Is Bitcoin on track to take pole position as the wheels come off US banks? May 5, 2023 Jason Deane, resplendent in racing overalls, completes a circuit of the week's twists, turns and chicanery in the world of digital finance.
FTSE 100 close: London index slips despite Shell rising after posting £7.6bn profit May 4, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 tumbled today despite investors piling into Shell after it launched a fresh buyback funded from its huge first quarter profits. The capital’s premier index fell 1.04 per cent to 7,707.52 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, dropped 0.62 per [...]
Pacwest explores potential sale as US banking turmoil looks set to roll on May 4, 2023 After its share price tanked 50 per cent yesterday, Pacwest confirmed late last night that it was exploring "all options to maximise shareholder value" following reports that it was looking at a potential sale.
Keeping the crown on: the drive for social mobility in financial services May 4, 2023 Who has been watching ‘The Gold’ on BBC iPlayer? Aside from it being a great bit of TV, there was one quote that stuck in my mind. “I do a lot of reading, Micky, about England, about the way it was. And the funny thing is, right, this country, it wasn’t always like this, there [...]
Virgin Money shares slide as profit falls by a quarter on higher provisions for bad loans May 4, 2023 Virgin Money’s pretax profit slipped by a quarter in the six months to March as the bank set aside more funds to cope with expected impairment losses. Richard Branson’s challenger bank recorded £144m in provisions for bad loans compared to just £21m in the same period last year. Its shares were trading over five per cent [...]
Ex-Barclays boss: New tech and social media have power to ‘turbocharge’ bank runs May 4, 2023 New technologies and social media have the power to “turbocharge” bank runs, former Barclays boss Antony Jenkins has said, commenting on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Speaking to City A.M., Jenkins said “technology is a wonderful thing” that has drastically improved the experience for financial services customers in many different ways. But while [...]
Metro Bank reports continued profitability as turnaround efforts slowly bear fruit May 3, 2023 Metro Bank recorded its second consecutive quarter of profitability as the bank’s turnaround plans continue to bear fruit. Although it did not provide details, Metro Bank confirmed in a trading update today it was profitable on a statutory basis in the first quarter of this year. This comes after the bank reported profitability in the [...]
Banks cannot behave like start ups using a business model based on short term profits May 3, 2023 Banks are betting on short-term profits, and this is leading to their collapse. If we don't want to lose our small players, like we did with SVB, we need to recapitalise banks, writes Hugo Llewelyn
Tide turns against Ping An as HSBC’s pay outs convince investors, analysts, and boost the share price May 2, 2023 The tide seemed to turn against Ping An today as HSBC recorded bumper profits and a major shareholder rejected the Chinese insurer’s spin-off campaign.
HSBC share price soars after profit surge and bumper buyback May 2, 2023 HSBC has announced its first quarterly dividend since the pandemic and a $2bn share buyback.