Treasury committee chairman seeking assurances from high street bank bosses on IT health September 29, 2016 The chairman of the influential Treasury Select Committee (TSC) Andrew Tyrie has written to the chief executives of two of the UK's biggest banks over recent IT failures. City A.M. understands Tyrie will publish letters to the bosses of Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC tomorrow morning. Tyrie has also written to the heads of the financial regulators the Financial Conduct [...]
NatWest’s online banking system is down September 28, 2016 NatWest's online banking system has gone down, leaving several customers unable to make payments. Users took to Twitter to complain about the lack of service. Anybody else having trouble with #Natwest lack of online banking service? — Jonathan M. Ratcliff (@JRatcliff01) September 28, 2016 https://twitter.com/mouseslatter/status/781126714776846337 Arg @NatWest_Help please sort your online banking issue. — Rebecca Brice [...]
Andrew Tyrie blasts banks as they come clean on overdraft fees September 6, 2016 Influential Tory backbencher Andrew Tyrie has blasted UK banks for their bewildering array of overdraft fees and charges and called for customers to be given more information about their accounts. Tyrie, who chairs the Treasury Select Committee (TSC), also criticised recent proposals from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to encourage customers to switch bank accounts. [...]
Santander UK to bid for credit card giant MBNA as competition heats up September 5, 2016 Santander UK is reportedly circling MBNA, as interest in the credit card giant heats up ahead of next week’s deadline for offers. Sky News reported that the bank is considering a takeover bid for MBNA and could make a formal offer next week. MBNA has been stamped with a "for sale" sign by its current owner, Bank of [...]
City Giving Day: 200 firms set to celebrate CSR schemes with Lord Mayor September 5, 2016 In the run up to City Giving Day on 27 September, the Lord Mayor, Alderman Jeffrey the Lord Mountevans, hosted a breakfast at the Mansion House for more than 80 businesses who have signed up to this year’s campaign. With over 200 companies taking part on the day itself, the guests last Friday were rallied [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland to ditch “RBS” in brand shake-up August 13, 2016 The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will become a name of the past for the majority of people across the UK, its chief executive said yesterday. The bank is set to kill off the RBS retail brand for everywhere outside Scotland, using less-toxic local brand names instead. That will mean in England and Wales, all RBS [...]
Unauthorised overdraft charges can cost consumers more than payday loans, according to research from an online current account specialist August 10, 2016 Overdraft fees can cost as much as five times more than a pay-day loan according to figures from digital current account provider Ffrees. Borrowing £100 for a month on a short term loan can incur charges of as much as £20, but taking the same amount from an unauthorised overdraft could see consumers stung for £100, [...]
This bank has already passed on the interest rate cut to some of its mortgage customers August 5, 2016 There had been concern banks would take a while to pass yesterday's cut in interest rates on to customers – but it seems those fears were unfounded, after one major lender said it was cutting the rate of standard variable rate mortgages by 0.25 per cent. NatWest – which is owned by RBS – said [...]
Week ahead: Banks take centre stage for results and interest rates August 1, 2016 The Bank of England is widely expected to cut interest rates for the first time in seven years this week as it assesses the fallout from the UK’s vote to quit the European Union. The Bank held fire in July in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote, catching some analysts off guard. Policy committee members [...]
Investors backing small businesses after Brexit vote July 29, 2016 Investor confidence in small companies is apparently intact after last month’s Brexit vote. A survey of 1,000 UK investors has found 52 per cent would support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through private investment channels after the EU referendum. Read more: More than half of UK SMEs say banks are not "business friendly" The report, [...]