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☆ Britain cuts stake in NatWest via £1.24 billion share sale
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A NatWest Group Plc bank branch in the City of London, UK, on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. The British government has sold 1.24 billion pounds ($1.58 billion) worth of shares in NatWest Group back to the lender, it said on Friday, decreasing its stake to about 22.5% from nearly 26% previously. The London-listed bank bought back 392.4 million shares from the government in an off-market purchase at 316.2 pence a share, as part of its existing contract with the state. The heavily anticipated stock sale is a key milestone in the bank's full privatization. The settlement of the off-market purchase will occur on June 4, the government said in a statement.

Organizations: NatWest Group, City of, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland Locations: City, City of London, London

[1/2] Former UK finance minister (Chancellor of the Exchequer), Alistair Darling, poses for a photograph in Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain, Aug 31, 2018. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Former British finance minister Alistair Darling, who steered the country's economy and banking system through the shock of the global financial crisis in 2007-08, has died aged 70 after undergoing treatment for cancer, his family said on Thursday. Darling was named chancellor of the exchequer by former prime minister Gordon Brown in June 2007, just as the crisis was brewing at leading financial institutions. "I never met anyone who didn't like him," Brown's predecessor as prime minister, Tony Blair, said. "Darling's passing is a huge loss to us all," said Britain's present prime minister Rishi Sunak, from the centre-right Conservative party.

Persons: Alistair Darling, Russell Cheyne, Darling, Gordon Brown, Brown, Margaret, Calum, Anna, Tony Blair, Lehman, Rishi Sunak, Muvija, Kate Holton, Andrew Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB, Labour Party, Treasury, Western General Hospital, Loretto School, Aberdeen University, The Guardian, Lehman Brothers, Conservative, Thomson Locations: Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain, British, United Kingdom

☆ Alistair Darling, Guiding Hand in Britain’s Financial Crisis, Dies at 70
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Alan Cowell | More About Alan Cowell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Alistair Darling, a British lawmaker and cabinet minister who played a leading role in his country’s response to the 2008 global financial crisis, rescuing troubled banks with huge injections of public money that staved off a broader economic collapse, died on Thursday at a hospital in Edinburgh. Darling became “best known as the steady pair of hands who shepherded the U.K. economy as half its banking system collapsed,” noting his moves to rescue British banking giants, especially the Royal Bank of Scotland. Just before the crisis, in 2007, Gordon Brown, Britain’s Labour prime minister at the time, elevated Mr. Darling to chancellor of the Exchequer, the government’s most senior official in charge of the nation’s finances. Darling had held a series of government offices at the Treasury and at ministries dealing with welfare, pensions, trade and transport.

Persons: Alistair Darling, Darling, Gordon Brown Organizations: Lehman Bros, BBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Labour, Treasury Locations: British, Edinburgh, United States

Barclays Bank logo is seen in this illustration taken March 12, 2023. Tesco Plc and Tesco Bank declined to comment. It could not be established how much the proposed deal would value the Tesco Bank assets. Tesco Bank was launched in 1997 as a joint venture between the British supermarket group and Royal Bank of Scotland, with Tesco later taking full control of the company. Despite seeing it as a growth area in the past, Tesco has been scaling back its banking services, including no longer offering current accounts and offloading its mortgage portfolio to Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L).

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Amy, Jo Crowley, Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, Lawrence White, Iain Withers, Anousha Sakoui, Jane Merriman Organizations: Barclays Bank, REUTERS, Barclays, Reuters, Tesco Bank, Tesco, Tesco Plc, British, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, Thomson Locations: British, Kensington

☆ NatWest weighs clawing back bonus from former CEO Rose
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of NatWest Bank, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group is seen outside a branch in Enfield, London Britain November 15, 2017. Rose stepped down on July 25 after admitting to a "serious error of judgment" in discussing Farage's relationship with NatWest-owned Coutts with a BBC journalist. Natwest said Rose would continue to earn a fixed salary and fixed share awards totalling 2.4 million pounds ($3.03 million), and pension contributions worth 10%, in line with her 12-month notice period and pending the outcome of the inquiry. "Like other employees where an investigation outcome is pending, Alison is currently receiving her fixed pay," a NatWest spokesperson said. The lender will pay new CEO Paul Thwaite 1.05 million pounds ($1.39 million) in fixed salary, just below the 1.16 million it paid Rose, in addition to a fixed share allowance of about 1.1 million pounds, NatWest said.

