Exclusive: HSBC and NatWest staffers seconded to shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds’s team
Labour has been criticised for giving global banks access to parliament after taking an HSBC staffer into its shadow business team, despite the financial giant coming under fire over its links with China.
One senior policy manager from HSBC has been seconded to the team of Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, and has been given a parliamentary pass since February.
Continue reading...Recent banking turmoil fuels decision to delay offloading portions of its remaining 41% stake
A plan to whittle down the government’s stake in NatWest has been extended by another two years, after weeks of banking turmoil that hit the lender’s shares and temporarily fuelled fears over a fresh financial crisis.
UK Government Investments (UKGI), which manages the shares on behalf of the Treasury, said the scheme to strategically sell portions of the British taxpayer’s shareholding – after NatWest’s near-£46bn state bailout in 2008 – would now run until August 2025.
Continue reading...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...Alison Rose becomes group’s second-highest-paid boss as bank reports largest profits since 2007
NatWest has been accused of “unjust” profiteering as it handed its boss Alison Rose a £5.2m pay package and upped its bonus pool for bankers, after the bailed out lender made its biggest profit since 2007 on the back of higher mortgage costs for customers.
The bank – which is still 44% owned by the taxpayer – revealed on Friday that Rose’s pay had soared by 46% from £3.6m a year earlier, partly because of the higher value of shares doled out as part of her long-term incentive plan.
Continue reading...Bank has softened language in research documents, according to report, amid pressure to exit Russia
HSBC has reportedly removed references to a “war” in Ukraine from research reports, amid calls for the British bank to close its operations in Russia.
Russia’s government refers only to a “special military operation” in Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin’s regime has criminalised reporting on its invasion that contains any information from non-official sources, with prison sentences of up to 15 years.
Continue reading...UK government sells more of stake in group formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland at a loss over 2008 price
NatWest Group has returned to majority private ownership after it agreed to buy back £1.2bn of shares from the UK government, more than 13 years after the company was bailed out by taxpayers at the height of the financial crisis.
The company, formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), said it had agreed to make an off-market purchase of 550m shares, or 4.91% of its share capital, from HM Treasury at Friday’s closing price of 220.5p, in a statement to the stock market on Monday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: NatWest, Microsoft and GSK among firms to raise complaint over poor planning and breakdown in relations
Companies that stumped up millions of pounds to sponsor the Cop26 climate summit have condemned it as “mismanaged” and “very last minute” in a volley of complaints as next month’s event in Glasgow draws near.
The sponsors, which include some of Britain’s biggest companies, have raised formal complaints blaming “very inexperienced” civil servants for delayed decisions, poor communication and a breakdown in relations between the organisers and firms in the run-up to the landmark talks.
Continue reading...ShareAction says lack of plans to tackle climate crisis and biodiversity loss casts doubts on banking’s sustainability pledges
Europe’s 25 largest banks are still failing to present comprehensive plans that address both the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, putting their sustainability pledges in doubt, campaigners have warned.
While some lenders such as NatWest are demonstrating leadership on specific issues – such as net zero targets and policies restricting financing for new fossil fuel – research by investment campaign group ShareAction found none of the banks it reviewed were taking action across all key areas.
Continue reading...Barclays and HSBC among banks booking money equivalent to 14% of annual profits in offshore entities
Leading European banks are booking around €20bn (£17bn) a year – equivalent to 14% of their total profits – in tax havens, with Barclays, HSBC and NatWest Group among those enjoying the lowest tax rates, according to a new report.
The figures emerge from an analysis, conducted by the EU Tax Observatory, of 36 big banks required to publicly report country-by-country data on their activities.
Continue reading...NatWest denies accusation made by Bill Browder in thinktank report into practice of ruining reputations
A longstanding critic of Kremlin corruption has accused NatWest of closing his bank account in the UK because it had been influenced by an intense and pervasive “black PR” campaign mounted against him by Russian actors in their home country.
“Black PR” is a term referring to a series of connected practices used by Russian state and non-state actors seeking to discredit individuals as part of political or business disputes, and can involve trying to create or obtain kompromat (compromising material) or generating fake media reports.
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