Activist ups its stakes in bid to sue Lloyds Bank June 5, 2014 ACTIVIST investor Crystal Amber will reportedly up its stake in NBNK Investments, the vehicle which lost out during the auction of Lloyds Bank’s 630 branches in 2012, in a move to pursue legal action against the bank. NBNK has lined up law firm Stewarts Law to take legal action against Lloyds, which chose the Co-operative [...]
Why free bank accounts will have to go to spur competition in banking July 21, 2014 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is consulting on its provisional decision to launch a formal investigation into UK banks. In other words, the CMA wants to increase competition in banking to better meet the needs of consumers. And alongside other issues, it is concerned that the Big Four banks have a 77 per cent [...]
City Moves for 23 June 2014 | Who’s switching jobs June 23, 2014 Canaccord Genuity The wealth management firm and investment bank has appointed Guy Marks as a managing director in business services in its London-based investment banking team. He previously worked at JP Morgan Cazenove, where he was most recently in its UK corporate finance team. TSB Desmond McDaid has been appointed head of savings at the [...]
TSB promises to stay out of glamorous banking September 9, 2013 NEW HIGH street lender TSB will not lend to “large corporations, foreign speculators, or get involved in complicated derivatives,” its new chief said yesterday as part of its plan to promote local banking. At a branch opening on Baker Street, Paul Pester said the bank’s key selling point will be transparency. That means it will [...]
Tesco Bank current account finally checks in June 9, 2014 After six years of delays, glitches and excuses, and a cool £600m splashed on the project… BRITONS can today open current accounts with Tesco Bank as the retailer at last becomes a fully functioning challenger to the big banks. The long-awaited milestone comes at a tough time for Tesco, which hopes a stronger banking arm [...]
L&G loses board member April 14, 2014 Legal & General has announced Mike Fairey will retire from the board after three years’ service. The former second in command at Lloyds Bank has over 35 years experience in the City, having started his career at Barclays in 1967. He joined TSB Group before its merger with Lloyds and retired from the bank in [...]
London verges towards record share issuance June 9, 2014 LONDON’S booming stock market is on track for its biggest fundraising haul in a decade, after the first five months of this year outpaced the same period in 2007, figures show. A total of 40 companies have raised £5.7bn since the start of the year, according to Thomson Reuters, topping the £4.93bn raised in the [...]
London Report: Two-month low for FTSE as Iraq jitters hit home June 25, 2014 UK shares yesterday hit their lowest level in two months, as spiralling violence in Iraq scared off investors. The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.8 per cent at 6,733.62 points – its lowest close since 28 April, while Europe’s FTSEurofirst 300 shed one per cent. Security forces are fighting rebels for control of Iraq’s biggest [...]
UK’s first bank IPO in a decade – OneSavings Bank comes to market May 7, 2014 OneSavings Bank, the lender built by private equity firm JC Flowers, is to float on the stock market at a valuation of up to £600m. It was created out of the Kent Reliance Building Society which JC Flowers rescued in a recapitalisation deal in 2010. It plans to sell off a stake of [...]
Inside Track: Banks in clover as new issues continue to defy critics June 19, 2014 Far from being on its uppers as some of the moodier fund managers have predicted, London’s new issues market continues to show resilience as we come up to the half-way point in the year. Mid-June is when the City’s big investment bank houses conduct their mid-year reviews and on the whole they make for positive [...]