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☆ FTSE 100 slips from record high as upbeat data stokes Fed rate jitters
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Sruthi Shankar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) fell 0.6% after hitting a record high of 7,906.58 in the previous session. Attractive valuation levels compared to overseas peers and the large divergence in performance between different parts of the market "create good opportunities for attractive returns from UK stocks in the next 3-5 years", he added. The domestically-focussed FTSE 250 (.FTMC) fell 0.8%, after climbing an eight-month peak last week. Online trading platform Plus500 Ltd (PLUSP.L) jumped 4.2% after it got licence to expand in the UAE. Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ NatWest CEO to face UK lawmakers on savings rates after U-turn
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - NatWest (NWG.L) CEO Alison Rose will face a grilling by British lawmakers next Tuesday over whether lenders are passing on enough of central bank interest rate rises to consumers, after initially saying she was too busy to attend. "Following further discussions with the Treasury Committee on the vital issues at hand, Alison Rose will be attending next week's Committee hearing," a spokesperson for NatWest said. Lloyds boss Charlie Nunn and executives from Barclays and HSBC are also set to attend the hearing held by the powerful Treasury Select Committee next week. NatWest had initially said its retail bank boss David Lindberg was an appropriate boss to represent the bank at the hearing. Reporting by Iain Withers; Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK house prices to fall 8-10% this year, Lloyds CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailUK house prices to fall 8-10% this year, Lloyds CEO saysCharlie Nunn, CEO of Lloyds Banking Group, discusses the outlook for the U.K. economy and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.

☆ UK house prices to fall by up to 10% this year, Lloyds Bank CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Fog shrouds the Canary Wharf business district including global financial institutions Citigroup Inc., State Street Corp., Barclays Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc and the commercial office block No. LONDON — U.K. house prices will fall by up to 10% this year, as higher mortgage rates and the broader cost of living crisis curtail home buying, Lloyds Bank CEO Charlie Nunn told CNBC on Tuesday. The U.K. property sector remained sluggish in recent months, as the Bank of England continued to hike interest rates aggressively in order to reel in double-digit inflation. Inflation hit 10.7% in November, and the Bank has hiked rates at nine consecutive policy meetings to lift its main rate from 0.1% to 3.5%. A report from British property website Rightmove on Monday showed asking prices for homes rising slightly in January for the first time in two months.

☆ 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.

☆ How Ana Botín can defeat the Santander sceptics
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Investors aren’t buying what Ana Botín is selling. That’s striking because analysts expect Santander to earn a respectable 11% return on tangible equity (ROTE) over the next 12 months. One way to express the dissonance between those numbers is to infer the return investors require to hold the bank’s shares. To shed that discount, Botín must prove Santander is the best owner of its component bits. The group generated an annualised return on tangible equity of almost 14% in the first nine months of 2022.

☆ JPMorgan, Citi and BNP invest in risk management provider Acin
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Andres Gonzalez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] A view of the exterior of the JP Morgan Chase & Co. corporate headquarters in New York City May 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mike SegarLONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A group of five banks including JPMorgan , Citi (C.N) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) are among the investors who backed an overall $24 million fundraising for risk control specialist Acin as part of their strategy to step up their risk expertise. "We have been working with Acin for the past three years, during which they have supported our established operational risk management and assessment practices," said Julian Liau, Chief Controls Manager at JPMorgan. Both Notion Capital and Fitch Ventures backed Acin in the last fundraising. Acin helps financial institutions digitise their operational and non-financial risk analysis, using its data analytic capabilities.

☆ Banks face 6% capital hike from remaining Basel rules, says Bank of England
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Applying the remaining set of global bank capital rules in Britain will increase capital requirements by about 6% by the end of the decade, the Bank of England said on Wednesday. The initial batch of Basel III rules from the Basel Committee of banking regulators from the world's main financial centres, were rolled out in the aftermath of the global financial crisis over a decade ago when taxpayers had to bail out undercapitalised lenders. The final batch, which the BoE calls Basel 3.1, will be implemented from January 2025, after a public consultation now underway, affecting lenders like HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest. BoE director Phil Evans said given Brexit allows Britain to write its own financial rules, the consultation is a landmark event that will take account of Britain's competitiveness while aligning with strong international standards. Evans said Basel 3.1 will increase capital requirements for banks by about 6%.

☆ Barclays appoints Currie as chief operating officer
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Lawrence White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Barclays (BARC.L) said it has appointed Alistair Currie as its chief operating officer on Wednesday, as CEO C.S. Currie replaces Mark Ashton-Rigby, who will step down and advise the bank on a part-time basis. Currie had headed the lender's consumer banking and payments business, and will be replaced in that role by Vim Maru, who joins from Lloyds Banking Group. The changes come at a time when Barclays' executive committee of senior managers has taken on increased prominence in the running of the bank, while Venkatakrishnan is treated for cancer. New chief operating officer Currie will in addition to that role take on the running of BX, the bank's name for its firm-wide company providing technology and other support services to all parts of the business.

