Business secretary backs City as a “huge national asset”, and hopes there won’t be fewer bankers as a result of Brexit January 23, 2017 The business secretary has today given his backing to the City of London, calling the financial sector a "huge national asset". His comments come just days after bosses from UBS and HSBC warned they could move thousands of jobs overseas because of the Brexit vote and, in particular, the risk they might lose valuable access rights to [...]
Sir John Vickers slams quality of Bank of England stress tests January 10, 2017 The man who headed the UK's critical inquiry into safeguarding the banking sector following 2008's financial crisis has slammed the Bank of England's stress tests for falling short. Sir John Vickers, who led the Independent Commission on Banking, called the progress made to bolster the banks so far "really disappointing". "I think we need to be more rigorous, [...]
Oil begins to slide again as HSBC cuts oil price forecasts January 25, 2016 So much for that oil rally. Brent crude slid back down to $31.36 in early afternoon trading – just as HSBC cut its oil price forecast fot he rest of the year. The fall in Brent crude came after oil cartel Opec, which produces 42 per cent of the world's oil, called for all oil-producing [...]
The language of love sweet-talks the City February 7, 2017 Parisians are often stereotyped as being a little rude. While this may ring true with anyone who has ever tried to catch a waiter’s eye in one of the city’s restaurants, yesterday it was all charm and warmth as a delegation from the French capital set out their stall to City execs. Paris joins the [...]
HSBC down: Bank’s online banking back up after cyber attack January 30, 2016 HSBC today confirmed its online banking is back up following a cyber attack which forced it to go offline yesterday. HSBC said it had "successfully defended" its systems against a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack but was not able to fully restore services immediately as it continued to experience threats. At the end of what HSBC described as "quite [...]
Deutsche Bank to raise €8bn through rights issue, as it announces a slew of restructuring plans March 5, 2017 Deutsche Bank revealed today it plans to bolster its capital by around €8bn (£6.9bn) through an issue of new shares. The German lender also revealed a slew of restructuring plans, including keeping its Postbank division, streamlining its business model to focus on three key units of private and commercial banking, asset management and corporate and investment banking, and listing [...]
This is how City analysts reacted to Barclays’ results February 23, 2017 Another day, another big bank reports its numbers – this time, it's Barclays' turn. Shares in the the lender went up by more than three per cent after it reported pre-tax profits almost tripled last year, growing by a massive 182 per cent to hit £3.2bn – but the bank still missed expectations. Here's how [...]
Surge in spoof humour book sales boosts WH Smith on the high street – but travel’s still the stationer’s lifeblood January 25, 2017 Well, it couldn't rely on adult colouring books forever, could it? The fad around adult colouring books might be slowing, but WH Smith has instead seen a surge in sales of spoof humour books, such as Five on Brexit Island and Five Give Up the Booze, spoofing Enid Blyton's The Famous Five. There's also the Ladybirds for Grown-Ups series, [...]
Middle East bond market on for record-breaking year after Saudi $17.5bn deal October 20, 2016 The middle eastern bond market boom has captured the attention of investors around the world, according to one of the leading players behind Saudi Arabia’s record-breaking $17.5bn debt sale. Jean-Marc Mercier, global co-head of debt capital markets at HSBC who met over 300 potential investors as part of the Saudi deal, told City A.M. the [...]
Mastercard’s £700m Vocalink deal raises competition concerns with watchdog January 4, 2017 Mastercard's £700m deal for Vocalink has raised concerns over competition in the payments infrastructure business with the market watchdog. Owned by a collective of 18 banks, including Barclays, Santander, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, Vocalink provides the infrastructure for many payments in Britain such as Bacs and the Faster Payments Service as well as the Link ATM network. Concerns have [...]