Persons: John Sibley, Alison Rose, Nigel Farage's, Rose, Coutts, Alison, Farage, Rose's, Paul Thwaite, Chandini, Lawrence White, Sinead Cruise, Sharon Singleton Organizations: NatWest Bank, Royal Bank of, Enfield , London Britain, REUTERS, NatWest, BBC, Natwest, Thomson Locations: Enfield , London, Bengaluru, London

NatWest lifer Rose climbed up the ranks over more than three decades from graduate trainee to boardroom, becoming the first woman to run one of Britain's major banks. "You can be a hero one day, a zero the next, as Alison Rose has found out." Davies lamented the "sad moment" while Rose paid tribute to colleagues who had helped her build solid foundations for the bank, in a statement accompanying the news. RBS TO NATWESTRose succeeded Ross McEwan as CEO of NatWest in 2019, becoming the lender's first female boss. But under Rose's supervision, the bank became one of Britain's biggest participants in government-designed loan schemes to keep ailing businesses afloat.

Persons: Alison Rose, Nigel Farage, NatWest lifer Rose, Coutts, Rishi Sunak, Rupert Younger, Rose, Howard Davies, Rose's, Davies, Charlie Nunn, Farage, impinging, NATWEST Rose, Ross McEwan, McEwan, Stephen Hester, Fred Goodwin, Lawrence White, Conor Humphries Organizations: NatWest's, Brexit Party, NatWest, Oxford University's, Lloyds Banking Group, Britain's, RBS, NATWEST, Royal Bank of Scotland, Thomson Locations: Europe, Westminster, Britain

☆ Government’s NatWest meddling crosses risky line
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Meddling ministers crossed a line, and may struggle to retreat back onto the right side of it. Its shares fell a modest 3% on Wednesday morning – compared with 1% on average for Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), Barclays (BARC.L) and Virgin Money UK (VMUK.L). Rose’s strategy of cutting costs, continuing to scale back risky trading and focusing on core UK retail banking was working. Britain’s Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith said on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, that “it is right that the NatWest CEO has resigned”. Domestic rivals Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and Virgin Money UK were down 2% on average.

Persons: Alison Rose, Rose, Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, Nigel Farage, Andrew Griffith, Coutts, aren’t, Nigel Farage's, Paul Thwaite, George Hay, Pranav Kiran, Streisand Neto Organizations: Reuters, Economic, NatWest, BBC, Royal Bank of Scotland’s, UK Government Investments, . Mortgage, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, Virgin Money, Lloyds, Domestic, Thomson Locations: NatWest’s

☆ UK water meltdown resurrects bank crisis dilemmas
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Neil Unmack | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The government may take over heavily indebted Thames Water, a hapless privately held utility unable to fund capital needs that may stretch to 10 billion pounds. Under Macquarie’s (MQG.AX) ownership, which lasted from 2006 to 2016, Thames’ debt rose to over 80% of RCV. They’re issued through a vehicle called Thames Water Utilities Finance. Thames Water CEO Sarah Bentley resigned abruptly on June 27. Thames shareholders, led by Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, committed in 2022 to provide 1.5 billion pounds of extra funds.

Persons: Ofwat, Rishi Sunak, Gordon Brown, Kemble, They’re, Sarah Bentley, “, George Hay, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Royal Bank of Scotland, Thames, Ontario, Thames ’, Guardian, UK, RBS, Investors, Water Utilities Finance, Yorkshire Water, SES Water, Sky News, Thames Water, Thomson Locations: –, Thames, Yorkshire, Britain’s

☆ Britain lowers stake in NatWest with $1.6 bln share sale
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The lender returned to majority private ownership in March 2022 after a similar block sale. The government has a target of fully returning NatWest to private ownership by 2026. "Today's sale is another major milestone in returning NatWest to full private ownership as promised," Andrew Griffith, economic secretary to the Treasury, said in a statement. Britain owned 84% of NatWest at the peak of its ownership after it bailed out the bank in 2008. The sale announced on Monday is the government's sixth block sale of NatWest stock to date, the government said.

☆ Bank rescue real estate turns from dowry to downer
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Aimee Donnellan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Unlike many banks which got into trouble back in 2008, the Swiss lender has flogged much of its prime real estate. In the last financial crisis prime real estate played a big part of bank rescues. When Barclays (BARC.L) bought Lehman Brothers’ U.S. capital markets business in September 2008 the deal included the bankrupt investment bank’s headquarters. Today there is less real estate underpinning bank values. For buyers preparing to rescue embattled banks, real estate has turned from a dowry to a downer.

☆ I quit banking to clean up crime scenes and homes where people have died. It can be absolutely horrific.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Lola Christina Alao | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

She quit her job at a bank to work as a domestic cleaner before training in the specialty. So in March 2019 I left my job, and in April I started working as a domestic cleaner, cleaning an office. When the pandemic hit, I also started working alongside the council doing COVID cleans. When the council offered me a cleaning job involving needles, I was terrified and turned it downI was always scared of injections. If a job is small and urgent, like cleaning a house after someone's been stabbed, I work on it alone.

