Government sells further one per cent stake in Lloyds Banking Group August 3, 2015 The government has sold another one per cent of its stake in Lloyds Banking Group as it looks to reduce its holdings in the bailed-out lender. Now just under 14 per cent of the bank is owned by the taxpayer; at its peak in 2009, 40 per cent was publicly-owned. In total £14bn has [...]
With Lloyds’ PPI bill topping £13bn, should regulators institute a time limit for claims? August 2, 2015 David Buik, a market commentator at Panmure Gordon, says Yes. Lloyds Bank’s decision to buy HBOS when it was drowning in toxic debt, and at an ultimate cost of £25bn to the taxpayer due to its bailout, was injudicious. But the “Black Horse” has recovered remarkably quickly. Though it is not involved in investment banking, [...]
Lloyds share price falls as profits come in below expectations while total PPI bill surges July 31, 2015 Shares in Lloyds were down 2.21 per cent this afternoon to 83.81p per share after profits missed expectations and it announced a £1.4bn provision to cover the cost of mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI). The figures The state-backed bank said pre-tax profit rose 38 per cent to £1.19bn in the six months to the end of [...]
This chart shows how many current account switchers Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest have lost July 29, 2015 New rules which make it easier for customers to change current accounts resulted in a four per cent increase to 1.1m switches, compared to 1.06m during in same period a year earlier. The rules, introduced in October 2013, allow customers to switch accounts within seven working days, with all outgoing and incoming payments transferred automatically. [...]
Eurozone investor sentiment collapses as investors flock to “safe havens” of gold and UK government bonds July 19, 2015 Eurozone shares have had the largest annual decline in sentiment on record, dropping 19 percentage points in just a month. New figures from Lloyds show investors’ sentiment for Eurozone shares have crashed to -48 per cent, down 30 percentage points over the past year. Ashish Misra, head of portfolio specialists at Lloyds, said the drop [...]
Capita: UK dividend payments hit highest point since 2008 as Lloyds and HSBC return to financial health July 19, 2015 Dividends paid out by UK companies have soared to their highest level since 2008, buoyed by banks hiking their payouts and a lower pound. A total of £29.2bn was paid out during the second quarter, shows data collected by Capita Asset Services, the highest second quarter on record. “To say income investors had a bumper [...]
Lloyds share price dips as government sells off more shares July 2, 2015 Shares in Lloyds were trading flat this morning after the government announced it had hived off another load of shares in the state-backed bank. The Treasury sold off around 691m shares, shrinking the government's stake by one per cent to 15.9 per cent. The government has been whittling down its stake in the bailed-out bank since [...]
New FCA and PRA bonus clawback rules: The UK now has the toughest bank pay rules in the world June 23, 2015 New rules to claw back bankers’ bonuses for up to 10 years threaten to undermine London’s appeal to international financiers, consultants warned yesterday, in the latest salvo against big banks from UK regulators. Read more: Bank bonus clawback extended to 10 years by UK regulators The clawback rules comes amid growing tensions between [...]
Lloyds Banking Group share price dips as government slashes its stake June 23, 2015 Shares in Lloyds Banking Group dipped to 86.9p this morning after it emerged the government had cut its stake in the bailed-out bank to less than 17 per cent. This could be among the final tranches of shares sold to institutional investors: chancellor George Osborne has said the government was planning to wrap up its current [...]
Government hires Goldman to advise on sales of bank shares June 18, 2015 Goldman Sachs will advise the government on the sale of its remaining stakes in Britain’s banks. Goldman was hired as the privatisation adviser to UK Financial Investments (UKFI), a holding company tasked with managing the taxpayer stakes in businesses across the economy, Sky News first reported last night. Chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne [...]