Co-op overhaul gives hedge funds control of smaller bank November 4, 2013 CO-OPERATIVE bank bosses yesterday said they had faith that the US hedge funds that now own much of its stock will not destroy the firm’s ethical principles, as they unveiled drastic plans to shrink the lender. The bank, which has been scrambling to fill a £1.5bn black hole, unveiled a radical restructure yesterday to close [...]
This is the eye of the financial storm: UK banks are far from being healthy November 4, 2013 PRIVATISATION at Lloyds, but losses. An internal quasi-bad bank at RBS. Co-op bank falling into the hands of its bondholders. How healthy is the UK’s banking sector? With GDP growth picking up, and crisis in the Eurozone in abeyance, it’s natural to imagine that the worst of the UK’s banking crisis is now behind us. [...]
Co-op Bank to close 15 per cent of branches with hundreds of jobs on the line November 4, 2013 The Co-operative Group is to axe 15 per cent of its floundering bank's 324 branches by the end of next year, as part of a radical restructuring plan unveiled today. Sky News' Mark Kleinman reported on Saturday that the bank is to cut more than 1,000 jobs as part of the restructure, which will see [...]
Co-op to rely on watchdog to help preserve its independence November 4, 2013 THE CO-OPERATIVE Group will rely on City regulators to stave off a full-scale assault on its banking unit from a group of US vulture funds swooping to control the firm, under restructuring plans due today. The group is understood to be injecting £400m into the bank under the long awaited plan, giving it a 30 [...]
Q and A: Co-op restructure plan November 4, 2013 Q What’s the background? A The Co-op Group floated a plan to fill a £1.5bn black hole by stumping up £1bn and getting the other £500m from bondholders. The bondholders, primarily US distressed debt funds, disagreed with idea. The US funds formed a consortium called the LT2 Group to press their interests. They wanted their [...]
Ex-Co-op boss was not worried over Britannia October 29, 2013 FORMER Co-operative Bank boss Barry Tootell yesterday said he was not concerned about the Britannia merger, as regulators and auditors had not flagged up any problems. Tootell told MPs the Financial Services Authority had reviewed the building society and found only minor losses in its loan book. Since that takeover in 2009 losses on Britannia [...]
Big six suppliers dispute Ofgem wholesale data October 28, 2013 A NEW energy row has erupted over data from industry regulator Ofgem, which claims that wholesale gas and electricity costs have been almost flat over the past year, rising by only 1.7 per cent. Alongside government policies, the big six energy suppliers have attributed rising wholesale prices as a key driver for raising consumers’ bills. [...]
Co-op Bank to beef up board with IT director October 28, 2013 EMBATTLED lender Co-operative Bank yesterday revealed it has appointed former HP executive Bill Thomas as an independent non-executive director. The bank has suffered from IT project problems in the recent past, as well as facing calls from investors to beef up its board with more professional directors. Thomas was previously senior vice president of HP Enterprise Services [...]
City authorities will investigate Co-op Bank’s capital black hole October 28, 2013 THE BANK Of England will study what went wrong at the Co-op Bank and whether the regulators could have done more about it sooner, it emerged this weekend. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) found a £1.5bn capital hole at the bank earlier this year, leading to a change of management at the bank, as well [...]
Co-op to force hedge funds to keep its values October 23, 2013 THE CO-OPERATIVE Group wants to write its ethical code into the Co-op Bank’s constitution, and block future owners from scrapping it, City A.M. understands. The hedge funds which are about to take a sizeable stake in the bank say they want to keep the ethical policies, as it marks the bank out in the market. But [...]