Metro Bank is the latest challenger bank to eye London float April 19, 2015 The battle between the "big four" high street lenders and the challengers banks just ratcheted up a notch. New kid on the block Metro Bank is eyeing a £1bn initial public offering on the London stockmarket next year, according to the Telegraph. This comes just five years after it emerged to shake-up Britain's banking landscape. [...]
Barclays U-turn on account fees: Bank will pay customers £4 a month as competition hots up April 14, 2015 Barclays will offer to pay current account customers from next week, intensifying the battle sweeping the high street since the seven-day switching service made it easier to move banks 18 months ago. The bank has been losing customers to rivals through the seven-day service, as other lenders have won clients by offering financial rewards. Barclays’ [...]
Barclays account switch: The customer is king once more – Bottom Line April 14, 2015 An injection of capitalism was all it took. Not long ago, British banks were unpopular and unresponsive, and now they are listening to their customers. How times are changing. Barclays’ decision to radically change its offer to customers by giving them cash marks the latest stage in the development of this market – and shows [...]
Inflation stays at record low of zero in March April 14, 2015 UK PRICES stayed flat in September, weighed down by cheap fuel and a lack of rebound in clothes prices after the January sales. Inflation – as measured by the annual change in the consumer price index (CPI) – was zero per cent in March, according to figures released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics [...]
City Moves for 15 April 2015 | Who’s switching jobs April 14, 2015 Hastings Insurance The insurance firm has announced the appointment of Richard Hoskins as its group chief financial officer. He joins from AIG, where he was chief financial officer of its global commercial insurance business and the Americas region. Hoskins has also held roles at Aviva Group. Euler Hermes UK The credit insurance firm has appointed [...]
FTSE 100 stocks rise again on merger activity – London Report April 14, 2015 MINING stocks helped take the FTSE 100 close to another record high yesterday while potential deal activity also gave the stock market a boost. Miners such as Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton rose 2.8 to 4.1 per cent as metal prices bounced up off their earlier lows. The UK mining index was up three [...]
Weak Chinese data hits FTSE mining stocks – London Report April 13, 2015 THE UK’s top equity index slipped from record highs yesterday as surprisingly weak data from China weighed on mining stocks, with investors also growing cautious before next month’s General Election. The FTSE 100 index, which touched a record high of 7,095.36 points on Friday, retreated 25.47 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 7,064.30 points by [...]
The death of cash: Brits pay by card and mobile instead April 13, 2015 Cash makes up just £18.33 of every £100 spent in the UK, Halifax said today, as card and digital payments take over. The rise of digital payments is starkly outlined in new figures from the bank, which show how quickly Britons have adopted cutting-edge technologies. Cheques account for just 1.2 per cent of all current [...]
General Election 2015: Labour’s non-dom tax change would hit some of UK’s biggest banks April 12, 2015 Labour's pledge to scrap non-dom tax status would affect top employees at some of London’s leading banks, including RBS, Lloyds and Barclays. Under the non-domicile rule, those with a permanent home abroad currently do not have to pay UK tax on overseas earnings. Only their UK income is taxed, although they have to pay £30,000 [...]
City Moves for 10 April 2015 | Who’s switching jobs April 9, 2015 Payne Hicks Beach Kathryn Bradbury has been appointed partner in the law firm’s private client department. She specialises in immigration, and joins from Gherson. Bradbury has particular expertise in EU free movement cases, and has also worked at the Legal Aid Agency. Peel Hunt The corporate broking, advisory and trading house has announced two senior [...]