Category Archives: Banking

Millions in line for payouts from £18bn car loan compensation scheme

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City regulator says motorists should start to get payments in 2026 with ‘most payouts likely to be under £950’

Millions of drivers could be handed a share of a multibillion-pound compensation package after the City regulator said it would open a redress scheme for consumers affected by the car finance scandal.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will consult on the redress scheme, which could cost banks between £9bn and £18bn when it begins paying consumers compensation next year.

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Chancellor’s attempt to intervene in car finance scandal branded ‘disgraceful’

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Defending industry over consumers sends ‘really bad message’, says Treasury committee member Bobby Dean

Rachel Reeves’ efforts to intervene in the supreme court case on the car finance scandal were “unprecedented and disgraceful” and send a “really bad message” to consumers that the government is willing to defend wrongdoing by banks, Treasury committee member and Lib Dem MP Bobby Dean has said.

While the supreme court largely sided with finance companies on Friday – helping lenders avoid a £44bn compensation bill – Dean said the chancellor had gone too far to show she was on the side of business.

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Chancellor’s attempt to intervene in car finance scandal branded ‘disgraceful’

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Defending industry over consumers sends ‘really bad message’, says Treasury committee member Bobby Dean

Rachel Reeves’ efforts to intervene in the supreme court case on the car finance scandal were “unprecedented and disgraceful” and send a “really bad message” to consumers that the government is willing to defend wrongdoing by banks, Treasury committee member and Lib Dem MP Bobby Dean has said.

While the supreme court largely sided with finance companies on Friday – helping lenders avoid a £44bn compensation bill – Dean said the chancellor had gone too far to show she was on the side of business.

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HSBC boss says Rachel Reeves putting up bank taxes would harm UK growth

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Georges Elhedery’s comments come amid speculation the chancellor could make such a move in autumn budget

The boss of HSBC has joined a growing chorus of bankers cautioning Rachel Reeves against increasing taxes on banks in her autumn budget, warning it risked “eroding” investment and ultimately harming UK growth.

Georges Elhedery, its chief executive, said banks in the UK were already subject to the highest level of taxes on profits compared with other sectors, and paid more than in most other countries. He said placing further financial pressures on lenders could spell trouble for the UK economy.

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NatWest investors given £1.5bn weeks after full privatisation

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Profits rise 4.4% at lender, which plans to distribute interim dividend of 9.5p a share on top of fresh £750m buyback

NatWest will give a further £1.5bn to shareholders only weeks after the UK government sold the final part of its stake in the once bailed-out bank.

The high street lender on Friday announced plans to distribute an interim dividend of 9.5p a share, worth a collective £768m, on top of a fresh £750m share buyback in the second half of the year.

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HSBC becomes first UK bank to quit industry’s net zero alliance

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Campaigners condemn ‘troubling’ move that follows departure of six of largest US banks after Trump’s election

HSBC has become the first UK bank to leave the global banking industry’s net zero target-setting group, as campaigners warned it was a “troubling” sign over the lender’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis.

The move risks triggering further departures from the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) by UK banks, in a fresh blow to international climate coordination efforts.

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Australia’s big four banks not making it easy for customers to get bonus interest despite watchdog’s calls

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Guardian analysis found no major bank has adopted ACCC recommendations in full – but NAB, CommBank, Westpac and ANZ say they offer in-app alerts

Australia’s big banks have not implemented several recommendations designed to help customers qualify for bonus interest rates on savings products, more than 18 months after the regulatory advice was issued.

Two in three customers of bonus accounts miss out on the headline interest rate and instead receive a far smaller base rate, an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry found in late 2023.

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Zopa launches current account with cashback and 7.1% on savings

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Digital bank hopes to tempt switchers with package including in-credit interest and fee-free travel spending

The battle for bank customers intensified this week, with a new player entering the UK current account market and offering cashback on bills and access to a savings account paying 7.1%.

Digital bank Zopa is hoping the perks – which also include in-credit interest and fee-free spending abroad – will tempt switchers to its first day-to-day account.

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Barclays and Jes Staley face fresh lawsuit in US over Epstein link

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Judge rejects former CEO’s request to dismiss case, paving way for class action also against chair Nigel Higgins

Barclays and its former chief executive Jes Staley are facing a class action lawsuit in the US over claims they defrauded and misled investors over Staley’s relationship with the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A judge in a Los Angeles court denied Staley’s request to dismiss the case this week, paving the way for a fresh hearing that continues a long-running legal saga emanating from Staley’s statements to regulators and investors over the nature of his ties to the disgraced financier.

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News Corp boss earns $42m as highest-paid CEO of Australian-listed company

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Analysis shows local chiefs earning 55 times more than average workers in Australia amid call to keep watch for ‘egregious’ bonuses

News Corp’s chief executive has become the highest-paid CEO of an Australian-listed company, a new analysis of CEO pay has found.

CEOs of ASX-listed companies are still being paid 55 times more than average workers in Australia but the gap is yet to widen to extremes seen overseas, according to the annual analysis from the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI).

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Credit Suisse was ‘warned’ about Greensill three years before firm collapsed

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Anonymous messages questioned judgment of senior managers in dealing with Greensill, says Swiss regulator

Bosses at Credit Suisse were warned against dealing with the Australian financier Lex Greensill’s eponymous company three years before the collapse of his Greensill Capital, which once employed the former UK prime minister David Cameron as an adviser.

