HSBC chairman wants delay to ringfence rules August 3, 2014 BRITAIN’S biggest banks could face two expensive shake-ups instead of one, the head of HSBC has warned, because the new competition probe is taking place at the same time as banks divide themselves up with the incoming ringfence. HSBC chairman Douglas Flint has written to chancellor George Osborne, asking him to push back the introduction [...]
London Report: All eyes on Standard Life ahead of next month’s Scot vote August 3, 2014 WITH the Scottish independence referendum about six weeks away, Standard Life’s half-year results tomorrow will make for interesting reading. In February, it was first major Scottish firm to warn it was drawing up contingency plans in the event of a “Yes” vote. Today HSBC Holdings, Fidessa, Telecity, Alent, Morgan Sindall, Ultra Electronics Holdings, esure and [...]
HSBC to close accounts of Muslim organisations July 30, 2014 HSBC has written to Muslim organisations across the UK to inform them that it is closing their bank accounts. The letters say that continuing to provide services to them would be beyond the bank's “risk appetite”, and that it made the decision because it was "applying a programme of strategic assessments to all of [...]
City Moves for 29 July 2014 | Who’s switching jobs July 28, 2014 Lowendalmasaï Francis Mainoo has been appointed UK head of corporate development at the enterprise cost consultancy. He was previously head of London business development at Grant Thornton, and Mainoo has also held positions at Merrill Lynch and EY. Results International The M&A adviser to the marketing services, technology, and healthcare sectors has announced the promotion [...]
CNBC Comment: Why UK banks aren’t riding the recovery July 28, 2014 THE TIES between Britain’s banks and its economy have always been close. But they have seemed even closer in the post-banking bailout era. On Friday, when RBS rushed out its second quarter results a week early (which was rather odd in itself – don’t companies usually only rush out results if they’re either worse than [...]
Lloyds fined £226m by UK and US regulators for Libor manipulation July 28, 2014 Lloyds has become the latest bank to be fined for manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor). The benchmark interest rate determines the cost of a range of credit products which have a combined value of at least $350tn, but a number of banks have been charged with unlawfully tampering with it in order [...]
US lawsuit says banks rigged the price of silver July 27, 2014 HSBC, Deutsche Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia have been accused of rigging the price of silver. According to J Scott Nicholson, an investor who filed a lawsuit against them in the US, the banks abused their position of controlling the daily silver benchmark by unlawfully manipulating it to reap illegitimate rewards from trading. [...]
HSBC among banks accused of manipulating price of silver July 27, 2014 HSBC, Deutsche Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia have been accused of rigging the price of silver. According to J Scott Nicholson, an investor who filed a lawsuit against them in the US, the banks abused their position of controlling the daily silver benchmark by unlawfully manipulating it to reap illegitimate rewards from [...]
Asian stocks rise as Chinese manufacturing shows strongest growth since January 2013 July 24, 2014 Manufacturing data for China is looking rosy as factory activity shot up at the fastest pace in 18 months. According to a preliminary report by HSBC and Markit, which provides a flash measure of manufacturing, the purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 52 in July from 50.7 in June, beating a Reuter's poll forecast of [...]
UK retail sales see strongest calendar increase in a decade July 24, 2014 Headline retail sales growth in June was markedly softer than expected, according to official estimates released today. Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures saw overall retail sales up by just 0.1 per cent in the month, lower than the 0.3 growth anticipated by an analyst poll. Excluding fuel, retail sales dropped by 0.1 per cent [...]