have put more of their investments into cash accounts since the Bank of England started hiking the base rate in December last year with five increases taking it from 0.1% to [...]
Russian oligarch backed fund LetterOne files lawsuit against private equity firm that cut ties following war in Ukraine July 7, 2022 The Luxembourg headquartered investment fund founded by sanctioned Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven has filed a lawsuit against the London private equity firm that manages $5bn (£4.2bn) of it’s money. Multi-billion-dollar investor LetterOne is taking legal action against Pamplona Capital Management, in calling on the private equity firm to open its books, after [...]
Interest rate hikes could trigger chain of bankruptcies in shadow banks June 27, 2022 Interest rate hikes from central banks across the globe could trigger a chain of bankruptcies in the global “shadow banking” industry, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has warned. In an interview with The Times, Claudio Borio, head of the BIS’ monetary and economic department, said “shadow banks” – including hedge funds, pension funds, and [...]
City watchdog hits Ghana International Bank with £5.8m fine over money laundering failures June 23, 2022 The UK’s financial watchdog has fined Ghana International Bank £5.8m over its poor anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing control measures. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined the London bank over its failure to carry out proper checks for money laundering. The watchdog said that while there is no evidence any money laundering actually took place, [...]