Exclusive: RBS is big loser of seven-day switching while Santander wins customers July 22, 2014 RBS is losing the battle for banking customers, City A.M. can reveal, shedding 171,400 customers through the seven-day switching system and gaining just 95,000 current account customers. Overall, RBS and NatWest have lost a net 76,200 through the system since it was launched last September, according to City A.M. calculations based on figures from survey firm [...]
Government borrowing now 50pc higher than same month a year ago July 22, 2014 Public sector net borrowing is well up, according to the latest official estimates. Public sector net borrowing excluding interventions (PSNB ex) rose to £11.4bn in June, 50 per cent higher than PSNB ex in the same month last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In a preview of today's release, HSBC analysts [...]
Lazy small firms blamed for bad banking market July 21, 2014 BRITAIN’S small firms have to try harder to push their banks to work for them, and be prepared to walk away if they do not, Britain’s competition chief said yesterday. Banks have been hit by waves of complaints from small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) even since before the financial crisis. But only a tiny proportion [...]
Dave Lewis: Tesco banks on first outsider in its 95-year history. Will he make a difference? July 21, 2014 Tesco’ incoming boss Dave Lewis will have no easy task on his hands when he takes the reins at the UK’s biggest retailer and the world’s third largest chain in October. But while he lacks the Tesco genes that Philip Clarke had from spending 39 years at the grocer, Lewis makes up for it in [...]
Fraud squad launches criminal probe into the UK’s foreign exchange market July 21, 2014 The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has opened a full-blown criminal investigation into alleged price rigging in the UK's £3tn-a-day foreign exchange (forex) market, the regulator confirmed today. The probe will look at "fraudulent conduct in the foreign exchange market", according to an SFO statement. The claims centre around allegations that traders would manipulate the flow [...]
UK banks to face “in-depth” competition inquiry that could see major lenders broken up July 18, 2014 The UK's banking sector is set to face a fresh competition inquiry that could lead to sweeping changes across the industry with British lenders at risk of being broken up. As expected, in an initial into the industry published this morning, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decided that there should be an "in-depth" [...]
Maggie’s cancer centre has green light at St Barts July 17, 2014 Plans to build a new cancer care centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital were passed by the City of London Planning and Transportation Committee yesterday, having received support from City figures such as Sam Laidlaw of Centrica and HSBC’s Stuart Gullliver, with backing from City A.M. Building of the centre, designed by architect Steven Holl and [...]
More Britons moving banks thanks to new rules, but nowhere near the expected radical shift July 16, 2014 Measures simplifying the bank switching process in the UK have resulted in a 16 per cent increase in people moving accounts, but the figure is significantly lower than industry analysis had anticipated. New rules ensuring that the UK's 46m current account holders can swap their bank within seven days resulted in a marked increase in [...]
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race sailors veering from austerity to global QE bid July 14, 2014 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race sailors were splashing the champagne about as they arrived back in London over the weekend after a 40,000 mile round the world race. With entrants from firms including Goldman Sachs, UBS, Credit Suisse and HSBC, critics might label this sprinkling of sparkling as City excess. But organisers [...]
Business figures get behind Maggie’s campaign July 14, 2014 City figures such as Centrica’s Sam Laidlaw and Gerald Kaye of Helical Bar, have got together to back a £5m scheme to build a new cancer care centre in the centre of the capital’s banking district. The scheme for St Barts Hospital, put forward by charity Maggie’s at Bart’s request, will be presented to the [...]