FTSE 100 close: London index slips despite Shell rising after posting £7.6bn profit May 4, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 tumbled today despite investors piling into Shell after it launched a fresh buyback funded from its huge first quarter profits. The capital’s premier index fell 1.04 per cent to 7,707.52 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, dropped 0.62 per [...]
Ex-Barclays boss: New tech and social media have power to ‘turbocharge’ bank runs May 4, 2023 New technologies and social media have the power to “turbocharge” bank runs, former Barclays boss Antony Jenkins has said, commenting on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Speaking to City A.M., Jenkins said “technology is a wonderful thing” that has drastically improved the experience for financial services customers in many different ways. But while [...]
Barclays’ AGM disrupted by climate activists furious over bank’s fossil fuel investments May 3, 2023 Environmental protesters have disrupted banking giant Barclays’ annual meeting for shareholders in central London. A few minutes into the meeting, chairman Nigel Higgins was interrupted by a chorus of singers causing several minutes of disruption. Singing a version of the Spice Girls’ Thank You Very Much, the group sang: “Stop right now, no more oil [...]
Tide turns against Ping An as HSBC’s pay outs convince investors, analysts, and boost the share price May 2, 2023 The tide seemed to turn against Ping An today as HSBC recorded bumper profits and a major shareholder rejected the Chinese insurer’s spin-off campaign.
TRG: Analysts bump up share price target after strong growth May 2, 2023 Shares in Wagamama owner, The Restaurant Group (TRG), soared over 13 per cent this morning as it reported strong growth for the year so far, defying previous concerns from investors. TRG told the market that Wagamama sales were up nine per cent in the first leg of the year and performance in its pubs and [...]
Morgan Stanley to cut another 3,000 jobs as banking layoffs continue May 2, 2023 Morgan Stanley is reportedly set to cut thousands of jobs before the midway point of the year, as the largest round of banking layoffs since the financial crisis looks set to continue. The bank is looking to lay off 3,000 staff, Bloomberg reported, representing about five per cent of the bank’s staff. They are expected [...]
Recession knife-edge: Consumer spending on credit at £1.3bn as house prices continue to slide May 2, 2023 Britain’s better than expected economic performance since the turn of the year is poised to have lured consumers into splashing the cash on their credit cards, new numbers out this week are tipped to show. Families are tipped by markets to have borrowed £1.3bn in March, which would signal spending in the UK is holding [...]
Venkat: Barclays boss at ’95 per cent’ after cancer scare as he warns on UK economy April 30, 2023 The Barclays boss Venkat has said he is running at ’95 per cent’ after a cancer scare at the back end of last year. Coimbatore Sundararajan Venkatakrishnan, better known as Venkat, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma last autumn, but has told The Sunday Times that “my energy levels are 95 per cent – not 100 [...]
Co-op Bank buoyed by interest rate rises as takeover speculation continues April 28, 2023 The Co-operative Bank has reported a jump in income as the latest lender to be boosted by higher interest rates which have pushed up the cost of borrowing. The company said its net interest income – the difference between what a bank charges for loans and pays for savings – surged by a fifth to [...]
Are we genuinely staying ahead of the curve in FinTech by blatantly ignoring Bitcoin? April 28, 2023 Susie Violet Ward is dismayed at the amount of time, effort and money being put into CBDCs, and believes Bitcoin already holds the answers.