Difficult decision to come from Sunak and Hunt on bank surcharge October 30, 2022 The government has not ruled out reversing a tax cut on the UK’s biggest banks as it scrambles to overfill a huge hole in the public finances. Asked today by City A.M. if chancellor Jeremy Hunt and prime minister Rishi Sunak would commit to cutting the bank surcharge, an effective windfall tax, the Treasury said [...]
Week ahead: Bank of England to rock markets with 75bps rate hike October 30, 2022 Markets are preparing for a steep rate hike by the Bank of England on Thursday, but not as bad as first feared after former prime minister Liz Truss’s tax cutting mini-budget last month. London’s premier FTSE 100 index posted a decent performance last week, adding 1.12 per cent to close at 7,047.67 points, while the [...]
Government eyes bank surcharge U-turn despite Lloyds profits tumbling October 27, 2022 Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, Lloyds Bank, has set aside hundreds of millions of pounds in preparation for a surge in loan defaults caused by the rising cost of living and higher interest rates squeezing household budgets. The lender today said it had banked £668m over the three months to September to absorb souring loans, primarily [...]
Fed pivot hopes fade after US economy returns to strong growth October 27, 2022 The US economy has surprisingly shaken off a series of steep rate rises, indicating the Federal Reserve’s campaign to tame historic high inflation is not over yet, new figures out today reveal. Gross domestic product (GDP) across the pond climbed 2.6 per cent last quarter, swinging from a 0.6 per cent contraction in the three [...]
ECB fires second successive jumbo rate hike in push to end Europe’s cheap money addiction October 27, 2022 The European Central Bank (ECB) today fired its second jumbo rate hike in a row in another sign that it is putting years of ultra-cheap money to the sword. The central bank that oversees the financial system of the 19 countries using the euro lifted borrowing costs 75 basis points to 1.5 per cent as [...]
Credit Suisse plots 9,000 job cuts and £3.5bn share sale in final attempt to save business October 27, 2022 Scandal-stricken lender Credit Suisse is looking to raise 4bn Swiss francs (£3.5bnn) by offloading stock as it slashes 9000 jobs and spins off its investment bank in a bid to steady the ship after heavy losses this year.
FTSE 100 weighed down by banks and pound strengthens on Sunak’s second day in No 10 October 26, 2022 London’s FTSE 100 was dragged down today by investors ditching shares in the UK’s largest banks despite a strong set of results, but managed to squeeze gains thanks to a late rally. The capital’s premier index jumped 0.61 per cent to over the 7,000 mark points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is [...]
Deutsche Bank posts ninth successive quarterly profit as turnaround efforts yield gains October 26, 2022 ONE OF Europe’s biggest lender’s Deutsche Bank has notched its ninth successive quarterly profit, marking a big turnaround after years of being mired in scandal and losses. The German giant said today profits hit €1.12bn (£975m) in the three months to September, up from €194m (£167m) in the same period last year. Deutsche Bank’s profits [...]
UK banks return to amassing default reserves amid inflation and mortgage crunch October 26, 2022 Barclays said profits had jumped six per cent in the third quarter of the year as it became the latest lender to see performance buoyed by rising interest rates.
Pound surges and UK debt costs tumble on Sunak’s first day as PM October 25, 2022 Rishi Sunak on his first day as prime minister promised “hope” everyday after addressing the UK’s economic challenges, but it already seemed that way for the pound today. Sterling surged as much as 1.8 per cent against the US dollar, pushing it far above the $1.03 record it reached after former PM Liz Truss’s disastrous [...]