☆ Barclays announces new Chief Operating Officer
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Barclays (BARC.L) announced a reshuffle of its executive committee on Wednesday, with Chief Operating Officer Mark Ashton-Rigby stepping down from the role. He will be replaced by Alistair Currie, who currently heads the lender's consumer banking and payments business, the British bank said. Currie in turn will be replaced in that role by Vim Maru, who joins from Lloyds Banking Group. Reporting by Lawrence White, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt talks to a television crew outside the BBC headquarters in London, Britain November 18, 2022. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File PhotoLONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Britain's financial watchdog laid out options on Wednesday it said banks should offer customers finding it difficult to make payments on mortgages during the cost of living crisis. Prices slid last month by the most since the global financial crisis, mortgage lender Halifax said on Wednesday. In its draft guidance, the FCA also said firms may offer payment concessions where they agree to accept less than the contractual monthly instalment - resulting in a payment shortfall. "We will consider if there are further steps we can take to help firms to support their borrowers, including at scale."

☆ 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.

☆ HSBC to close 114 branches in Britain from April 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - HSBC (HSBA.L) will close 114 branches in Britain from April 2023, the British lender said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of such announcements by retail banks in the country as they slash their networks to try and cut costs. HSBC, in common with peers such as Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) that has also closed branches in recent months, blamed changing customer behaviour for the move, saying customers are increasingly banking online. HSBC said it will invest tens of millions of pounds in updating and improving its remaining 327 branches. Reporting by Lawrence White, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK banks’ Big Bang thankfully looks like big flop
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Yet, the mooted changes would probably only benefit middling lenders like Santander UK, Virgin Money (VMUK.L) and Banco Sabadell’s (SABE.MC) TSB Bank, according to the FT. And on Wednesday, the BoE’s supervisory body said it planned largely to stick to international bank-capital rules, dubbed Basel 3.1. But the big flop might not be such a bad thing for the country’s financial sector. Separately, the government’s City minister Andrew Griffith said on Nov. 29 that he wanted to relax the so-called ringfencing regime that forces large British lenders to separate their retail and investment banking arms. According to the Financial Times, the ringfencing regime would still apply to the biggest UK banks but there could be exemptions for lenders with limited trading operations including Santander UK, Virgin Money and TSB Bank.

LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Britain will change its rulebook to allow banks to take more risks in order to keep the City of London a leading global financial centre, a government minister said on Tuesday. Next week the EU will set out a new law to force banks in the bloc to shift some of their euro derivatives clearing from London to Frankfurt. "The overall thrust of things is to allow more risk... You get reward from taking risks, you shouldn't be risk off, we just need to manage that in an appropriate way," Griffith told a Financial Times event. "There is nervousness about the UK overall," Nunn said, referring to the period of political instability and concern over the nation's finances. Alison Harding-Jones, head of EMEA M&A at US bank Citi, told the event that Britain remained a strong place and open for business.

SummarySummary Companies Coal miners struggling to fund expansion plansThermal coal costs more than coking coal after price surgeMost Western bankers pulling back from coal industryLONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - It's the best of times, it's the worst of times. At least when it comes to mining coal. With funding hard to come by from Western banks, coal miners outside China have turned more to equity markets this year. "With regard to thermal coal mining, any transaction in coal mining requires an enhanced environmental risk review," a Deutsche spokesperson said, adding that the bank was updating its coal policy. Bens Creek listed shares partly because of the lack of appetite from banks to support any expansion of coal mining, chief executive Wilson said.

☆ Virgin Money reports jump in annual profit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Iain Withers | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - British lender Virgin Money (VMUK.L) reported a 43% increase in full-year profit on Monday, as Bank of England rate rises lifted its finances ahead of a likely prolonged economic downturn. Virgin Money reported pre-tax profit of 595 million pounds ($703 million) for the year to September, up from 417 million pounds the prior year. The country's sixth-largest lender was created through the merger of Virgin Money and rival CYBG in 2018, in a bid to challenge the market dominance of large incumbent high street banks including Lloyds and Barclays. Virgin Money set aside 52 million pounds to cover potential bad loans to reflect the deteriorating outlook, but said there were limited signs of credit concerns so far. "While we have solid credit quality across our lending, we are aware that some customers will have to make difficult decisions in this environment, and we are proactively offering them help and support," Virgin Money CEO David Duffy said.

Any crunch for Britain's small businesses, which often lack the scale to pass on cost rises to customers as easily as bigger rivals, could deliver a new economic body blow. "How are we going to get out of this hole if it's not small businesses? "But there's no question that small businesses now have less capacity to increase their borrowing because you've got a slowing economy." Indeed small companies in Britain see their access to credit at its worst level since 2015, according to a quarterly survey by the FSB of 1,383 small business owners. Many small companies have also yet to repay state-backed loans extended to prop them up during COVID lockdowns, making their credit profiles increasingly unattractive.