The “character judgment” of senior Credit Suisse managers was challenged in anonymous messages they received as early as 2018, which raised concerns over the Swiss bank’s dealings with Greensill, according to a report by the Swiss regulator Finma, released under a London court order after a request by the Guardian and other media.

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Lex Greensill says SoftBank managers ‘felt threatened’ by his links to founder

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Financier tells court he travelled to Tokyo ‘often weekly’ for mentoring sessions with Masayoshi Son

The financier Lex Greensill has told a court that senior managers at SoftBank “felt threatened” by his relationship with Masayoshi Son, the founder of the Japanese tech investor that pumped hundreds of millions of dollars in his specialist lender before its collapse.

Greensill said he travelled to Tokyo “often weekly” for in-person mentoring sessions with the billionaire founder, who he dined with and referred to by the Japanese honorific “Son-san”. Greensill made the comments in his first public courtroom appearance since the devastating demise in 2021 of his company, which counted former prime minister David Cameron as an adviser.

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Government sells final shares in NatWest 17 years after £45bn bailout

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Sale ends state ownership of the banking group, then known as Royal Bank of Scotland, after 2008 rescue

The UK has sold its final shares in NatWest Group, ending 17 years of state ownership since the £45bn taxpayer bailout that saved the bank from collapse at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

The full privatisation of NatWest is a symbolic moment for the banking group – formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) – and draws a line under the most tumultuous chapter in its near 300-year history.

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Sidi Ould Tah named African Development Bank president

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Mauritanian economist who led Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa will succeed Akinwunmi Adesina

The African Development Bank has chosen the Mauritanian economist Sidi Ould Tah as its president-elect after three rounds of voting on Thursday afternoon.

The election took place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, at the end of the annual meeting of the continent’s biggest multilateral lender.

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Taxpayers set for £10bn loss on NatWest as disgraced ex-boss takes £600k-a-year pension

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Government expected to sell last shares in banking group this week, drawing a line under 2008 financial crisis bailout

Fred “the Shred” Goodwin, the disgraced ex-boss of Royal Bank of Scotland, is estimated to be receiving an annual pension worth nearly £600,000, as the government prepares to declare a £10bn loss after selling its final stake in the bank as early as this week.

The banking group, now known as NatWest, is expected to return to full private ownership within days, drawing a line under a £45bn state bailout that saved the bank from the brink of collapse at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

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Santander UK freezes salaries and cuts jobs in commercial banking arm

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Exclusive: Bank also set to slash bonuses in wider shake-up that could help make it more attractive to potential buyers

Santander UK is freezing salaries, slashing bonuses and cutting jobs across its commercial banking arm as part of a wider shake-up that could help make the bank more attractive to potential buyers.

The bank began unexpectedly changing bankers’ job titles and shuffling staff into new teams earlier this month amid a larger review of the Spanish lender’s UK business, where there is mounting frustration over regulations and costs.

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UK ministers to meet bank bosses over lending to small businesses

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Rachel Reeves concerned that lenders’ restrictions are holding back growth in the SME sector

Ministers will meet bank bosses on Tuesday to discuss how big lenders can support the government’s growth strategy as concerns mount inside Whitehall that small businesses are struggling to access the funds needed to make vital investments.

Senior executives from HSBC, NatWest and Lloyds are expected to explain how they will meet the government’s mission to increase lending after criticism from business groups about the lack of credit available after the pandemic.

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Ugandan ​​activist​ asks HSBC to put ‘lives before profit’ as campaigners target bank’s AGM

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Patience Nabukalu, who has experienced climate-related flooding, joins protestors from around the world to deliver a letter to CEO Georges Elhedery criticising the financing of oil, gas and coal projects

At nine years old, Patience Nabukalu was devastated when her friend, Kevin, died in severe flooding that hit their Kampala suburb, Nateete, a former wetland. Witnessing deaths and the destruction of homes and livelihoods in floods made worse by extreme rainfall has had a profound impact on her.

She decided to try to bring about change – to do what she could to amplify the voices of those in the Ugandan communities worst affected by the climate crisis.

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NatWest profits soar by 36% as full privatisation looms

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Government stake reduced to under 2% as bank’s profit of £1.8bn beats analyst forecasts by £200m

NatWest has reported a 36% increase in profits in the first three months of this year as the government reduced its stake in the bank to less than 2%, paving a return to fully private ownership after 17 years.

The bank reported operating profit before tax of £1.8bn, up from £1.3bn in the same period last year, beating analyst consensus forecasts by £200m.

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UK banks put £75bn into firms building climate-wrecking ‘carbon bombs’, study finds

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Exclusive: Britain is key financial hub for destructive fossil fuel mega-projects, according to research

Banks in the City of London have poured more than $100bn (£75bn) into companies developing “carbon bombs” – huge oil, gas and coal projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global consequences – according to a study.

Nine London-based banks, including HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds are involved in financing companies responsible for at least 117 carbon bomb projects in 28 countries between 2016 – the year after the landmark Paris agreement was signed – and 2023, according to the study.

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