Category Archives: Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds sets aside £450m for car loan fines and payouts

Posted on by

Bank’s profits rise 57% but it says there is ‘significant uncertainty’ over liability amid FCA investigation

Lloyds Banking Group has been forced to put aside £450m for potential fines and compensation for motor finance customers, after the UK regulator opened an investigation into whether consumers had been charged inflated prices for car loans.

The lender, which also owns the Bank of Scotland and Halifax brands, said there was “significant uncertainty” over the extent of any misconduct or loss to customers that could result in penalties or payouts.

Continue reading...

Lloyds and Santander accused of providing accounts for Iranian front companies

Posted on by

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).

Continue reading...

MPs add to pressure on ministers to vet Barclay family’s Telegraph offer

Posted on by

Call for national security law to be used to investigate proposed deal involving consortium backed by UAE

A group of MPs including the former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith have asked ministers to use national security law to investigate the Barclay family’s proposed deal to give control of the Telegraph to a consortium backed by the United Arab Emirates.

The group of 18 MPs, which also includes Alicia Kearns, the chair of the foreign affairs committee, have written to the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, arguing that the proposed deal poses a “very real potential national security threat”.

Continue reading...

UK minister intends to refer Barclay family’s offer for Telegraph to Ofcom

Posted on by

Government ‘minded to’ issue intervention notice to call in regulator on public interest grounds

The culture secretary intends to ask the media watchdog to examine the Barclay family’s proposed deal to hand control of the Telegraph and the Spectator magazine to an Abu Dhabi-backed consortium.

Lucy Frazer said on Wednesday she was “minded to” call in Ofcom to look at the investment fund’s plans to take over the titles in exchange for repaying £1.15bn of the family’s debts to Lloyds Banking Group.

Continue reading...

UK house prices will not stop falling until 2025, Lloyds predicts

Posted on by

Britain’s biggest mortgage lender forecasts 5% drop over this year and another 2.4% decline in 2024

UK house prices will continue to slide this year and in 2024 and will not start to recover until 2025, Lloyds Banking Group has forecast.

The lender, which owns Halifax and is Britain’s largest mortgage provider, said that by the end of 2023 UK house prices would have fallen 5% over the course of the year and were likely to decrease by another 2.4% in 2024.

Continue reading...

Rupert Murdoch’s last move? The Spectator is in his sights

Posted on by

Rightwing magazine is said to be a favourite of the billionaire and is considered a ‘trophy prize’

Rupert Murdoch may have officially stood aside as chair of his media businesses but he’s still eyeing up what could be his last major UK deal: the purchase of the Spectator magazine.

The rightwing magazine, which is due to be auctioned off next month, is said to be a favourite of the billionaire, who used his resignation statement to claim much of the media is “in cahoots” with elites who have “open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class”.

Continue reading...

UK savings: more accounts now offering 6%-plus interest

Posted on by

Government-backed NS&I increases its rates, as building societies and banks launch better deals

Amid the mortgage misery, there was more good news this week on savings rates, with a growing number of accounts now paying 6%-plus interest.

Meanwhile, the government-backed NS&I – a favourite of many in these uncertain times – has upped the rates on some of its popular fixed-rate accounts.

Continue reading...

UK and US shares climb as banks and ministers aim to calm Credit Suisse fears

Posted on by

FTSE 100 rises and European banking shares are up after early jitters over what UBS takeover deal means for bondholders

Stocks climbed on Monday in London and New York after central bankers and politicians sought to soothe jitters triggered by the emergency rescue of Credit Suisse during the weekend.

Central banks in the UK and eurozone issued statements aimed at reassuring investors that – unlike the controversial approach taken by the Swiss authorities in the Credit Suisse deal – their jurisdictions would follow a hierarchy in which equity holders would lose out before bond holders.

Continue reading...

Lloyds accused of ‘stuffing bankers’ pockets’ after proposed pay hikes for top bosses

Posted on by

Chief executive Charlie Nunn could receive £9.1m payout, while top performing bankers to share £446m bonus pot for work in 2022

Lloyds Banking Group has been accused of “stuffing the pockets of already overpaid bankers” after proposing increases for top bosses that could result in a £9.1m payout for its chief executive, Charlie Nunn.

The bank revealed on Wednesday that staff would share a £446m bonus pot – the highest in four years – for their work in 2022, despite reporting flat annual profits, after an increase in the money put aside for a potential jump in defaults.

Continue reading...

Lloyds and Halifax to close 40 bank branches in England and Wales

Posted on by

Full list of site closures, which will start in April and carry on through into June this year

Lloyds and Halifax have become the latest high street banks to announce a series of branch closures across England and Wales.

Lloyds Banking Group, which owns both banks, is to close 18 Halifax sites and 22 Lloyds branches, starting in April and through into June this year.

Continue reading...

