35,000 customers switch banks in first week of new scheme September 26, 2013 According to reports, around 35,000 Britons have moved their current accounts during the first week of a new industry switching scheme aimed at promoting greater competition in the banking sector. Last week the Payments Council announced the launch of the Current Account Switching Service, which involves 33 banks and building societies, including Halifax, Barclays, Bank [...]
British retail sales climb to a 15-month high September 25, 2013 THE BRITISH retail sector’s recovery strengthened at the start of this month, with a leading industry survey pointing to the fastest sales growth since June last year. Nearly half – 46 per cent – of shops surveyed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said that sales were higher than at the same point last [...]
Barclays wins Amec as latest broking client September 25, 2013 BARCLAYS continued the growth of its corporate broking business by winning the mandate to act as joint broker to Amec, the FTSE 100 listed engineering group, alongside Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML). The appointment comes just days after Amec abandoned plans to make a £700m bid for Kentz, the oil services group. Amec was [...]
British banks accused in US of mis-selling September 24, 2013 BARCLAYS and RBS are among nine banks accused of misrepresenting mortgage-backed securities worth hundreds of millions of dollars sold to US credit unions in 2006 and 2007, court papers filed yesterday show. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) claims five credit unions collapsed because they purchased faulty securities, and the investment banks underwriting or selling [...]
City Moves for 25 September 2013 | Who’s switching jobs September 24, 2013 Rowanmoor Group The pensions company has announced the appointment of Matthew Robinson as national sales director. Robinson has over 24 years’ experience in financial services, gained with Aegon UK and Scottish Equitable. Jones Lang LaSalle The real estate investment firm has recruited David McCosh as a director in its retail team. He joins from Stephen Kane. DAC Beachcroft [...]
Parcels deliver Royal Mail’s future September 24, 2013 THE PRIVATISATION of Royal Mail started to become a likely event in May this year after the restructured group posted profits of £403m, up from £152m the previous year. “When we saw that profit margins had gone from around one per cent to 4.4 per cent we realised that the time was right to act,” [...]
Barclays names Peter Horrell as head of wealth management September 23, 2013 BARCLAYS said yesterday that it had appointed Peter Horrell as the chief executive of its wealth and investment management division. Horrell was named the interim chief executive of the business in April and took up the post at the beginning of May. At the time, Barclays announced plans to restructure its wealth business so it [...]
City Moves for 24 September 2013 | Who’s switching jobs September 23, 2013 Rockspring The property investment company has announced the appointment of David Thomas as European director responsible for its fund accounting team. Thomas was most recently at PwC, where he spent nine years specialising in investment management and real estate. Barclays The bank has recruited Peter Horrell as chief executive of its wealth and investment management [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 23 September 2013 September 22, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Twitter seeks pre-IPO credit line Twitter is in discussions with banks about a new credit facility that could run into hundreds of millions of dollars, giving the internet company extra flexibility ahead of its initial public offering. High quality global journalism requires investment. Sources familiar with the discussions say that Twitter is in [...]
Lambert wants US banks to join standards body September 22, 2013 RICHARD Lambert, former director general of the Confederation of British Industry, who was appointed by Britain’s biggest banks to set up a new independent banking standards body on Thursday, is calling for the big US banks to sign up. The body will be independent from the banking industry, and has been initiated following a recommendation [...]