Lloyds shares sale: Morgan Stanley takes £1 fee for bank sell-off December 17, 2014 The government is to drip-feed Lloyds shares to the market over the coming six months, cutting its stake in the bailed-out bank bit-by-bit ahead of the election. As much as £3bn of shares could be sold under the scheme. The investment bankers who are handling the sale could normally expect to make millions of pounds from [...]
Chancellor George Osborne confirms government will sell more Lloyds shares December 17, 2014 The chancellor has announced the government will sell more shares in Lloyds Banking Group within the next six months. The sale, to be managed by investment bank Morgan Stanley, will help the government raise up to £2bn, UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the body which manages the government's investments, confirmed. Presently it owns around 17.8bn ordinary [...]
Co-op fails Bank of England stress test, RBS and Lloyds at risk December 16, 2014 The Co-operative Bank has failed the Bank of England’s (BoE) stringent new stress test, while Lloyds and RBS would be at risk in a new economic crisis. The prudential regulation authority (PRA) tested seven banks and building society Nationwide to see how they would handle a financial meltdown of epic proportions. While Lloyds, Standard Chartered, [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Shares in RBS, Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays fall as chancellor outlines profit measures December 3, 2014 Shares in UK banks dropped in early afternoon trading as George Osborne outlined measures to limit the amount of profit lenders can offset by losses. In his Autumn Statement speech, Osborne said he would limit offests to 50 per cent, and delay relief on bad debts, which he added will raise £4bn for the Treasury [...]
Who are Europe’s best paid bank CEOs? Four UK banks HSBC, Lloyds and RBS and Standard Chartered made the ranking November 11, 2014 Given the boardroom battles that have taken place over recent years, it's hardly surprising – but a new ranking of last year's 15 best-paid European bank bosses shows UK bankers are among the most highly-paid in Europe. British banks HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group took second and third places in the ranking, compiled by business [...]
Challenger banks Virgin Money and Yorkshire Building Society call for RBS and Lloyds to be split up November 10, 2014 Small lenders are calling on the competition watchdog to look at breaking up RBS and Lloyds, arguing the market is too focused on giant players. The Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) and Virgin Money have both written to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to push for the big banks to carve out more new challengers from [...]
Lloyds Banking Group may sell Avant Homes for £170m November 3, 2014 Building firm Avant Homes is considering an offer from a consortium of investment companies made up of Alchemy Partners, Angelo Gordon and Avenue Capital, a source close to the discussions has confirmed. All three of the bidding companies are focused on making distressed investments. Avant is being sold by Lloyds Banking Group, with KPMG advising [...]
Lloyds share price falls as Vince Cable set to urge bank not to close the last branches in any town October 28, 2014 Lloyds yesterday revealed a new three-year plan to cut 9,000 jobs and close 150 branches, as part of its longer strategy to adapt to the increasingly digital banking market. But business secretary Vince Cable is expected to step in to urge all banks to make sure no town is left without a branch. Its previous [...]
Lloyds’ branch closure tight-rope: Antonio Horta Osorio’s balancing act October 28, 2014 Lloyds is chopping 150 branches over the next three years, so it seems an odd time to claim the bank in fact values the traditional high street sites more than the other lenders. But that is exactly what chief executive Antonio Horta Osorio says he is doing. It is a fine line to tread, [...]
Lloyds branch closures are just the start: The UK is dramatically over-banked October 28, 2014 IT MIGHT be an uncomfortable truth for many to hear, but the UK is dramatically over-banked for the digital age. There are a little less than 10,000 bank branches across the UK, far fewer than the approximately 38,000 in France, for example. But for the UK, this is still too many. Lloyds Bank seems to [...]