As a beleaguered Deutsche Bank faces a $14bn fine, Angela Merkel has ruled out state aid, but could a bailout be on the cards? September 27, 2016 Recent discussion of possible European bank bailouts has focused on Italy. Saddled with €360bn of souring loans and enfeebled by a stagnant, over-regulated economy, a number of Italian lenders face a very real risk of insolvency. In July, the country’s third largest, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, failed a stress test set by the European Central [...]
At the close: Markets enter reverse as Brexit strains stack up July 6, 2016 Sterling has been savaged today, the FTSE 100 has crashed and half of all assets in UK property funds have been frozen in a difficult day on the financial markets. The pound dropped down below $1.28 overnight, recovered briefly, but is now on the slide after a number of analysts published decidedly bearish forecasts. A [...]
At the close: Markets take a clobbering as sterling slides and uncertainty reigns June 27, 2016 Traders and investors were left bloodied by a volatile session on the markets today. The FTSE has closed down 2.55 per cent at 5,982.20, with a fifth of FTSE 100 companies racking up double digit price falls. The internationally focused blue-chip index outperformed mid-caps however as the FTSE 250 – mostly made up of companies that trade in the [...]
At the open: Relief in the City as stock markets stage mini-recovery June 28, 2016 Stock markets recorded their first gain since the UK voted to leave the European Union – jumping in the first few minutes of trading this morning and, crucially, holding on throughout the day. After two days of deep falls and mass trading suspensions, the bluechip FTSE 100 was up 2.5 per cent by lunchtime at 6,131. [...]
RBS mulls sale of Williams & Glyn and NatWest May 15, 2016 Royal Bank of Scotland's advisers are reportedly weighing a shock move to divest both Williams & Glyn and NatWest, as the bank seeks to accelerate sell-off plans. According to the Sunday Telegraph, RBS advisers, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Robey Warshaw, are weighing the NatWest move in a bid to ease tech problems behind the Williams [...]
Barclays, Clydesdale, HSBC, Lloyds, Santander and Nationwide Building Society all downgraded by Standard & Poor’s over Brexit fears July 7, 2016 Six UK banks have been downgraded by Standard & Poor's (S&P) over concerns about risks arising out of the recent vote to leave the EU. Barclays, Clydesdale, HSBC, Lloyds, Santander UK and Nationwide Building Society have all seen their outlooks revised to negative by the ratings agency. S&P also revised its outlook on the Royal Bank of Scotland [...]
RBS among worst performing European banks as stress test results are published July 30, 2016 Royal Bank of Scotland was the stand-out British performer in the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) stress test results. But not in a good way. The assessment of how European banks might perform in adverse conditions found RBS’s capital levels down 7.5 per cent, making it the third biggest faller of 51 lenders tested. Under the [...]
Stephen Hester’s got another role May 25, 2016 Former Royal Bank of Scotland boss and current boss of RSA Insurance Group Stephen Hester has got another role to add to his list of duties. Hester will become a non-executive director at energy giant Centrica from 1 June, joining the group's nominations and audit committees when he does so. Rick Haythornthwaite, chairman of Centrica said: “I am [...]
A rate cut could wipe £1.4bn off operating profits at the UK’s top banks August 4, 2016 Profits will be decimated at the UK’s top banks if, as widely expected, the Bank of England cuts interest rates to a historic low of 0.25 per cent today. New analysis by the banking practice of consultants Simon-Kucher and Partners predicts that lower rates would wipe £1.4bn off the operating profits at the UK’s top [...]
EU referendum: FTSE 100 in partial recovery as billions wiped off bank shares June 24, 2016 More than £100bn was wiped off the FTSE 100 this morning as the bluechip index suffered a near record fall following the UK's decision to leave the European Union. The index dropped eight per cent in the first minutes of trading as stock markets looked on course for their worst day since the financial crisis. After 90 minutes of [...]