City Moves: Who’s switching jobs in the Square Mile today? October 29, 2021 City A.M.’s Millie Turner provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every morning. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. GCA Altium Global investment bank GCA Altium has bolstered its London team with the appointment of a consumer mergers and acquisitions (M&A) expert as its new director. Joining the helm, Tom Barnard is set to work directly with managing director and [...]
Reserve release boosts Lloyds profits October 28, 2021 The release of reserves set aside to deal with an expected wave of pandemic-induced defaults boosted Lloyds’ profits. Profit before tax at Britain’s biggest mortgage lender in the three months to September climbed around £1bn compared to the same period last year. Lloyds’ bottom line was raised by the release of over £80m in reserves [...]
London’s Storfund lands £300m mega-deal for ecommerce marketplace financing October 27, 2021 UK fintech Storfund, which optimises the cash cycle for merchants selling on ecommerce marketplaces, has struck a £300m debt funding deal with Fasanara Capital. It’s the latest in a string of investments by Fasanara into e-commerce lending platforms, and marks a significant step up from Storfund’s last £26.5m funding round in February, led by Union Bancaire [...]
Santander beats forecasts following strong UK performance October 27, 2021 Spanish bank Santander smashed profit expectations for the third quarter driven by robust lending activity in its mortgage unit. The lender pulled in more than £1.4bn in pre-tax profits in the year to September, up nearly 400 per cent. Over the same period last year, profits were just £299m. A red hot UK housing market, [...]
Nearly 60 per cent of firms will miss UK net zero target, says Microsoft report October 27, 2021 Just over 40 per cent of UK firms are on track to meet the government’s net zero target of 2050, new research from Microsoft and the University of London has revealed. The figures suggest that the country’s net zero efforts may be far more difficult to achieve if the majority (59 per cent) of firms [...]
THG ramps up governance overhaul and begins search for independent chair October 26, 2021 UK e-commerce company THG said this morning it has appointed a consulting firm to begin a search for a new independent chair for the company, in its latest attempt to appease City investors with doubts about the governance and transparency of the business. Alongside its third quarter results this morning, the group announced it had [...]
Bankers on track for record bonuses this Christmas October 24, 2021 City bankers could take home a bumper payout in time for Christmas following a year of record dealmaking and capital raising activity. With many city banks gearing up for bonus discussions in the coming weeks industry experts have predicted that bonuses could reach their highest level in over a decade, the Telegraph first reported. It [...]
Deutsche Bank Libor whistleblower awarded record $200m payout October 22, 2021 US watchdog the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has awarded a record almost $200m to a former Deutsche Bank employee who raised the alarm about Libor-rigging, in the biggest-ever US whistleblower payout. The regulator said the payment had been made for “specific, credible and timely original information” that “significantly contributed” to an already “open investigation” [...]
Global deal making frenzy lifts Barclays profits to record high October 21, 2021 Barlcays has ridden the wave of a booming global deal making frenzy to post its strongest ever third quarter results. The UK banking behemoth registered a pre-tax profit of £6.9bn in the year to the end of September, its best take ever. The standout performance was driven by Barclays’ investment banking division posting its best [...]
UK banks’ earnings season is tough one to call October 20, 2021 Wall Street’s biggest banks have reaped the rewards of a booming deal environment, the release of loan loss reserves and swelling deposits. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and JPMorgan all flexed their muscles as they kicked off US earnings season last week. Now, it is the turn of their British pretenders, starting tomorrow with the [...]