Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Lloyds, First Direct: Bank customer satisfaction survey shows that newcomers beat Big Four September 9, 2015 Newcomers beat out big banks for customer satisfaction, as the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has been voted worst provider again, showing it hasn’t been forgiven for recent IT glitches. None of the Big Four claimed any of the top three spots, showing that satisfaction with big banks is way down, according to uSwitch, which [...]
Is this the UK’s next FinTech unicorn? Hank Uberoi of London-based tech startup Earthport slams outdated global payment infrastructure August 26, 2015 Could this be the UK’s next FinTech unicorn? After previous success stories like Monitise and TransferWise leading the way, a UK-based payment platform slamming today’s global payment infrastructure for being “decades” out of date is hoping to disrupt the way companies pay their bills. Hundreds of thousands of international payments are made every day. But [...]
Bank’s decision to hold rates helps FTSE rise – London Report October 9, 2015 THE BANK of England’s decision yesterday to keep interest rates at record low levels contributed to rises in the blue-chip FTSE 100 index. A continuing surge in energy and mining shares also helped the index to maintain a run of rises. The FTSE 100 ended 0.6 per cent stronger at 6,374.82 points, outperforming major European [...]
Montagu Private Equity back on the hunt for deals after raising €2.8bn fund September 1, 2015 MONTAGU Private Equity, an early backer of firms like Quorn and Maplin, has raised a €2.75bn warchest to pursue more deals. The London-based outfit, which was spun out of HSBC in 2003 and started out investing in the early 1970’s, raised the cash from investors including US pension funds and sovereign wealth investors. The pool [...]
Bank chiefs to be given ethics quiz: Banking Standards Board kicks off cultural audit of UK’s lenders July 26, 2015 The City body tasked with restoring faith in the UK banking system is set to write to the chairmen of Britain’s biggest lenders, quizzing them on their firms’ ethics and culture – the first major initiative by the taskforce to bolster integrity in the sector. The Banking Standards Board (BSB), chaired by former telecoms regulator [...]
City Moves for 06 August 2015 | Who’s switching jobs August 5, 2015 Savills The property adviser has appointed Julian Lyon as director in its worldwide occupier services team. He joins from General Motors UK, where he spent 17 years consolidating its UK property portfolio. Lyon has 30 years’ experience in the commercial property market. Standard Chartered Mark Smith has been appointed group chief risk officer at the [...]
HSBC’s profit plans hurt by regulatory cost burden November 3, 2014 HSBC’S profits came up short of expectations yesterday, and its shares fell as the bank’s bosses warned that its cost base it set to stay higher than it wanted for the coming years. The giant British set aside $378m (£236m) to cover legal bills over claims some of its traders may have tried to manipulate [...]
Challenger bank boss Cyrus Ardalan says surcharge does not fulfil objectives as government urged to reconsider policy September 11, 2015 Challenger banks are to meet Treasury officials later today in order to pile pressure on the chancellor to reverse the bank surcharge he is imposing. George Osborne has opted for a bank surcharge of eight per cent on profits over £25m, which challenger banks and building societies say will harm their operations. Chairman of Oaknorth [...]
HSBC’s UK head wants more out gay bosses November 10, 2014 GAY BOSSES have a responsibility to come out and be counted, HSBC’s UK chief said yesterday. The City watchdog’s chairman urged banks to monitor lesbian, gay bisexual and trans (LGBT) progress more rigorously within their businesses to make sure the demographic was not left behind. “There is a huge personal responsibility to come out and [...]
HSBC boss attacks gay City leaders who stay in the closet November 10, 2014 Antonio Simoes, the chief executive of HSBC's UK operation, has criticised gay City leaders who stay in the closet. Speaking at a conference hosted by Deutsche Bank in the City today, Simoes, who spoke openly about his sexuality for the first time in a video message to his employees last year, said business leaders have [...]