Revealed: UK local councils deposit taxpayers’ cash in Qatar state bank

Posted on by

Town halls and finance firms say they support LGBT rights but send money to World Cup host where homosexuality is illegal

The rainbow flag flew above the Bourne Corn Exchange as South Kesteven council embraced LGBT history month.

A year after voting against such a gesture the Lincolnshire local authority declared itself pleased “to celebrate and recognise the […] rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people”, hoisting the flag outside its headquarters in 2019.

Continue reading...

Lloyds bank profits plunge by 26% as lender prepares for bad loans

Posted on by

Larger-than-forecast drop to £1.5bn in third quarter came despite rising interest rates

Profits at Lloyds Banking Group dropped by 26% in the three months to September, as the UK’s “deteriorating” economic outlook forced it to put aside nearly £670m to protect against potential defaults on loans and mortgages.

Lloyds, which owns Halifax and is the country’s largest mortgage lender, said pre-tax profits had tumbled to £1.5bn in the third quarter, down from £2bn during the same period last year. That was larger than the 9.5% fall to £1.8bn that analysts had predicted.

Continue reading...

Lloyds profits take hit after more money put aside for defaults

Posted on by

Bank says number of customers in arrears at ‘low levels’ despite soaring inflation

Lloyds Banking Group has revealed it is struggling to boost profits, amid fears that soaring inflation could lead to a jump in defaults on loans and mortgages.

The country’s largest mortgage lender, which is considered a bellwether for the British economy, took a £200m charge between April and June as it put aside more money to protect the bank from potential defaults. That compares with the £374m it released during the same period last year.

Continue reading...

Scilly residents face paying hundreds to visit the bank as last branch closes

Posted on by

Lloyds is to close the Isles’ last branch meaning the nearest bank will be 44 miles and a ferry ride away

For many, the ferry ride between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly marks the beginning of a relaxing weekend away. For residents of the islands wanting to visit their nearest bank, it’s about to become an expensive necessity.

Lloyds, which ran the Isles’ last remaining branch, is about to close the site on the island of St Mary’s because of a persistent fall in customer numbers.

Continue reading...

ECB keeps interest rates on hold, warns of ‘transitory’ higher inflation – business live

Posted on by

Latest:

The global semiconductor shortage and ongoing disruption to supply chains continue to knock carmakers’ profits.

Volkswagen and Stellantis both suffered financial hits in the third quarter the year, as a result of the global shortage of computer chips, which has prevented the firms from producing as many vehicles as they had originally planned.

Continue reading...

Lloyds and HSBC are shedding office space … did they have too much to begin with?

Posted on by

Why there may be more to the announcement of Covid-inspired cuts than meets the eye

Here comes another bank that has decided, apparently definitively, that working practices will not return to their pre-pandemic norms. Lloyds Banking Group says it plans to shed 20% of its office space. Earlier this week, HSBC said it would get rid of 40%.

These figures are so dramatic that they invite suspicion. Have managements really come to the firm view that working from home is so popular that employees’ demands for flexibility must be granted? Or did these banks have too much office space in the first place and now wish to save a few quid?

Continue reading...

Nearly 75% of City firms reviewing office space provision

Posted on by

Rise in home working during the pandemic means many companies are assessing their needs

Nearly three-quarters of City firms are reviewing how much office space they really need following a boom in home working during the pandemic, new research shows.

The latest CBI/PwC financial services survey found 74% of companies – particularly banks and insurance firms – have been taking stock of their office requirements in the hope of either using the space differently, or reducing it.

Continue reading...

Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds among UK banks that had links to slavery

Posted on by

Many bank directors received compensation after slavery was made illegal in 1833

The slave trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1807 but it was not until 1833 that the Slavery Abolition Act finally banned the ownership of other human beings. However, 46,000 slave owners continued to benefit financially as the subsequent Slave Compensation Act provided £20m in payments – a sum worth billions in 2020 terms. Despite the name of the act, the former slaves were not compensated.

University College London’s Legacies of British Slave Ownership project shows that 10% to 20% of Britain’s wealthy can be identified as having had significant links to slavery. The amount of money borrowed to pay off slave owners was so large that the government only repaid it fully in 2015. Companies with links to slavery in their past include:

Continue reading...

Ex-Unilever boss seeks ‘heroic CEOs’ to tackle climate change and inequality

Posted on by

Paul Polman also supports Bank of England-backed group promoting disability rights

The former boss of Unilever is seeking a team of “heroic chief executives” to drive a shift to a low-carbon, more inclusive way of doing business.

Paul Polman, who stepped down from the Anglo-Dutch owner of Marmite and Dove in November last year after a decade at the helm, warns that the rise of populism and Brexit are symptoms of capitalism’s failure to adapt. Bosses, he insists, must commit to fighting inequality and tackling the climate emergency.

Continue reading...