Last Week in the City: Trade wars begin July 6, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (2 to 6 July 2018). The World Cup is “distracting” for participants in global markets, according to Citigroup. "We find that football is indeed distracting, subtly impacting market depth, traded volumes and execution cost,” the US [...]
Aberdeen Standard is suing Provident Financial in a row over the investigation of its Vanquis credit card branch March 26, 2018 Troubled doorstep lender Provident Financial is facing a legal battle with Aberdeen Standard, one of its largest investors, over an investigation into its Vanquis credit card unit. Provident announced last year that it was being probed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over its mis-selling of product called a “Repayment Option Plan” (ROP). This Vanquis [...]
Investment banking worst for your health says giant survey of British bank employees March 15, 2018 Investment bankers think their jobs are the more damaging to their health than their counterparts in business or retail lending, according to a massive survey of British bank employees. Some 29 per cent of investment bank employees said their job is having a negative impact on their wellbeing, a poll of more than 36,000 bankers [...]
Lloyds Banking Group has set aside an extra £350m to cover payment protection insurance (PPI) claims March 10, 2017 Lloyds Banking Group has set aside an extra £350m to cover payment protection insurance (PPI) claims, the lender announced this afternoon. The bank said the additional provision has been made because the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a revised PPI policy statement on 2 March. The City watchdog announced a new deadline date for PPI complaints last [...]
Lloyds Bank pre-tax profits more than doubled in 2016 as PPI charges were slashed February 22, 2017 Lloyds Banking Group reported today that its statutory pre-tax profits for the year had shot up, as conduct-related charges for the year (ie. PPI costs) were more than halved. The figures The bank revealed statutory profits before tax of £4.2bn, up 158 per cent on £1.6bn the year before – although analysts had predicted the figure [...]
Barclays wins first round in £1.1bn legal battle with credit card firm CCUK February 20, 2018 Barclays has won the first stage in a legal battle with a US-based credit card company which is suing it for £1.1bn. The High Court today rejected an application for summary judgement against Barclays brought by CCUK, the British arm of Nasdaq-listed Atlanticus Holdings, in a complex case revolving around a PPI-style misselling saga. CCUK, [...]
An overwhelming number of responses to the FCA’s latest PPI consultation slows down the process December 9, 2016 The UK's financial regulator said it needs more time to finalise a deadline for payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper in August. It included a timetable for making a decision on the deadline for PPI complaints as well as providing more guidance on how City firms should [...]
New proposals could cause banks to pocket up to £23bn in unpaid PPI compensation, a group said December 19, 2016 Banks stand to pocket up to £23bn in unpaid payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation when new deadlines come in, a new campaign group has warned. The group Payback Time was launched today to warn how new proposals to be announced in early 2017 are expected to limit what companies can do to expose the PPI [...]
Bank on a new jockey being in the Lloyds saddle next year, look again at ‘last look’ and water torture February 22, 2018 If Bill Murray had played a banker rather than a TV weatherman in Groundhog Day, he may well have been cast as George Culmer, the finance director of Lloyds Banking Group. The American actor would surely have revelled in declaring the lender’s “final” provision for PPI mis-selling. Again, and again, and again. It’s a record [...]
FCA complaints are still dominated by PPI mis-selling October 6, 2016 The number of complaints lodged against financial services firms nudged down in the first six months of 2016 according to statistics released by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The total number of complaints dropped by 2.6 per cent compared with the final six months of 2015. Barclays topped the list and received over a quarter of a million objections. Top five [...]