Category Archives: Financial sector

What’s behind the record FTSE 100 high?

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Hopes of a UK interest rate cut and easing geopolitical tensions are not the only reasons for the intraday peak reached this morning

The UK stock market has hit an intraday record high, lifted by hopes of interest rate cuts and easing geopolitical tensions, after setting a new closing high on Monday. The FTSE 100 index touched 8,076 points at the opening bell on Tuesday, surpassing a previous high of 8,047 reached in February 2023. We explain what is behind the rising London market.

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Top Labour figures met financial services firms after £150k donation

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OpenDemocracy investigation names attenders, including Keir Starmer, at Edinburgh meeting to discuss party’s banking policies

Senior members of the shadow cabinet have held a private meeting with a group of financial services companies to discuss the party’s banking policies just weeks after one of the companies donated £150,000 to the party.

Six senior Labour figures – including the leader, Keir Starmer, the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds – attended the meeting in Edinburgh last December, according to an investigation by the website OpenDemocracy.

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Nationwide agrees £2.9bn deal to take over Virgin Money

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Richard Branson has already indicated he will back takeover that will require the agreement of the group’s shareholders

Nationwide Building Society is lined up to take over its smaller rival Virgin Money after the pair formally agreed a deal worth £2.9bn.

The deal, which will solidify Nationwide’s position as the UK’s second largest mortgage lender, will also trigger the resignation of Virgin Money boss David Duffy, and is likely to lead to job cuts as well as an official “review” of the combined group’s workforce.

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Millions more in cash needed to fund UK’s open-banking watchdog

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Exclusive: £10m needed for regulator charged with developing tools to thwart financial crime and protect consumers

Banks are under pressure to stump up millions of pounds in interim funding for the organisation that polices open banking, with regulators saying the new money is needed to prevent financial crime and protect consumers if things “go wrong”.

Large banks including NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds and Santander UK were among more than 40 City firms summoned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last week to discuss a cash injection into Open Banking Limited (OPL), the body that oversees innovation in this area.

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UK Insolvency Service seeks up to 15-year director ban for Lex Greensill

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Government agency issues disqualification proceedings after inquiry into failed finance firm Greensill Capital

The Insolvency Service has begun legal action to have Lex Greensill disqualified from running companies for up to 15 years after the outcome of an investigation into the directors of his failed finance firm.

The government agency said it had issued disqualification proceedings on behalf of the business secretary against the former Australian sugar farmer, who founded the Greensill group of companies.

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Anglo American’s platinum arm to cut 3,700 jobs as metal’s price dives

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Johannesburg-based Amplats says one in five jobs will be lost in South Africa amid plunge in profits

The platinum arm of Anglo American is to cut 3,700 jobs in South Africa as the British mining company attempts to improve performance in the troubled division.

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said on Monday it aimed to cut jobs after a sharp drop in platinum metal prices, which had led to a collapse in profits last year.

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Misconduct claims tipped CBI into ‘near death experience’, says president

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Rupert Soames says Guardian revelations over sexual misconduct claims were ‘appalling shock’ but is bullish about the future

The new president of the Confederation of British Industry has admitted the Guardian’s revelations of sexual misconduct were “an appalling shock” that tipped the lobbying group into a “near-death experience’’.

Rupert Soames, the City grandee recently appointed president of the CBI, said that this newspaper’s revelations about sexual misconduct at the organisation had triggered an existential crisis – one he is trying to rescue it from.

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Lloyds and Santander accused of providing accounts for Iranian front companies

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Both banks deny helping Tehran-controlled oil firm PCC to move money in breach of sanctions

Two of the UK’s largest lenders, Santander UK and Lloyds Banking Group, allegedly held bank accounts for front companies that helped Iranian entities evade US sanctions, according to reports.

The news has rattled investors, who sold off shares in the two banks on Monday morning, amid fears that the lenders could face penalties if they are found to have in any way assisted Iran’s state-controlled Petrochemical Commercial Company (PCC).

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Labour to unveil plans for City at forthcoming business conference

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Exclusive: more than 500 bosses from finance world will be in attendance at sold-out event in London

Labour will use its sold-out business conference next week to unveil the party’s City policy plans, the Guardian can reveal, as it tries to win over hundreds of UK executives before a general election.

More than 500 bosses from across British finance will gather in London on 1 February for the event, where opposition leaders including Sir Keir Starmer, his shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, plan to “showcase Labour’s offer to business”.

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Sexual harassment has shifted away from the office to work trips, MPs told

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In wake of #MeToo, sexism in the City has become more ‘underhand and pernicious’, women tell inquiry

The social change sparked by the #MeToo movement has not translated to the UK’s financial sector, with sexual harassment merely shifting outside the office to conferences and work trips, MPs have heard.

A summary of private hearings held as part of the Treasury committee’s sexism in the City inquiry showed that, while a small number of women said workplaces had become more inclusive in recent years, the majority felt the Square Mile was still an “old boys’ club” with misconduct and misogyny widespread.

