Who is Nan Shepherd? All your questions about Royal Bank of Scotland’s new £5 note star answered April 25, 2016 Much ooh-ing and ahh-ing this morning, after Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) unveiled the next "character" to feature on its Scottish £5 note: Nan Shepherd. Er, who? The news came just days after the Bank of England revealed which superstar artist will appear on its next £20 note – but led to a bit of confusion among those not [...]
Digital challenger Starling Bank’s partnered with Vocalink-backed Pay by Bank app for mobile payment technology April 25, 2017 Digital challenger bank Starling has partnered with Pay by Bank app, Vocalink’s mobile payment technology, to let users more easily make purchases online. Formerly known as Zapp and created by the UK’s biggest banks before Vocalink was sold to Mastercard, Pay by Bank app’s technology is already being used in services such as Barclays’ Pingit [...]
The Serious Fraud Office’s Barclays probe: Everything you need to know June 21, 2017 What happened in 2008? In the summer of 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis, Barclays needed emergency funding. The bank raised £4.5bn in June that year and £7.3bn in October from investors including Qatar Holding and Challenger Universal. Why was this investigated? Over the last five years, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) [...]
Victorious private equity consortium wins shareholder approval to take over Shawbrook bank April 10, 2017 The private equity consortium which launched a drawn-out takeover attempt of Shawbrook bank has finally emerged victorious, passing the shareholder acceptance threshold for its offer. BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital have walked away with a total of 75.6 per cent of Shawbrook's shares – well over the 50 per cent they needed to win [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is cutting nearly 500 jobs in its investment banking business March 15, 2016 Royal Bank of Scotland is getting rid of nearly 450 jobs in its investment banking business as part of a radical restructuring plan intended to cut costs and streamline the state-backed bank. RBS informed staff today that it is slashing 448 office and middle-office positions from its corporate and institutional bank in an effort to shrink [...]
CYBG officially confirms it’s not trying to buy Williams & Glyn, after the Treasury says RBS no longer has to sell the challenger February 21, 2017 Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banking Group (CYBG) officially announced late last night it was no longer looking to buy Williams & Glyn from Royal Bank of Scotland. A statement from the challenger bank said it had "withdrawn its preliminary non-binding proposal for, and ceased discussions relating to, the Williams & Glyn operations". Shares in CYBG are trading up 1.8 [...]
Inflation stays at three per cent despite expectations of a dip February 13, 2018 Consumer price inflation (CPI) remained at three per cent in January, unchanged from the month before, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). CPI is the rate at which the prices of goods and services bought by households rise or fall. CPI including owner occupiers’ housing costs was 2.7 per cent, also unchanged month-on-month. [...]
Budget 2017: Government provides updates on sales of Green Investment Bank, Lloyds and RBS March 8, 2017 The government remained largely quiet on its various privatisation processes in the Budget today. The Treasury announced no new sell-offs, and confirmed the sale of the Green Investment Bank and £12bn of student loans are ongoing. The Green Investment Bank sale process has come under intense scrutiny in recent months, with several MPs raising concerns about [...]
Real estate firm takes crucial step in bringing appeal against RBS for mis-selling March 1, 2017 A real estate company has taken a key step in appealing its case against Royal Bank of Scotland, claiming the bank caused it losses through interest rates swaps mis-selling and Libor manipulation. Property Alliance Group (PAG) has filed for permission for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal, City A.M. understands. The Manchester-based firm lost its [...]
Big UK banks slip down in global ranking, but Metro and the challengers make ground July 3, 2017 Big UK banks are suffering compared with international rivals, according to a ranking of the world’s 1,000 largest lenders out today. HSBC remains Britain’s biggest bank in the global ranking, coming in ninth for the second year in a row. However, the lender – which topped the 2008 ranking – suffered its worst result in [...]