Virgin Money eyes dividend this year as profits more than double March 5, 2015 Challenger bank Virgin Money could start paying dividends as soon as the middle of this year, chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia told City A.M. yesterday. Virgin announced operating profits of £121.2m for 2014, more than double the £53.4m recorded in 2013. However, its statutory profits slumped to £34m – 2014’s figures include the costs of its [...]
Fraud squad launches criminal probe into the UK’s foreign exchange market July 21, 2014 The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has opened a full-blown criminal investigation into alleged price rigging in the UK's £3tn-a-day foreign exchange (forex) market, the regulator confirmed today. The probe will look at "fraudulent conduct in the foreign exchange market", according to an SFO statement. The claims centre around allegations that traders would manipulate the flow [...]
RBS pays $99.5m to settle claims June 19, 2014 The Royal Bank of Scotland agreed yesterday to pay $99.5m (£58.7m) to resolve claims against the bank over Freddie Mac’s purchase between 2005 and 2007 of mortgage-backed securities that went sour. The US Federal Housing Finance Agency said it had now reached 15 settlements, totalling about $16.1bn, stemming from lawsuits it filed in 2011 to [...]
RBS share price starts down despite first-half profit increase of 93 per cent August 1, 2014 The Royal Bank of Scotland shrugged off PPI write downs to record a huge jump in profit before tax. The figures will come as no real surprise as RBS gave accurate guidance on its first-half expectations a week ago and saw its share price rocket as a result. This explains why the markets have not [...]
Investec Comment: Two major implications of the Tory victory May 17, 2015 TO SAY that the General Election result was a surprise barely does it justice. The markets reacted positively to the news that the Conservatives had gained an overall majority, with sterling surging and the FTSE 250 reaching all-time highs. There were three reasons for this. First, stocks in sectors that would have faced tougher regulation [...]
The final countdown: Should we fear the outcome of the most tightly fought election for a generation? April 23, 2015 The UK is approaching the most unpredictable General Election for a generation. In our increasingly fractured political landscape, there is no clear frontrunner between Labour and the Conservatives, while a surge of support for the UK Independence Party, Scotland’s SNP and the Green Party has complicated the picture further. Many commentators have voiced concerns over [...]
Lloyds ripped off Bank of England by fiddling Libor rates July 28, 2014 Lloyds was hit by £226m in fines and settlements yesterday as the bank admitted its staff fiddled Libor and the influential repurchase agreements rate benchmark in the years before the financial crisis. Of that, £7.75m is going to the Bank of England as compensation for fees it dodged in the crash by manipulating the repo [...]
So will Andrew Bailey be the lord of the ring (fence)? – Inside Track August 27, 2014 It is surprisingly easy to find bankers with positive things to say about Andrew Bailey, their chief regulator. By the end of the year, though, he could find that it isn’t only the weather that feels chillier whenever he meets bank executives. Already, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) consultation on a new accountability regime [...]
City Moves for 11 August 2014 | Who’s switching jobs August 10, 2014 Quilter Cheviot The investment management firm has appointed Sam Jacobs as a business development manager in its London office. He was most recently a financial planner at London & Capital. Jacobs has also held positions at Charles Stanley, Bank of Scotland, and Edward Jones. Neuberger Berman The investment manager has announced four senior appointments to [...]
Laying down the law on M&A and sell offs September 22, 2014 LAW FIRM of the year The past year has seen law firms work with the government and banks on the selling of shares and on the investigations into alleged failings at big companies. Against that backdrop lawyers have also started to benefit from the upturn in the M&A and financing markets, beefing up their private [...]