Interserve rescue plans boosted by white knight’s £140m debt trade | City A.M. March 4, 2018 A Scottish brewing tycoon has snapped up £140m of Interserve’s bank debt in a bid to save the troubled outsourcer. Multi-millionaire Punch Taverns founder Alan McIntosh has hoovered up debt on secondary markets from the likes of Barclays and Lloyds through family office investment fund Emerald Investment Partners. Keen to reduce their exposure to the [...]
Natwest to launch new fintech accelerator in London in April February 26, 2018 Natwest bank will launch new fintech accelerators in four cities across the UK in April, including one in the capital, it announced today. The bank will launch units in London, Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh, supporting up to 80 fintech firms with a "technology team mentor" and access to government contacts. The six- to 18-month acceleration [...]
Goldman Sachs mulling sale and leaseback of new London headquarters February 26, 2018 Goldman Sachs is considering selling its massive new headquarters in London and leasing it back. The investment bank’s new London office, which functions as its European headquarters, could fetch as much as £1bn, Bloomberg first reported. Goldman currently employs more than 6,000 staff in London, and has not announced how many, if any, jobs will [...]
Kanye West and Lloyd’s of London settle $10m lawsuit over cancelled tour dates February 15, 2018 Kanye West and Lloyd’s of London insurers settled their $10m (£7.1m) lawsuit this week, after the lawyers of both parties requested the California judge to settle the case. The dispute started August 2017 after West fell ill and cancelled the remaining 21 stops of his Saint Pablo Tour in 2016. He checked into the UCLA [...]
Lloyd’s of London insurer Lancashire share price falls on year of losses and challenging outlook February 15, 2018 Lloyd’s of London insurer Lancashire swung into the red today after counting the cost of a string of natural catastrophes and warning 2018 would be challenging. Shares dived over four per cent as dividends were slashed. Net annual operating losses for 2017 were $86m (£61m), compared with profits of $144m in 2016. Investors will see [...]
Vote of confidence? This Japanese bank just signed for a huge new office in the City February 13, 2018 A Japanese banking giant has given a vote of confidence to the capital by signing for a vast new office space at the redeveloped Broadgate scheme on Liverpool Street. The European arm of Sumitomo Mitsui will take 161,000 sq ft at 100 Liverpool Street, part of the Broadgate development. The lender will take the first [...]
Metro Bank says it will create 900 new jobs in 2018 February 9, 2018 Metro Bank today said it will create almost 900 new jobs over the course of 2018 as it swims against the tide of big bank branch closures. The challenger bank's plans contrast with those of Lloyds, the largest UK retail banking operation, which this week said it will cut 900 jobs, moving half that number [...]
House prices in UK cities are now less affordable than any time in the last 10 years February 2, 2018 Buying a house in UK cities has reached its least affordable in a decade, new research has shown, after the gap between house prices and average earnings widened further. The average worker in must now spend seven times their earnings to buy a house in a city, figures by Lloyds Bank showed, up from 6.9 [...]
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein: Our Brexit plans will soon reach the point of no return January 25, 2018 Goldman Sachs’ outspoken chief executive has warned the lender’s preparations for Brexit will soon reach a point where things “are not going to be undone”. In an interview with the BBC during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Lloyd Blankfein said Goldman has put measures in place to mitigate against a so-called hard Brexit. “We’ve [...]
Brexit transition deal needed “urgently” to avoid cliff edge warns European banks group January 22, 2018 Politicians on both sides of the Channel must “urgently” agree a Brexit transition deal to avoid a legal and regulatory cliff edge which would cause chaos for firms and threaten financial stability, according to a lobby group for Europe’s biggest banks. The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (Afme), which counts JP Morgan, Lloyds, and [...]