Ted Baker lenders appoint advisers to review prospects January 8, 2020 Ted Baker’s lenders have appointed advisers to review the struggling high street retailer’s prospects. Lenders including Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have lined up restructuring experts FTI Consultants to lead an independent business review to explore the health of the company, Sky News reported. The review could take several weeks, and may lead to [...]
Climate change: Barclays shareholders call on bank to stop financing fossil fuel firms January 8, 2020 A group of Barclays shareholders have taken formal action against the bank, demanding it stops financing fossil fuel companies that are not aligned with the Paris Agreement’s climate change goals. A group of 11 institutional investors managing over £130bn of assets, coupled with over 100 individual investors have launched the shareholder resolution – thought to [...]
Boris Johnson to tell Von Der Leyen trade deal must be done without extension January 7, 2020 Boris Johnson will tell the new European Commission president that a post-Brexit trade deal must be concluded before the end of December 2020, refusing to consider any extension. The Prime Minister is hosting Ursula Von Der Leyen in Downing Street this afternoon, in the pair’s first meeting since she took the reins from Jean-Claude Juncker. [...]
Lloyds Bank commits to £18bn of lending for UK companies January 6, 2020 Lloyds Bank has committed to lending £18bn to UK businesses over the course of 2020, the same amount as it promised in 2019 despite the uncertainties of the year ahead. The high-street bank said the money will be lent to companies across the spectrum, from “micro-businesses” to large multinationals. Read more: Barclays, Lloyds and RBS [...]
Premier Oil hires Rothschild as loan repayment deadline looms January 5, 2020 North Sea explorer Premier Oil has hired Rothschild bankers as the firm nears a deadline to pay back nearly £2bn in loans. The Sunday Telegraph first reported that a number of hedge funds, including Asia Research and Capital Management (ARCM), have bought $90m debt from Premier backer Barclays in recent weeks. Read more: Premier Oil [...]
Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers locked out of accounts January 1, 2020 Some customers of Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland were left unable to access their accounts on New Year’s day after Lloyds Bank suffered an outage. The issue left many customers exasperated, coming on New Year’s Day, a public holiday when bank branches are closed. Across its platforms, Lloyds group has around nine million online [...]
Brexit bill: MPs to vote on Boris Johnson’s deal in second reading December 20, 2019 MPs will today vote on Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill just more than a month before 31 January deadline. The withdrawal bill was first introduced to the House of Commons in October and will have its second reading today. Read more: CBI welcomes Prime Minister’s Brexit trade deal deadline MPs will have a chance to debate [...]
Retail sales dip in November despite discounting December 19, 2019 Retail sales dipped last month as UK shoppers showed signs of “discount fatigue” in the run up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The amount spent in the three months to November dropped 0.3 per cent compared to the previous three months. Read more: Are there any signs retailers could be in for a merry [...]
RBS clears out senior leadership at Natwest Markets investment bank December 19, 2019 The chief executive and chief financial officer of Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) underperforming investment bank have stepped down, as new chief executive Alison Rose launches a shakeup of the executive team. The departure of Natwest Markets’ chief executive Chris Marks and chief financial officer Richard Place was announced in a statement on Thursday morning. [...]
Bank of England to set up climate change stress tests December 18, 2019 The UK’s top banks and insurers may be tested together in 2021 for the financial impact of climate change, according to a new Bank of England paper. The tests would include three different scenarios and would assess how firms would deal with more frequent weather events and mass sell-offs of “brown assets” – those considered [...]