Wages and domestic inflation pressure to rise says Bank of England boss June 7, 2018 Wages for British workers will rise further in the coming months, stoking inflationary pressures, a top Bank of England policymaker said today, in a sign the central bank still has its sights set on an interest rate hike. Sir Dave Ramsden, a member of the rate-setting monetary policy committee (MPC), said that he expects wage [...]
Government taps former Citigroup boss to lure overseas investors June 6, 2018 Citigroup banker Mark Slaughter has been appointed by the government to spearhead efforts to attract more investment into the UK. The Department for International Trade (DIT) has brought Slaughter on as director general for investment. He is currently Citigroup's global corporate and investment banking vice chairman and will join the department next week, charged with [...]
Euribor developer says it was ‘natural’ for banks to consider their commercial interests in rate submissions June 4, 2018 A senior executive responsible for developing the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor), which became the centre of a rigging scandal, has said it was "just natural" for traders to take into account their banks' commercial interests when submitting rates into the market. Helmut Konrad, a former president of the ACI in Germany who helped [...]
DEBATE: Will mid-market firms struggle to access finance if banks like Barclays tighten lending criteria? June 4, 2018 Will mid-market firms struggle to access finance if banks like Barclays tighten lending criteria? Jake Wombwell-Povey, chief executive and co-founder of Goji Investments, says YES. Many firms still rely on high street banks for their banking services. Although awareness of alternative providers is growing, traditional lenders are still most companies’ first option, and many rely [...]
Former Barclays Euribor trader describes losing “a lot of money” in first trade May 29, 2018 A former Barclays trader who stands accused of rigging the European Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor) for commercial gain told a London court she feared losing her job when she lost "a lot of money" on her first trade. Danish national Sisse Bohart, 40, told Southwark crown court that despite being given a target of raising [...]
FTSE100 opens lower after bank holiday, as Italian chaos weighs heavy May 29, 2018 The FTSE 100 fell nearly 0.8 per cent in early trading as investors reacted to a turbulent weekend in Italy and Spain following yesterday's British bank holiday. The blue chip index was down 60.84 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 7,669.44 in early trading while the midcap FTSE 250 index also tumbled, down 0.9 per [...]
Online wealth manager Moneyfarm raises £40m in round led by Allianz as FCA scrutiny fails to deter investment in robo-advice May 29, 2018 Digital wealth manager Moneyfarm has today grabbed £40m in a funding round led by the asset management arm of insurance giant Allianz. The funding round – which saw contributions from new parties Endeavor Catalyst and Italy’s Fondazione di Sardegna, as well as existing investors United Ventures and Cabot Square Capital – is the largest to [...]
Analysts pour scorn on rumours of a tie-up between Barclays and Standard Chartered May 24, 2018 Barclays and Standard Chartered? Rarely has a mooted deal been so swiftly dismissed by City analysts. The words “madness,” “mystifying,” and “farfetched” were found in most of the notes distributed by those whose job it is to keep a watchful eye on the sector. And yet the idea exists, in some minds at least, else [...]
Time at the Bar: New heads of Bar Council elected May 23, 2018 New leaders have been elected to head the Bar Council, the body that represents barristers in England and Wales. Richard Atkins QC, whose practice focuses on serious crime and regulatory cases, has been elected to chair the Bar Council in 2019. He specialises in murder trials; including gangland, sado-masochistic and domestic killings; terrorism, serious fraud [...]
Barclays Qatari loan fraud charges thrown out by Crown Court May 22, 2018 Barclays celebrated a significant victory over the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) yesterday when the Crown Court dismissed charges surrounding the bank’s huge capital raising during the financial crisis a decade ago. The SFO alleged that a $3bn (£2.2bn) loan Barclays gave Qatari investors led to the Qatari acquisition of shares in a Barclays fundraising, an [...]