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UK car finance: ‘millions of drivers could get payout’ as watchdog investigates

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FCA to examine whether consumers have been charged inflated prices for loans on new and secondhand cars

Millions of drivers could be in line for a payout, it has been claimed, after the UK financial watchdog opened an investigation into whether consumers had been unfairly charged inflated prices for loans on new and secondhand cars.

The Financial Conduct Authority said on Thursday that it had decided to examine whether a compensation scheme was needed to deal with alleged large-scale mis-selling in the £50bn-a-year motor finance sector.

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UK students launch Barclays ‘career boycott’ over bank’s climate policies

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Campaign at leading universities such as Oxbridge and UCL warns lender it will miss out on top talent if it finances fossil fuels

Hundreds of students from leading UK universities have launched a “career boycott” of Barclays over its climate policies, warning that the bank will miss out on top talent unless it stops financing fossil fuel companies.

More than 220 students from Barclays’ top recruitment universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, and University College London have sent a letter to the high street lender, saying they will not work for Barclays and raising the alarm over its funding for oil and gas firms including Shell, TotalEnergies, Exxon and BP.

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UK and Switzerland agree to deepen ties between City and Swiss banking system

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Treasury says post-Brexit tie-up to be signed on Thursday will ease cross-border market access for financial services

The UK and Switzerland will agree to forge closer links on Thursday in a post-Brexit accord that aims to deepen ties between the City and the Swiss banking system.

In a move that brings Europe’s largest financial centres closer together, the mutual recognition agreement will be signed on Thursday by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, during a visit to Berne.

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L&G opens door for huge US-style bonuses for UK asset managers

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Update to pay policy includes room for ‘necessary flexibility’ to attract best talent to London-listed firm

One of the largest UK pension and insurance firms has opened the door to backing US-style mega-bonuses for London listed companies despite fears that executive pay is fuelling inequality and encouraging “short-term risk taking”.

Legal & General Investment Management has updated its pay policy to say there is room for the “necessary flexibility” needed to attract the best talent. It acknowledges “an increased push” by UK companies towards “remunerations structures that are more closely aligned to US-style pay”.

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Scale of bullying and harassment of women in City ‘shocks and alarms’ MPs

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Cross-party Treasury committee says its private hearings suggest there has been no improvement in 20 years

MPs on the cross-party Treasury committee have been “shocked and alarmed” to hear about the scale of bullying and sexual harassment against women in the City of London, which suggests there has been “no improvement whatsoever” over the past 20 years.

The Labour MP and committee member Angela Eagle said private hearings held as part of the committee’s sexism in the City inquiry had raised significant concerns about the conditions women were forced to endure in the UK’s financial services sector.

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Moody’s cuts China credit outlook to negative as economy slows

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Rating agency says Beijing may need to bail out local governments as property sector collapses

China’s ability to repay its government borrowing has been downgraded by the credit rating agency Moody’s, which said the ripple effects from a crisis in the property sector would undermine efforts to revive its flagging economy.

Moody’s warned that Beijing would need to bail out local and regional governments and state-owned enterprises that were struggling with rising debts, hampering efforts to boost investment and growth.

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UK will not return to Cameron era’s close ties with China, Sunak says

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At summit to drum up foreign investment PM says he does not intend to change policy towards Beijing

Rishi Sunak has said the UK will not return to the close relationship with China pursued under David Cameron, as the prime minister met business leaders in an effort to drum up foreign investment.

The government on Monday said £29.5bn of new investment had been earmarked for the UK, including projects by the ScottishPower owner, Iberdrola, and BioNTech, the German company that partnered with Pfizer on its Covid vaccine.

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Eurozone banks starting to show ‘stress’ as loan defaults rise, ECB warns

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Rising interest rates have boosted profitability but are likely to limit demand and increase risk of bad debts, says central bank

The balance sheets of eurozone banks are showing “early signs of stress” after a rise in loan defaults and late payments by customers, the European Central Bank has warned.

Higher interest rates have boosted banks’ income and profits for the time being, the ECB said, but lenders are facing pressures from higher funding costs, worsening asset quality and lower lending volumes.

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Ex-minister Gavin Williamson warned as he takes job at payment card provider

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Advisory committee on business appointments tells MP he must not utilise contacts in government in Lanistar role

The former cabinet minister Gavin Williamson has taken a job at a firm launching a payment card “built for the influencer lifestyle”, which was previously hit with a consumer warning by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and currently only offers its product in Brazil.

Williamson has gained permission to join the advisory board of Lanistar, whose website says it wants to roll out its virtual payment card and crypto services to the UK and EU.

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Odey Asset Management to shut after sexual misconduct allegations against founder

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Financial institutions have cut ties with hedge fund set up by Brexiter and Conservative party donor

Odey Asset Management is closing down, five months after allegations of sexual misconduct made by junior female members of staff against its founder Crispin Odey threw the hedge fund into turmoil.

The business said on its website: “Odey Asset Management [OAM], including Brook Asset Management and Odey Wealth, will be closing. Fund managers and funds have moved to new asset managers.”

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