Barclays makes major lending push with £2.3bn deal for Kensington Mortgage Company deal includes £1.2bn mortgage portfolio In a major push to broaden its lending offering, banking giant Barclays said this morning it has agreed a deal worth around £2.3bn to buy specialist lender Kensington Mortgage Company. Barclays said the acquisition will allow it to offer more mortgage options to the self-employed and people who have multiple or variable incomes. The bank [...]
Banks boosted by looming BoE interest rate hike markets Strengthening bets on the Bank of England tomorrow hiking interest rates for the fifth meeting in a row boosted the UK’s biggest-listed banks today. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index surged 1.2 per cent to 7,273.41 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, [...]
UK banks no longer ‘too big to fail’ but sector still has room for improvement uk banks All of the UK’s top banks would survive a major financial shock, but some have shortcomings in ensuring they fund themselves through a crisis, the Bank of England said today. Britain’s eight biggest high street lenders would be able to fail safely without a repeat of bailouts seen during the financial crisis in 2008, according [...]
Weekend Chat: Ex-banker turned GoCardless president Paul Stoddart talks fintech, Brexit, pandemic recovery and Russia May 28, 2022 At the start of this month, Paul Stoddart jumped ship to become the president of the newly-minted fintech unicorn GoCardless. Stoddart, who describes himself as a “banker by trade,” spent years at Natwest, Barclays, and was most recently the chairman of Mastercard’s VocaLink. In an exclusive interview with City A.M., Stoddart said that joining GoCardless [...]
Inside Barclays chaotic shareholder meeting: AGM halted as security chase and drag out dozens of climate activists May 4, 2022 Barclays’ annual shareholder meeting was disrupted by a small army of climate change protesters who had to be forcibly removed by security. The banking giant’s AGM in Manchester got off to a chaotic start after a series of disruptions from green activists in the audience. Chairman Nigel Higgins was forced to pause the meeting while [...]
Barclays sells off half of Absa stake for £526m April 21, 2022 Barclays announced today it has sold off a major chunk of its remaining stake in South African banking group Absa for £526m as it continues to shed its holdings in the firm.
Barclays faces £450m loss over securities mix-up March 28, 2022 Barclays is reportedly facing a £450m loss over the mishandling of US securities in 2019, which has forced the lender to hit pause on its £1bn share buyback scheme. The scheme will be frozen until the error is investigated by regulators, The Times first reported. The banking giant said it had offered and sold too [...]
FCA fines Barclays for oversight failings as bank agrees to compensate customers of collapsed Premier FX February 28, 2022 City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said this morning it has fined Barclays Bank £783,800 for oversight failings in its relationship with collapsed payments firm Premier FX. Barclays was Premier FX’s sole banker in the UK. “The financial penalty takes into account that Barclays has agreed voluntarily to cover the losses of Premier FX [...]
Champagne in Canary Wharf as Barclays profits more than double to £8.4bn but Jes Staley’s bonus suspended February 23, 2022 Barclays has revealed pre-tax profits soared to £8.4bn in 2021 as it released cash set aside for pandemic loan losses and notched up record investment banking earnings. The banking giant more than doubled profits from £3.1bn in 2020 thanks to the release of £700m in bad debt provisions, compared with £4.8bn set aside for Covid [...]
The Monzo effect: Challenger banks make life increasingly difficult for traditional high street rivals February 9, 2022 Challenger banks are outperforming traditional and established financial institutions more and more, with a growing number of Brits taking up accounts with Starling, Monzo or Triodos. According to new data shared with City A.M. this morning, the digital-only banks beat traditional institutions when it comes to customer service and mobile apps. Consumer group Which! asked [...]