Soaring oil prices fuel London markets October 5, 2021 Soaring oil prices fuelled industrial megacaps this morning, pulling London markets away from yesterday’s losses. The capital’s premier index added 0.60 per cent to reach 7,052.75 points during the first couple hours of trading today. The likes of Shell and BP were boosted this morning by oil prices reaching a seven-year high, climbing above $80 [...]
Natwest chairman Sir Howard Davies on the ‘pandexit’ to China, levelling-up and crypto September 30, 2021 Sir Howard Davies is as near as the UK gets to the continental ideal of a polymath who is equally at home in the worlds of arts, industry, finance and politics. While currently serving as the chairman of banking giant Natwest, he is a former director of the LSE, a professor at Sciences Po in [...]
999 for banks: Lenders set to launch customer hotline to tackle fraud September 28, 2021 UK banks are preparing to launch an emergency hotline – dubbed the industry’s answer to 999 – later this week, in an effort to tackle surging levels of fraud. Customers who fear that they have been targeted by fraudsters imitating their bank, or other common guises such as HM Revenue & Customs or a parcel [...]
Cop26 sponsor NatWest named and shamed for links to Arctic oil and gas drillers September 27, 2021 NatWest is under scrutiny from campaigners due to it financing fossil fuel developers while sponsoring the Cop26 climate summit NatWest is the banking sponsor of the Glasgow conference — where countries will pledge to reduce carbon emissions as part of a wideranging global effort — but was still providing underwriting and loans to energy companies [...]
Coutts CEO: When time is money, why we spent it on becoming a certified B Corporation bank September 21, 2021 Coutts recently became the largest UK private bank and wealth manager to become a B Corp. It has taken a lot of people and a lot of work over the last two years to get through the stringent scrutiny and analysis by B Lab UK required for certification. But time is often equated with money [...]
Fed to rein in stimulus measures this year September 19, 2021 The US Federal Reserve is expected to outline its plan for reining in the wave of stimulus measures it launched in response to the Covid crisis this week. Experts are anticipating the Fed will formally recognise its intentions to reduce the pace of its bond buying programme this year after it concludes its rate setting [...]
Bridgepoint revenues and assets both jump by over 50 per cent in first results since IPO September 15, 2021 Private equity firm Bridgepoint’s assets under management swelled by 54 per cent year-on-year to €29bn in the first half of 2021, as the economy recovered from its pandemic lows and investor interest in its alternative asset classes surged. Upon listing in July, the buyout group’s shares soared by up to 30 per cent, and have [...]
Spending watchdog slams government’s Green Homes Scheme September 8, 2021 The National Audit Office (NAO) has criticised the government’s abandoned £1.5bn Green Homes scheme as “rushed,” saying it frustrated homeowners and failed to create jobs. The Green Homes grant scheme was introduced to help meet the Government meet its ambitious target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Buildings account for 19 per cent of UK [...]
US financial markets watchdog chief warns cryptocurrency platforms will not survive without oversight September 1, 2021 The chief of the US financial markets watchdog has warned that cryptocurrency trading platforms are unlikely to have any future unless they collaborate with regulators. Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, that if the industry is going “to have any relevance five and 10 years from now, it’s going to be within [...]
Covid emergency loan schemes push UK challenger bank lending to record high August 30, 2021 Lending by British challenger banks surged to a record high last year driven by businesses rushing to capitalise on emergency Covid loan schemes, according to new figures published today. Research by accountancy firm BDO shows challenger bank lending climbed 11 per cent over the last year to £143bn, a record high, up from £128bn in [...]