Article 50 hearing: Parliament had plenty of chances to ask for Brexit trigger legislation, says attorney general December 5, 2016 Parliament had the opportunity to push for legislation to be put in place to trigger Article 50, but choose not to, the attorney general has told the Supreme Court. On the first day of what is due to be a four-day hearing, Jeremy Wright argued the government's wish to start the UK's formal withdrawal procedure from the EU [...]
Italian banks fall as Monte dei Paschi’s future hangs in the balance following Matteo Renzi’s resignation December 5, 2016 Most people aren't out of bed yet, but it's already a dramatic morning for Italy's troubled lenders, who are facing more uncertainty following the result of the country's referendum. The FTSE Italia all-share banks index was down 4.3 per cent in early trading in the country after the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi threatened another setback in [...]
Italian PM Matteo Renzi resigns after crushing referendum defeat December 5, 2016 The euro dived to a 20-month low in the early hours of this morning after Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he would resign following a crushing defeat in the country’s referendum on constitutional reform. Voters comprehensively rejected Renzi’s flagship proposals to streamline parliament, predominantly by cutting the size and power of the Senate. At the time [...]
Article 50 rematch: Government heads to top court with revamped Brexit argument December 5, 2016 All eyes will be on the Supreme Court today as the attorney general doubles-down on the government's claim that the Prime Minister does not need parliamentary approval to trigger Article 50. Jeremy Wright will be the first to put forward arguments in the four-day hearing, while lawyers for pro-parliament activists who won their argument at the [...]
Ownership of over 40,000 London properties shrouded in secrecy December 5, 2016 Thousands of London's properties are held by overseas companies registered in so-called secrecy havens, obscuring the details of their true ownership, a report out today has found. The report from Transparency International UK and Thomson Reuters identified 44,022 land titles owned by 23,653 overseas companies in Land Registry data. Of these, 91 per cent of companies, holding 40,098 of the land [...]
Retail shareholders hold out for better deal in RBS lawsuit December 4, 2016 A subset of shareholders suing RBS over how it handled a financial crisis fundraising are holding out for a better deal, despite other investors closing in on an out of court offer. Shareholders are currently due to face off against the bank in court next March, claiming the lender misled them into taking part in a 2008 [...]
Italian banks still struggling along as country heads to the polls December 4, 2016 Italian lenders have been scrambling to bolster their position as the country heads to the polls today to vote in its constitution-changing referendum. The country's banks, which are burdened with some €360bn (£301.5bn) in non-performing loans between them, have been suffering for some time and there are concerns a 'No' vote could send more unwanted shocks [...]
(Banco) Popular decision? Shares rise as chairman Angel Ron ousted December 1, 2016 Shareholders can be a harsh bunch sometimes; shares in Spain's Banco Popular shot up today after the board voted to oust its long-serving chairman. Angel Ron has sat at the helm of the struggling bank for more than a decade, but his leadership, include poor progress in ditching the lender's toxic assets, has recently sparked grumbles from [...]
UBS wraps most of its wealth management business into Frankfurt hub December 1, 2016 UBS today revealed it is consolidating the majority of its wealth management business into one legal entity in Frankfurt. The move will merge together the Swiss banking giant's subsidiaries across Germany, Italy, Luxembourg (which included the branches in Austria, Denmark and Sweden already), the Netherlands and Spain. UBS hopes the move will help to simplify its [...]
Treasury to introduce £1m penalty for breaching financial sanctions December 1, 2016 Those who breach serious financial sanctions could be slapped with a seven figure penalty as of next year. The Treasury's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) will, from next April, be able to impose penalties of £1m or 50 per cent of the value of the breach, whichever is higher, for such breaches. The UK currently has [...]
