Sales slump at Old Mutual as turmoil reigns May 10, 2012 THE chief executive of Old Mutual yesterday warned over the health of the banking sector as the group posted a 10 per cent drop in quarterly sales. Anglo-South African Old Mutual recorded life insurance sales of £269m in the three months to March, beating the £262m expected. “The banking world generally has still got a [...]
HSBC sells US credit card unit to Capital One May 2, 2012 HSBC has netted a $2.5bn (£1.5bn) premium from the sale of its US credit card and retail services business to Capital One. The bank, which agreed the deal last August, said Capital One paid $31.3bn in cash for the assets, including an 8.75 per cent premium over the total loan balances. HSBC has agreed to [...]
Hunt for bank deals boosts prices website April 18, 2012 CONSUMERS’ search for promotional deals on financial services helped Moneysupermarket.com to increase sales at the start of the year. The website said revenues from its money unit, where shoppers can compare banking products such as credit cards and mortgages, leapt 22 per cent after a 20 per cent jump in visitors. It helped push the [...]
Debate rages over call to end free banking May 24, 2012 CONSUMER groups and politicians yesterday joined the debate on bank fees following claims by a top Bank of England official that free current accounts are a “dangerous myth”. Andrew Bailey, the Bank’s executive director and chief executive-elect of the new banking regulator the Prudential Regulatory Authority, said the lack of clarity on current account fees “may [...]
Fed asks banks to bid for risky assets portfolio April 18, 2012 THE NEW York Federal Reserve said yesterday it has asked eight investment banks to bid on risky assets from its Maiden Lane III portfolio, which was created during its 2008 bailout of insurer American International Group (AIG). This move would trim the US central bank’s balance sheet which about tripled from the emergency measures it [...]
Eurozone optimists are suffering from cognitive dissonance May 30, 2012 MY abiding memory of the credit crisis was the delusion that continued to grip the City and Wall Street long after it became apparent to objective observers that a terrible recession was about to begin. Most people kept their heads firmly in the sand when HSBC’s US sub-prime unit reported losses, for example, or when [...]
UK tables long list of demands in EU bank talks April 29, 2012 BRITAIN is worried that a new set of European banking rules will widen a “fracture at the [EU’s] heart” and has marshalled the support of at least six other member states for a long list of demands in the negotiations. Europe’s finance ministers head to a crucial meeting in Brussels this week to thrash out [...]
The Libor scandal may destroy the preeminence of the City of London July 3, 2012 THE 2007-8 banking crisis was a disaster for London’s international position as a banking centre. But financial services is much more than just banking. It includes areas such as insurance (in which London’s position is strong internationally, though by no means dominant) and securities and broking – in which London had every prospect of remaining [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 21, 2011 HSBC Private Bank Bernard Rennell has been appointed as chief executive for North Asia, subject to regulatory approvals. Rennell, who will be based in the Hong Hong office, will be responsible for all private banking activity for HSBC Private Bank in north Asia, including Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines. A former securities [...]
ING launches debt buyback to sell insurer March 8, 2012 ING has become the latest European bank to launch a buyback of its own debt in order to comply with EU regulations. The Dutch lender said it would tender an offer for €2.6bn (£2.2bn) of securities to prepare its insurance unit for a sale mandated by the European Commission on competition grounds. The bank needs [...]