The clock’s ticking for Smiths Group to shape its destiny, Big Four accountancy firms’ flaws and Paul Pester’s parting mistake September 7, 2018 The clock is ticking for Andy Reynolds Smith, chief executive of the industrial conglomerate Smiths Group. Talks about a combination of Smiths Medical, which manufactures devices ranging from tracheostomy tubes to chest drainage catheters, with US-listed ICU Medical have been ongoing for the best part of four months. When Reynolds Smith presents the company’s annual [...]
Lloyds stock lift as it completes £1bn share buyback programme August 28, 2018 Lloyds Banking Group completed its buyback of £1bn of shares today. The London branch of investment bank UBS managed the buyback, which started on 8 March, paying for 1.6bn shares over the four-month process before selling them back to Lloyds. Read more: Paddy Power buys back £200m in shares The bank kicked off the buyback [...]
Watchdogs push City to plan for failure amid ‘increasingly hostile’ cyber environment July 5, 2018 The City’s watchdogs have banded together to push senior managers to plan for failure amid a surge in IT incidents. The Bank of England (BoE), the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today published a discussion paper inviting responses from firms and consumers as they prepare to shape future regulations across [...]
IBM throws support behind cryptocurrency linked to US dollar | City A.M. July 17, 2018 IBM has launched a new cryptocurrency linked to the US dollar in partnership with financial services provider Stronghold. The companies said the ‘stable coin’ called Stronghold USD, which launched on the stellar blockchain platform today, would add stability to the highly volatile cryptocurrency market. Major cryptocurrency Bitcoin has plummeted 55 per cent in 2018 after [...]
Visa and Mastercard agree $6.2bn settlement over card fees September 18, 2018 Visa, Mastercard and a number of banks have agreed to pay $6.2bn (£4.72bn) to settle a long-running legal dispute over the charges retailers are forced to pay for accepting card payments. The lawsuit, which began in 2005, accused the card companies of breaking US federal antitrust laws by forcing retailers to pay swipe fees. Read more: TSB forced to [...]
Visa and Mastercard agree $6.2bn settlement over card fees September 18, 2018 Visa, Mastercard and a number of banks have agreed to pay $6.2bn (£4.72bn) to settle a long-running legal dispute over the charges retailers are forced to pay for accepting card payments. The lawsuit, which began in 2005, accused the card companies of breaking US federal antitrust laws by forcing retailers to pay swipe fees. Read more: TSB forced to [...]
RBS prunes another 54 branches from its network of high street banks September 5, 2018 Royal Bank of Scotland is to close another 54 branches, expecting to make 259 people redundant. The closures, which will take place in January, come after the announced closure of 162 branches, resulting in an expected 792 redundancies. They are a consequence of RBS deciding against spinning off two banks as a challenger bank operating [...]
PPI claims surge against CYBG to push bank to a £145m loss November 20, 2018 Clydesdale Bank owner CYBG's share price fell more than 13 per cent today as a fresh raft of PPI claims pushed it to a £145m loss in its full-year results. The figures CYBG fell to the £145m loss after taking a £352m hit for PPI costs and £44m for other legacy conduct issues. A Financial Conduct [...]
Banco de Sabadell S.A. fined €1.6m by the European Central Bank over unauthorised capital buyback May 8, 2018 The Spanish banking group Banco de Sabadell S.A. has been fined €1.6m (£1.4m) by The European Central Bank (ECB) for buying back capital without permission, according to a ECB press release. In the period 1 January 2014 to 7 November 2017, Banco de Sabadell bought back some of its capital without the permission of the [...]
Institute of Directors appoints new chair as its bids to move away from racism scandal September 2, 2018 The Institute of Directors (IoD) announced today it has appointed corporate governance expert Charlotte Valeur as its new chair, following the ousting of previous chair Barbara Judge amid bullying and racism accusations. Valeur, who founded private equity firm Brook Street Partners in 2003, has a background in finance with stints at Societe Generale, BNP-Paribas and SG Warburg. [...]