Mark Kleinman: Natwest’s future, Ovo Energy and Hargreaves Lansdown’s search for a successor July 27, 2023 Mark Kleinman is City editor at Sky News What next for Natwest? Somebody with a tighter grip at the top, and that’s just the start Banking with the human touch: that’s how Coutts, the high net worth bank owned by Natwest Group, likes to position itself. Like so many corporate slogans, however, it often bears [...]
FTSE 100 close: Soft Lloyds Bank results spark sell off as Natwest tumbles after Alison Rose exit July 26, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 was dragged down today by investors ditching shares in Britain’s biggest banks after Lloyds posted a soggy set of results that dampened market sentiment. The capital’s premier index fell 0.19 per cent to 7,676.88 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK [...]
Natwest should have stuck to its guns and kept politics out of the City July 26, 2023 Even the most trigger-happy of football chairmen usually leave a few days or weeks in between expressing full confidence in a manager and giving them the heave. Natwest board supremo Lord Howard Davies gave Alison Rose a matter of hours. What happened between the announcement just before 6pm that the Natwest CEO would be staying, [...]
Alison Rose: How the first woman to lead a major British bank ran Natwest July 26, 2023 Dame Alison – or just Ms Rose as she was at the time – made history in 2019 when she became the first woman to take the top job at one of the UK’s big four banks. She took over a bank from New Zealander Ross McEwan, which had stabilised after the financial crisis nearly [...]
Alison Rose resigns as Natwest chief over Farage leak after midnight board drama July 26, 2023 Dame Alison Rose, the Natwest chief executive at the centre of a leaking scandal, resigned overnight after an extraordinary late-night board meeting – just hours after the bank’s Chairman issued a statement offering her their full confidence. Rose outed herself as the source of a BBC story into the finances of Nigel Farage, who had [...]
London court gives green light to £2.7bn foreign exchange claim against six major banks July 25, 2023 The Court of Appeal ruled today that a £2.7bn class action claim relating to foreign exchange manipulation can proceed on an opt-out basis. The claim, brought by FX Claim UK, represents tens of thousands of participants in the foreign exchange market who suffered damages from the anticompetitive behaviour of six of the largest banks in [...]
Nigel Farage receives apology from BBC over Coutts account closure reporting July 24, 2023 The BBC has apologised to Nigel Farage for suggesting he lacked the funds needed to hold an account at Coutts after the private bank cut ties with the former Ukip leader. The BBC’s business editor Simon Jack made the apology after a story published by the corporation suggested Mr Farage had his account shut for [...]
Banks in line for another round of bumper profit amid savings rate row July 23, 2023 The UK’s largest banks are set to report another round of bumper profits this week amid the furore over savings rates and growing concern about the health of the UK economy. Lloyds, Natwest and Barclays are expected to report another strong set of figures for the second quarter thanks to the impact of rising interest [...]
Explainer: What’s going on with Farage’s bank account July 20, 2023 Coutts, a prestigious private bank owned by Natwest, is under pressure after it emerged that Nigel Farage’s bank account had been closed, ostensibly for his political opinions alone. The story has caused a furore and, with politicians wading in, it could even spark a set of new rules which would prevent banks ‘debanking’ customers with [...]
Farage claims documents show Coutts closed his accounts for political reasons July 19, 2023 Former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said he has obtained documents that show his accounts with the private bank Coutts, a unit of taxpayer-backed bank Natwest were being closed primarily for political reasons. In a video posted on Twitter on Tuesday, Farage said he received a 40-page document from Coutts after filing a “subject access [...]