Royal Bank of Scotland is rebranding (but you may not notice) October 12, 2015 What better way for banks to distance themselves from a disastrous decade of bailouts and the Libor scandals than a rebrand. Now Royal Bank of Scotland, or RBS as we know it on the high street, is taking a big step forward by, er, changing those three letters from upper case to lower case. Literally, "decapitalising", as the [...]
RBS is “too big” for the economy of an independent Scotland August 14, 2016 The bank formerly known as the Royal Bank of Scotland would be "too big" for the Scottish economy if the country were to become independent from the rest of the UK, its top boss has said. And that would prompt a move of its headquarters to the UK, despite the vote for Brexit. RBS boss [...]
Bank shares tanked on Donald Trump’s triumph November 9, 2016 Banks' shareholders were clearly less than thrilled about who won the race to the White House this morning, but are learning to live with it this afternoon. After dipping initially this morning, shares for the big banks listed in London have now recovered. Shares in HSBC are currently up 0.1 per cent at 620.6p, Lloyds Banking Group [...]
Autumn Statement sell-offs? Land Registry, Lloyds, Channel 4 and more could be on the privatisation agenda November 18, 2016 Last year was a record for sell-offs of publicly-owned assets, with David Cameron and George Osborne’s government making more than £26bn from stakes in Royal Mail, Eurostar, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and other companies. Next week’s Autumn Statement should provide an insight into how far Theresa May and Philip Hammond will seek to continue [...]
Meet the fifty fastest growing tech firms in the UK: Deliveroo, Bloom & Wild and MoveGB top Deloitte Fast 50 November 17, 2017 Deliveroo has been crowned the fastest growing tech company in the UK, notching up the biggest upward trajectory of any top tech business in the last two decades. The food delivery startup has topped Deloitte's annual Fast 50 list of the fastest growing technology firm, now in its 20th year, recording an unprecedented growth rate [...]
Clydesdale tables bid for RBS’ Williams & Glyn outfit October 25, 2016 Clydesdale has put in a bid to snap up Royal Bank of Scotland's Williams & Glyn outfit. RBS has been told to divest of its interest in the brand and its 300-strong branch network by the end of 2017 to comply with the terms of its £45bn state bailout deal, but there have been several concerns, including [...]
RBS has set aside £400m as compensation for small business customers November 8, 2016 Beleaguered lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has set aside £400m to compensate small and medium-sized business customers after allegations of mistreatment by its Global Restructuring Group (GRG). The lender announced today it will set aside the refund fees for the scandal, in which small firms alleged they were forced into financial distress by the [...]
The Irish border issue tells us what the British government wants from Brexit December 7, 2017 You have to feel a bit sorry for Mrs May. By Monday lunchtime she must have felt convinced she had achieved something that had appeared to be impossible, by settling the Irish border question. It seems almost unthinkable that she would have struck a deal that saw regulatory alignment between the Republic of Ireland and [...]
Why haven’t you invested in Scotland’s blockchain sector yet? November 16, 2016 Can you hear it? That's the sound of the guys working on the chain. Blockchain to be precise. It's no longer a silent revolution in the UK financial world. It's moving fast. Really fast. In fact an amazing £634 per second fast. Or £70,000 by the time you've read this article. Scotland's rapidly-growing blockchain business is making a big noise in [...]
Editor of Russia’s state broadcaster says UK bank account frozen October 17, 2016 Russia’s state-run broadcaster has had its NatWest bank account frozen, according to its editor-in-chief. Margarita Simonyan tweeted today: “Our accounts in Britain have been blocked. All of them. ‘Decision not to be discussed’. Hail to freedom of speech!” Read more: US ends Syria ceasefire talks with Russia RT, formerly known as Russia Today, reported that NatWest [...]