UK banks no longer ‘too big to fail’ but sector still has room for improvement June 10, 2022 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 [...]
‘Unsubstantiated, shrill, partisan, self-serving, apocalyptic warnings ALWAYS wrong’, says HSBC official on climate change impact May 20, 2022 A top HSBC banker has claimed global authorities are overplaying the impact of climate change, saying “unsubstantiated, shrill, partisan, self-serving, apocalyptic warnings are ALWAYS wrong”. The banking giant’s head of responsible investing, Stuart Kirk, made his controversial claim during a presentation on a slide during a London conference yesterday. HSBC said his views did not [...]
HSBC’s biggest shareholder tells bank to spin off Asian business April 30, 2022 China’s largest insurer has told HSBC it should break itself up and separate out its Asian operations. Shenzhen headquartered insurer Ping An has told HSBC’s board it believes the London and Hong Kong listed bank should split itself up, in order to free up the its Asian business. The Chinese insurance giant, which owns a [...]
Leaked ASA report: Regulator to order HSBC to end greenwashing and stop misleading UK customers April 29, 2022 City A.M. understands that a preliminary, unpublished decision by the advertising regulator rules that a number of HSBC’s climate-focused ads are misleading, and that the watchdog demands that future marketing must not omit significant information about its contribution to rising emissions. The ASA’s draft recommendations, seen by this paper, focus on two of HSBC’s ads, [...]
Sombre faces in Canary Wharf as HSBC profits nosedive on Ukraine war and inflation worries April 26, 2022 It’s not the best of mornings for HSBC as the banking giant saw its first-quarter profits tumble by more than a quarter after taking a hit on expected bad debts due to the Ukraine war and soaring inflation. The lender posted a 28 per cent drop in pre-tax profits to £3.3bn for the first three [...]
London-listed life sciences firm agrees £150m debt financing facility with HSBC March 30, 2022 Life Science REIT has agreed a £150m debt financing facility with HSBC, in a bid to fund new life science properties across the Golden Triangle: London, Oxford and Cambridge. The deal, in what will be the company’s first borrowing agreement, is made up of a £75m three-year term loan facility and a £75m revolving [...]
HSBC to sell off Greek branches in £4.5bn push further into Asia March 14, 2022 HSBC is set to sell off its Greek retail bank as it doubles down on its Asia operations – the lenders largest market. The deal with local lender Pacreta Bank forms part of a wider five-year restructuring plan at HSBC, which included cutting its loss-making US retail bank last year. The figure of the deal [...]
Exclusive: HSBC customers threaten to switch banks unless it cuts Russian oil ties March 11, 2022 More than 1,700 HSBC customers have written to the bank urging it to cut its ties with Russian oil and gas businesses, research shared exclusively with City A.M. has revealed. It comes amid lingering controversy over HSBC’s backing of China’s national security law as it was imposed in June 2020 and has stamped out many [...]
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 [...]
The unstoppable rise of the challenger bank: Canary Wharf’s retail giants have reasons to be worried January 22, 2022 If traditional retail banks have paid any attention to the latest data from the City watchdog, they have reasons to be worried, because challenger banks are increasingly taking over traditional banking services from established financial institutions. In fact, nearly 10 per cent of all accounts are now held with a so-called digital “challenger” bank. A [...]