☆ NatWest set to raise bonus pool above 350 million pounds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - British taxpayer-backed bank NatWest (NWG.L) is set to raise its 2022 bonus pool for staff to between 350-400 million pounds ($420-480 million), a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The pool would represent an increase of up to around a third on the 298 million pounds paid out to staff the previous year and comes amid heightened political scrutiny of whether banks are doing enough to support customers during Britain's cost of living crisis. Sky News first reported Natwest's planned bonus pool increase. It would be NatWest's second straight annual bonus pool increase, although the bank said in its 2021 accounts that the pool had been limited to reflect a 265 million pound fine for anti-money laundering failings. NatWest's bonuses are subject to a stricter cap than rivals and the overall pool is typically lower than lenders with large investment banks.

☆ Euro-banks have done their time in valuation jail
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Major euro zone and UK banks are trading at a 40% discount to the region’s wider benchmark index, using price to forward earnings multiples tracked by Refinitiv. The subsequent euro zone crisis in 2012 prompted a wave of bad debt that weighed down earnings. More recently, though, euro zone lenders have been facing up to their past sins, and offloading non-performing loans. There’s no evidence of a bank lending splurge, despite years of rock-bottom interest rates. Between November 2012 and November 2022, euro zone banks’ total lending to households and companies grew at an annual clip of under 2%, a fraction of its pre-2008 pace.

☆ StanChart suitors track banking’s flighty fortunes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Peter Thal Larsen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

But one reliable rule of thumb is that Standard Chartered (STAN.L) will be the subject of periodic bouts of takeover speculation. The latest prospective suitor, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB.AD), reflects the shifting fortunes of global banking. Under UK rules, First Abu Dhabi cannot make an offer for StanChart for six months, unless another bidder emerges. The Abu Dhabi lender said it had been in “the very early stages of evaluating a possible offer” for the emerging markets-focused bank. Standard Chartered declined to comment.

☆ NatWest lifts staff pay after cost of living backlash
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Iain Withers | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] The logo of NatWest Bank, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group is seen outside a branch in Enfield, London Britain November 15, 2017. Britain's biggest domestic bank Lloyds offered a similar deal of a minimum 2,000 pound pay rise earlier this month. NatWest's shares plunged as much as 10% when it warned of rising costs next year in its third-quarter results on Oct 28, which Rose put down to the need to pay staff more. Pay offers for staff on higher pay bands in Britain were not included in the negotiations with unions. NatWest staff based overseas will be offered the local cash equivalent of the 1,000 pounds lump sum planned in Britain, the memo added.

The SEC's whistleblower program was created as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a law passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Under the law, eligible whistleblowers can receive a cash award of between 10% and 30% of any monetary sanctions collected above $1 million. Hong provided further documentary evidence, helping FHFA and the U.S. Justice Department secure settlements with RBS for $5.5 billion and $4.9 billion, respectively. Hong sought an award under the SEC's whistleblower program but the commission declared him ineligible because the action against RBS was not taken by the commission itself. Hong's lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court, contending that the SEC is undermining the aim of Congress to incentivize and award whistleblowers by "coordinating enforcement efforts with other agencies and then refusing to pay an award."

☆ HSBC ditches its cost-cut tsar before job is done
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters Breakingviews) - HSBC (HSBA.L), (0005.HK) boss Noel Quinn is getting rid of a cost-cutting finance chief, Ewen Stevenson, while his skills are still in need. The former Royal Bank of Scotland chief financial officer and Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) banker only started as HSBC CFO in January 2019. HSBC has so far managed to axe about $4.9 billion of gross annual expenses under a programme launched in early 2020. To keep HSBC’s investors happy, Elhedery will have to do his best impersonation of the bank’s outgoing cost-cutting tsar. Reuters GraphicsFollow @liamwardproud on TwitterloadingCONTEXT NEWSHSBC on Oct. 25 appointed Georges Elhedery as chief financial officer.

Royal Bank of Scotland signs are seen at a branch of the bank, in London, Britain December 1, 2017. RBS agreed to settle Justice Department and FHFA investigations over its sales of residential mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. The SEC did not pursue its own action against RBS in this instance. The petition Hong filed on Monday asks the Supreme Court to consider what constitutes an "action" within the SEC's whistleblower incentive program. "The better a whistleblower's information, the larger the sanctions, the larger the whistleblower award, and the greater the self-interested motivation for the SEC to take enforcement actions that it has conveniently placed outside of Dodd-Frank's reach," it added.

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