Return of the dividend: Growth might be muted in the UK, but foreign firms are paying out December 2, 2015 The UK has a very good track record when it comes to companies paying dividends. Businesses understand the importance of looking after shareholders, who in turn understand the value of either reinvesting those dividends (which account for two-thirds of total returns over the very long term) or using them to supplement an income. So it’s [...]
Bank of England signals end of the financial crisis era December 1, 2015 The Bank of England has declared the banking crisis officially over, and yesterday sent Britain’s biggest lenders a dovish message on future capital requirements. Following the publication of a biannual Financial Stability Report, the UK's central bank signalled an “inflection point” that marks the conclusion of the post-financial crisis era. Bank of England governor Mark Carney said British [...]
Bank of England to act if needed on the buy-to-let market December 1, 2015 The Bank of England (BoE) has said it’s ready to act if it feels the booming buy-to-let mortgage market is getting out of control. Threadneedle Street’s Prudential Regulation Authority said it was reviewing banks’ lending criteria. The market for buy-to-let mortgages has ballooned 10 per cent in the first nine months of this year. Although there [...]
Libor scandal trader Tom Hayes’s lawyer tells Court of Appeal he was denied a fair trial in an appeal against the 14-year sentence on eight charges of conspiracy to defraud December 1, 2015 Tom Hayes’s name was back in court again today, as his lawyers argued to the Court of Appeal that the former trader was denied a fair trial. According to Reuters, the legal team for Hayes, who was found guilty of eight charges of conspiracy to defraud and sentenced in August to 14 years in jail [...]
At the close: FTSE 100 up on banks following the Bank of England stress tests December 1, 2015 The FTSE 100 closed up today, led higher by banks after five of seven banks that took part in the Bank of England's stress tests passed. The UK's top blue-chip index rose 0.62 per cent, to 6,395 points. Five participating banks – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Santander UK and the Nationwide building society – all passed [...]
Why does the UK have a productivity puzzle? The skills gap is one factor – but there are many more issues at play here December 1, 2015 Classical economic theory talks about three “factors of production”, land, labour and capital – the ingredients required to produce things. In a speech last month Ben Broadbent, deputy governor for monetary policy at the Bank of England, correctly identified changes to the labour market as one of the causes of weakness in productivity growth [...]
RBS, Nationwide, HSBC, Barclays, Standard Chartered and HSBC share prices rise after Bank of England stress tests December 1, 2015 Shares in British lenders rose today, after results of a Bank of England stress test showed all the banks it tested had passed. Shares in Lloyds rose 2.8 per cent to 75.01p in early trading, while HSBC rose 1.4 per cent to 537.2p and Barclays rose 2.5 per cent to 228.75p. RBS and Standard Chartered, [...]
Bank of England stress tests: RBS and Standard Chartered flagged for “capital inadequacies” as Bank warns new capital requirements could be introduced next year December 1, 2015 British banks could be required to bolster their capital reserves by billions of pounds as soon as next year, the Bank of England said this morning, as it revealed that two of the country’s largest lenders had narrowly avoided failing its latest round of stress tests. The Bank is actively considering raising the so-called countercyclical buffer, [...]
Deferred pay-offs: Executive pay should be linked to long-run performance December 1, 2015 With activists anxious for the UN’s climate change conference in Paris to reach an agreement limiting the average global temperature increase to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, many commentators warn against the catastrophe which awaits us, and the benefits which might come from deferred gratification. Long espoused by successful business leaders, like Amazon’s Jeff [...]
Tandem digital bank granted licence by the Bank of England November 30, 2015 Another digital bank is has been granted a licence to operate in the UK. Tandem, a digital retail bank, has been given its licence by the Bank of England and will now begin the process of constructing its technology platform and meeting capital requirements. Ricky Knox, co-founder of Tandem, said: “We are very excited to [...]