Les Matheson takes McEwan’s old job at RBS February 11, 2014 RBS’s UK retail banking arm will be run on a permanent basis by Les Matheson, the bank said yesterday. The position was held by Ross McEwan, now chief executive of the whole bank. Since that appointment Matheson has headed the unit on an interim basis. He was previously in charge of products and marketing in [...]
Relief for Austria as S&P rules out downgrade on banking woes February 11, 2014 AUSTRIA’S government will not face a downgrade if it takes over bad assets at broken bank Hypo Alpe Adria, credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s said today. The government had hoped other banks would back a so-called bad bank solution for the nationalised lender’s loans. But after the rest of the industry refused to join in, [...]
Failed credit union savers rescued February 11, 2014 The 400 savers who put cash in the Wantsum Credit Union are being rescued by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The members of the union, which is based in Kent, had a total of around £100,000 saved. The union was declared in default yesterday, and the FSCS said the majority of savers should have their money back [...]
Help to Buy for Islamic loans February 11, 2014 Sharia compliant home purchase plans can now be given under the Help to Buy mortgage scheme, the Treasury said yesterday. Under the scheme the government agrees to take on some of the risk of the loan on mortgages of up to 95 per cent of the home’s value. Under the home purchase plans, also known [...]
StanChart picks private bank boss February 11, 2014 Standard Chartered yesterday appointed Michael Benz as group head of private banking. The wealth manager was previously designated chairman for Asia at Julius Baer. Before that Benz ran Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s wealth management operations in countries including Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and India. He begins on 17 February.
Brevan shuts up emerging fund after a poor run February 11, 2014 EUROPE’S biggest hedge fund has closed its $2.3bn flagship emerging market fund after it lost millions of dollars due to poor performance, another victim of the recent rout in emerging market stocks. Brevan Howard, which manages $40bn, has shut the emerging markets strategies master fund with immediate effect after it plunged 15 per cent last [...]
PayPal rival Stripe aims for the currency crown with expansion February 11, 2014 STRIPE, the online payments firm started by two Irish brothers in their mid-20s and valued at $1.75bn (£1.06bn) last month, has expanded its payment services from four to over 130 currencies. “This is something phenomenally important to businesses, because when you’re selling to an increasingly global audience you want to be able to make transactions [...]
Data growth for Cable & Wireless February 11, 2014 Cable & Wireless Communications said it grew mobile revenue by four per cent in the third quarter, driven by the increasing popularity of mobile data in its biggest markets Panama and the Caribbean the company said yesterday. The telecoms group said it remained confident on its outlook for the year to end-March, underpinned by continued [...]
Alibaba to launch US website February 11, 2014 Alibaba is set to launch a US e-commerce website through its subsidiaries Vendio and Auctiva, which are in turn part of the Alibaba.com business group. Alibaba has been ramping up its international expansion with various acquisitions. At the same time China’s dominant e-commerce company is gearing up for an expected public offering later this year [...]
Vodafone expands fund transfers February 11, 2014 Vodafone, money transfer facility M-Pesa, and MoneyGram will give M-Pesa users the ability to transfer funds globally in a deal announced yesterday. Users will be able to send money to an M-Pesa account direct, using an app or MoneyGram’s website. M-Pesa is used by direct money transfer charities like Give Directly, but is predominantly used [...]
