Bank of Ireland keeps deposits at lower cost February 20, 2012 BANK of Ireland said yesterday it was attracting deposits, cutting costs and expected home loan arrears to peak this year, raising hopes Ireland’s biggest lender had turned a corner after a 60 per cent drop in operating profit in 2011. The only Irish bank to avoid nationalisation after an unprecedented property crash, Bank of Ireland [...]
Dresdner parent Commerzbank defends bonus cutting stance February 20, 2012 THE former Dresdner Kleinwort Investment Bank (DKIB) staff demanding €50m (£41.8m) in unpaid bonuses are seeking “rewards for failure”, the high court was told yesterday. Tom Linden, QC, representing parent company Commerzbank, said the “promise” by the German lender to pay a minimum bonus pool of €400m for 2008 was a “non-binding commitment” and that [...]
Santander gets £1.5m FSA fine February 20, 2012 THE FSA has fined Santander £1.5m for failing to label its financial products clearly and being too slow to respond when it discovered the fact. The City watchdog says the bank did not sufficiently clarify whether buyers of some products were covered by a financial industry insurance scheme. The bank disagrees but will not appeal.
Santander UK unable to get back bonuses February 20, 2012 LLOYDS has announced plans to punish its former management for losses incurred due to a customer mis-selling scandal – but its current executives have escaped a similar penalty for their role in the same scandal at Santander UK. Santander UK, the former home of many of Lloyds’ current top executives, has found itself unable to [...]
WHY ARE LLOYDS DIRECTORS LOSING PART OF THEIR BONUSES? February 20, 2012 Q. WHAT HAS LLOYDS’ REMUNERATION COMMITTEE DECIDED? A. In response to pressure from the FSA, Lloyds has decided to “claw back” a chunk of the bonuses it awarded to some senior executives to reflect the huge £3.2bn loss the bank has suffered as a result of mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI) to thousands of consumers. [...]
Leaders: Open up EU for jobs February 20, 2012 DAVID Cameron and 11 other European Prime Ministers have called on the EU to be more honest about the cost of its regulations, end implicit state guarantees that banks will not be allowed to fail, and open up the services sector to increased competition across the 27 members. In a letter sent to European Commission [...]
Bundesbank: German economy set to grow February 20, 2012 GERMANY’S economic outlook is improving despite the Eurozone crisis and the country’s economic contraction in the final quarter of 2011, the Bundesbank reported yesterday. The national central bank described the country’s current problems as “temporary sluggishness”, arguing that business and consumer surveys pointed to a stable or positive picture. “This more positive environment should remain [...]
ECB bond buys at close to zero February 20, 2012 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) kept its government bond purchases to an absolute minimum last week, spending less than €150m (£125.4m) for the third week running. The ECB has all but halted its purchases of troubled Eurozone debt over the last month and a half, following both a substantial improvement in key bond markets, and [...]
French business more confident February 20, 2012 BUSINESS confidence in France held steady in February, according to statistics agency INSEE, suggesting the economic slowdown may have bottomed out. The business climate index stayed at 91 yesterday – below its long-term average of 100 for the sixth month in a row, but suggesting conditions are no longer deteriorating. However Belgian consumer confidence declined [...]
Hungary closer to IMF support February 20, 2012 HUNGARY expects to arrange financial backing from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of March, a senior economy ministry official said. The country does not expect to need international funding, but the support would help it access markets again at a time when it needs to refinance maturing debts. Its government [...]
