It’s time to purge the stock market’s noticeboard of PR puff and let activist investors report on what really matters August 12, 2016 It's not exactly needle-in-a-haystack stuff: trawl through the reams of regulatory news announcements on most days and you will spot numerous examples of public relations puff masquerading as crucial investor information. So it’s disappointing that this week has thrown into sharp focus yet another of the perversities of London’s listings regime – and one which [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland wins strong demand for first post-Brexit CoCo offer August 11, 2016 The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has raised an extra £2bn in emergency capital in the first round of fund raising for a UK lender since the EU referendum. The bank, which performed badly in the recent European Banking Authority (EBA) stress tests, has sold $2.65bn (£2bn) worth of "Contingent Convertible capital notes" – or CoCos – to build [...]
City Moves for 11 August 2016 | Who’s switching jobs August 11, 2016 The Crown Estate UK real estate business, The Crown Estate, has appointed Robin Budenberg as chairman. Robin is a prominent figure from the UK finance sector and his appointment follows the retirement of Sir Stuart Hampson. He is currently London chairman of Centerview Partners and a non-executive director for Charity Bank and the Big Society Trust. Robin is the [...]
Four reasons why you should think about switching your bank account August 10, 2016 Banks are going to offer customers more sophisticated digital products following an order from competition chiefs. Every high street bank alongside the only-online “challenger” banks will soon have to launch an app where customers can see all of their accounts in one place. It will also allow people to see better deals among competitor banks, so [...]
City Moves for 10 August 2016 | Who’s switching jobs August 10, 2016 INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS Ken Olisa OBE, founder of technology merchant bank Restoration Partners and Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, has been appointed deputy chairman of the Institute of Directors. Ken will work alongside the chairman, Lady Barbara Judge and the incoming director general, Stephen Martin, in setting the IoD’s strategy. Ken's technology career spans over 30 years, [...]
William Hill rejects £3.6bn takeover offer from Rank Group and 888 Holdings August 9, 2016 The William Hill board has unanimously rejected a takeover offer from Rank Group and 888 Holdings that it said "significantly undervalued" the bookmaker. In a statement, William Hill confirmed it received a £3.6bn proposal from a Rank and 888 consortium, which was first reported this morning. The offer, which valued William Hill at 364p per share, was at [...]
Banking bazooka? CMA report great for fintech, costly for banks August 9, 2016 The competition watchdog has today handed fintech startups a bazooka for their mission of disrupting banks, with new rules for making data more open to improve customer choice. The so-called big four – HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland – and other smaller high street banks will have to work together to create standards for sharing [...]
CMA banking review pushes up banks’ share prices August 9, 2016 Shares in the UK's largest lenders rose this morning, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its "shake up" of the UK's banking sector. Shares in Barclays were up two per cent at 160.6p in lunchtime trading, while RBS rose 1.9 per cent to 188.2p. Meanwhile, Lloyds and HSBC both edged up 0.5 per cent, to [...]
How the big high street banks responded to the CMA report August 9, 2016 There's been a lot of noise in the banking sector this morning, as people try to digest the recommendations laid out in the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) final report from its retail banking investigation. Among the most eye-catching announcements was that of the Open Banking programme, which will enable personal and small business customers to share [...]
How have bank share prices reacted to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) retail banking investigation? August 9, 2016 Investors were decidedly nonplussed by the Competition and Market Authority (CMA)'s recommendations for an "open banking" revolution in the UK's retail banking sector this morning. Share prices at London-listed organisations moved in most directions, with the big lenders slightly outperforming the market, but challengers heading both up and down – suggesting traders aren't convinced the CMA's work [...]