☆ UK property market at risk of major downturn as recession fears loom
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesLONDON — The U.K. property market may be verging on a major downturn, with some market watchers warning of a collapse in prices of up to 30% as data points to the biggest slump in demand since the Global Financial Crisis. Meantime, the MSCI UK Quarterly Property Index, which tracks retail, office, industrial and residential property, slumped 4.3% in the three months to September, marking the sector's worst performance since 2009. The investment bank now sees U.K. property prices declining by around 10% by the second quarter of 2023. Rising interest rates, soaring inflation and the economic shock from Russia's war in Ukraine have weighed heavy on the global housing market. Indeed, according to Goldman Sachs' analysis, for every one percentage point increase in the U.K. unemployment rate, mortgage delinquency tends to rise by over 20 basis points after one year.

☆ Despite the recent chaos, UK stockpickers are rubbing their hands: Here's what they're buying
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The U.K. has been beset by political and economic instability in recent months, but as the investment environment undergoes a fundamental transition, investors see opportunity. These attractive valuations for U.K. stocks were also identified in a note last week by BlackRock Fundamental Equities. "Not only has the U.K. discount widened to a level not seen since 2008, but companies are buying back record amounts of their own shares. This compares to the current yield on UK 10-year gilts of around 4%." GAM holds around 50% of its U.K. equity income portfolio in small and midcap stocks, with a focus on companies with strong competitive moats.

☆ Lender PCF to withdraw from UK market after rescue fails
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Sinchita Mitra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares in PCF fell by around 62% to 0.4 pence in early trade following the news on Wednesday, six weeks after Castle Trust Capital withdrew its intention to make an offer for PCF. "This has been a very difficult strategic decision for the board to make given the consequences for the business, colleagues, customers, intermediaries and shareholders," Chief Executive of PCF Bank, Garry Stran, said in a statement. To cancel the AIM listing, it must consult investors. PCF, which has a market value just under 4 million pounds ($4.6 million), said it will continue to explore strategic transactions with interested third parties and it retained the support of Somers Limited, its biggest shareholder with a 73.24% stake. Reporting by Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Sinead Cruise and Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Aircraft lessor Avolon takes legal action against Lloyds Insurance
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

DUBLIN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Aircraft lessor Avolon is taking legal action against Lloyds Insurance in the Irish High court, a filing showed on Thursday, as leasing giants pursue claims over huge losses linked to the Russia-Ukraine war. Avolon recorded a first-quarter impairment of $304 million to cover the financial impact of having 10 jets stuck in Russia following European Union sanctions that forced the termination of all Russian leases. A spokesperson for Avolon declined to give any details of the claim saying: "We have always maintained that we will rigorously pursue our claim and issuing proceedings now is the next stage in that process." Writing by Conor Humphries; editing by David EvansOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK's Lloyds Bank offers UK staff 2,000 pounds minimum pay rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Iain Withers | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest domestic bank Lloyds has offered UK staff a minimum 2,000 pounds ($2,242) pay rise, a source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, as lenders and employees across the sector begin annual pay talks that could see wage bills soar. Union Unite said it recommended members accept the "unprecedented offer", noting it directed higher awards to the lowest paid. The 2,000 pound uplift represented an average 10% pay rise for staff on lower grades, Unite said, with staff at higher grades getting a 4% increase. "The pay offer represents a win for the workforce," said Caren Evans, national officer for Unite. Lloyds was the first major British bank to offer staff an unscheduled pay boost to help them cope with the increased cost of living earlier this year.

Charles Roe, director of mortgages for banking industry group UK Finance, told lawmakers that lenders were reintroducing mortgage products at lower prices. However, Ray Boulger, senior mortgage technical manager at broker John Charcol, said he was disappointed at the slow progress lenders were making. PRICE FALLS FORECASTAverage two-year and five-year fixed mortgage rates have fallen around 0.2 percentage points from their recent peak, but still remain above 6%, Moneyfacts data shows. "It was 2008 the last time mortgage rates were at 6%, there's a whole cadre of people who have never experienced this...and are very worried," said Joanna Elson, Chief Executive, The Money Advice Trust. The lender has started to reduce fixed mortgage rates for existing customers, while rates for new customers were under review, he added.

☆ NatWest reports flat profit as economic outlook dims
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Iain Withers | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - British bank NatWest (NWG.L) reported flat quarterly profits on Friday, as bad loan charges from a worsening economic outlook took the shine off income boosted by rising interest rates. NatWest posted pre-tax profit of 1.1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion) for July-September, slightly below the 1.2 billion pounds average of analyst forecasts compiled by the bank, and unchanged on the prior year. The bank set aside an additional 247 million pounds in the quarter to reflect the deteriorating picture, denting its profits. Britain's economy is facing recession at a time when the Bank of England is hiking interest rates to curb double-digit inflation, squeezing the finances of households and businesses. Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC earlier all reported solid profits but discomfited investors with higher bad loan charges.

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