Diamond to face MPs after Libor scandal June 27, 2012 BARCLAYS chief executive Bob Diamond is set to be hauled before parliament after the bank was fined £290m for its part in a global conspiracy to fix the rate at which banks lend to each other. Diamond will face questions from the Treasury Select Committee after regulators in Britain and the US slapped record punishments [...]
Market report: FTSE drops after Moody’s downgrade banks June 22, 2012 The FTSE was down this morning following poor global growth forecasts and the decision by credit ratings agency Moody’s to downgrade some of the world’s biggest banks. Last night Moody’s lowered the credit ratings of 15 of the world’s biggest lenders to reflect the risk of losses they face from volatile capital markets. But the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 26, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Global role for Citi’s Asia consumer head Citigroup has underlined Asia’s growing importance to the bank by naming its consumer banking head in Hong Kong as global head of retail banking, according to an internal email seen by the Financial Times. Jonathan Larsen has been given the task of bringing all of Citi’s [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 18, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Scrap free current accounts, says departing RBS retail head Regulators and polititicans should forcibly bring an end to popular free current accounts, the outgoing head of retail at Royal Bank of Scotland said in a parting shot to the industry. In comments that put him at odds with other senior banking executives, Brian [...]
Nationwide mortgage lending jumps by 44pc May 23, 2012 Nationwide, Britain’s biggest customer-owned financial services group, reported a 44 per cent increase in loans to home buyers in its last fiscal year, including a sharp rise in the number of mortgages provided to first-time home buyers. Gross residential mortgage lending rose to £18.4bn in the year to 4 April, up from £12.8bn the year [...]
Nationwide mortgage lending jumps by 44pc May 23, 2012 Nationwide, Britain’s biggest customer-owned financial services group, reported a 44 per cent increase in loans to home buyers in its last fiscal year, including a sharp rise in the number of mortgages provided to first-time home buyers. Gross residential mortgage lending rose to £18.4bn in the year to 4 April, up from £12.8bn the year [...]
RBS exec: sale of stake soon April 29, 2012 THE taxpayer’s stake in Royal Bank of Scotland could be sold off in as little as two years, according to outgoing bank executive Brian Hartzer. “My sense would be that we are probably a couple of years away now,” he told Sky News’ Murnaghan show, adding that selling the shares would make people more willing [...]
Switching bank accounts is easier than many imagine July 22, 2012 IF YOU only sourced financial advice from politicians, you might think switching bank accounts is next to impossible. Ed Miliband pledged that a Labour government would revolutionise banking by clearing hurdles to changing banks. Shadow chancellor Ed Balls alleged that “it’s very difficult to change bank accounts.” If you don’t like your bank’s behaviour – [...]
Lloyds gets rid of its final stake in Sir Stelios’s EasyCar business April 15, 2012 LLOYDS Banking Group has sold off its stake in Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s EasyCar business for an undisclosed sum, it has emerged. The bank disposed of the last of its holding at the end of last year as part of its exit strategy for investments made by Bank of Scotland, which was taken over by Lloyds [...]
FTSE rally snapped by rising bond yields and fears over Greek election May 30, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares dropped yesterday, snapping a four-session rally, as rising bond yields for Italy and Spain and the latest poll results in Greece stoked fears about the Eurozone debt crisis, sapping investors’ risk appetite. The FTSE 100 index closed down 93.86 points, or 1.7 per cent at 5,297.28, reversing much of the rally seen [...]