“Big four” banks’ small business lending placed under official investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority November 6, 2014 Britain’s biggest banks are to be thrust under the microscope by a watchdog launching an in-depth investigation into personal current accounts and small business lending. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) believes the UK retail banking sector is failing its customers through a "crippling lack of competition and transparency". HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking [...]
Carlyle Group in $700m deal to acquire Dealogic November 5, 2014 GLOBAL asset management firm the Carlyle Group, together with other investors, has agreed a $700m (£438m) deal to buy international financial software company Dealogic and two related joint ventures. The deal is set to land Dealogic’s founders with a windfall of around £250m, City A.M. understands. The founders and management will re-invest equity into the transaction, [...]
PhotoBox picks up Spanish rival Hofmann to boost EU expansion November 4, 2014 Europe’s largest online photo processing company PhotoBox further expanded its reach yesterday with the acquisition of Spanish photobook firm Hofmann. The deal, which is understood to take full advantage of the £50m revolving credit facility PhotoBox secured with RBS and Barclays in June, is part of the firm’s strategy to accelerate international expansion. “We’re keen [...]
Tinder CEO and co-founder Sean Rad is out as boss of IAC’s star startup November 4, 2014 The chief executive and co-founder of hugely successful dating app Tinder has been removed by majority owner IAC. Sean Rad will stay on as president and remains on the board. He will stay on until a new chief executive is found. Rad was ousted from the position after a call last month from IAC’s Sam [...]
JP Morgan: US Department of Justice investigates forex trading as bank sets aside additional $1.3bn for litigation November 4, 2014 JP Morgan has increased the amount of money set aside for potential litigation costs by $1.3bn (£813m) as it revealed the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has launched a criminal investigation into the banks currency trading. The investigation by the DoJ follows a number of similar probes by regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) [...]
UK retailers expect bumper Christmas: John Lewis advert announced and Fortnum & Mason seasonal window revealed November 3, 2014 Nearly three quarters of UK retailers (70 per cent) believe this Christmas will bring better trading than last year due to an improving economy and following a healthy year of trading. Read: A short history of John Lewis' Christmas ad success The figures compare favourably to the 52 per cent of retailers [...]
High-end firms gather for Walpole British Luxury Awards at the V&A November 3, 2014 Model Jodie Kidd led the fashion pack last night as some of the stars of the British luxury industry slipped into their finest and trotted over to the V&A for the annual Walpole British Luxury Awards. The crowd was certainly eclectic; chef Marcus Wareing was there, along with Olympic rower Sir Matthew Pinsent, ex-footballer Sol [...]
HSBC share price falls despite revealing lower-than-expected forex provision November 3, 2014 Shares in HSBC Holdings fell this morning after it revealed it has earmarked $378m (£236m) in provisions for the FCA's probe into its involvement in the foreign exchange scandal, lower than the £400m expected. The provision is the smallest sum announced by a bank so far. The group, which this morning posted pre-tax profits [...]
Barclays share price leaps and bank shares rise as Bank of England recommends raising leverage ratio for UK banks October 31, 2014 The Bank of England (BoE) has revealed proposals to increase the leverage ratio of UK banks to ensure they have a larger safety net to fall back on in the event of another financial crisis. The tough new measures will force banks to keep capital of up to 4.95p for every £1 they lend by [...]
From Danish sperm and Ukip voters to banking stress tests and Tesco’s criminal probe: 10 things we learned this week October 31, 2014 There was plenty keeping us busy this week, and not all of it was Halloween related. What were the top 10 things we learned? 1. An inadvertent comment by a Royal Bank of Canada employee cost the firm several million dollars. The bank had been working on the record-breaking Alibaba IPO but voluntarily withdrew [...]