Virgin Money boosts consumer loan book in ‘difficult market’ January 28, 2020 The UK’s sixth-largest lender Virgin Money oversaw a solid expansion of its personal and business loan book in the three months to December despite a “difficult market”, it announced today in a trading update. Virgin Money – which was bought by CYBG for £1.7bn in 2018 – also confirmed the worst is over in terms [...]
The Week Ahead: Barclays, Natwest, retail sales, public borrowing February 15, 2021 City A.M. takes a look at some of this week’s market-shaping events. Barclays – Full year results (Thursday) The past 12 months have been difficult ones for banks in general, but UK banks have underperformed relative to their peers, Hewson said, with the unknowns of what a final Brexit deal might look like also weighing [...]
Virgin Money begins the search for a new chairman January 24, 2020 Virgin Money today announced that its chairman, Jim Pettigrew, will be stepping down from his role. Pettigrew will retire in September 2021 – when his tenure on the board will hit the new nine-year limit for chairmen. Virgin Money said that Pettigrew’s departure is “in line with the board succession plan and good corporate governance [...]
UBS hires ING boss Ralph Hamers as new chief executive February 20, 2020 UBS has named ING boss Ralph Hamers as successor to current chief executive Sergio Ermotti. In a surprise announcement late last night, UBS said Hamers would leave Dutch lender ING in June. Hamers will join Ermotti for a transition period in September before taking the helm at Switzerland’s largest bank in November. ING said that [...]
RBS launches ‘social bond’ for deprived areas November 8, 2019 The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has launched a “social bond” aimed at boosting lending within deprived areas of the UK. The banking giant announced this morning that the bond would be linked to roughly £2.5bn of lending to small firms in disadvantaged areas. Read more: HSBC receives second warning from Bank of England An [...]
MPs demand banks do more to tackle economic crime November 1, 2019 MPs have said that regulators should consider slapping sanctions on financial firms which have not introduced certain anti-fraud measures by March next year. Banks have been told by the Treasury committee to do more to protect and reimburse consumers exposed to economic crime. Read more: Lloyds Banking Group profit slumps after £1.8bn PPI hit Watchdogs [...]
Payday lender Wonga pushed to the brink as claims management companies look for ‘next PPI’ August 27, 2018 Payday lender Wonga is considering insolvency among the options as it tries to deal with a deluge of complaints from claims management companies looking for “the next PPI”. Wonga said it is assessing “all options” for the group, which is struggling under the burden of a large number of compensation claims. The controversial firm raised [...]
Judgment imminent in Lloyds’ shareholders £600m financial crisis-era group action October 31, 2019 The long-awaited judgment in a financial crisis-era shareholder action against Lloyds Banking Group and five former directors of Lloyds TSB is expected imminently, according to people close to the case. The £600m claim focused on Lloyds TSB’s acquisition of HBOS in autumn 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. The claimant group of 300 [...]
RBS retail chief to exit after ten years with bank October 20, 2019 Royal Bank of Scotland’s retail banking chief executive is preparing to leave the lender as new boss Alison Rose completes her senior leadership team. Les Matheson, who joined RBS in 2010 and became personal banking chief executive in 2014, is planning to leave the bank in the coming months, Sky News reported. Read more: Alison [...]
Lloyds Banking Group chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio sells £3.5m of shares in the bank August 2, 2019 The chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group Antonio Horta-Osorio today sold £3.5m of shares in the bank, according to stock market filings. Horta-Osorio sold 6.75m shares at an aggregate price of 52p, the filing shows. The value of the shares sold exceeded £3.5m. Lloyds’ share price fell 2.8 per cent today to 51.3p. Following the [...]