FCA proposes extending coronavirus consumer credit payment holiday June 19, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed allowing consumers to extend a payment freeze on their credit cards by a further three months to support borrowers struggling financially amid the coronavirus pandemic. Under the proposals from the markets watchdog, those who have not yet asked for a payment freeze on credit cards or for an [...]
Bank of England apologises for historic slave links June 19, 2020 The Bank of England has apologised for the involvement of past governors and directors in the slave trade and vowed to remove all statues and paintings of them from its City headquarters. New analysis of a University College London (UCL) database found that 25 previous governors and directors of the Bank of England benefited from [...]
ING names veteran as new chief executive as Ralph Hamers departs June 19, 2020 ING has announced that Steven van Rijswijk will take over as chief executive when current boss Ralph Hamers departs for UBS in July. Van Rijswijk is a veteran of more than two decades at ING, and became its chief risk officer in 2017. Hamers, who is credited with helping the Netherlands’ largest bank develop its [...]
Exclusive: Lib Dems urge all UK retail banks to create ‘green accounts’ June 18, 2020 Acting Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has called for all the UK’s high street banks and building societies to offer green accounts Davey said the entire UK banking sector should make environmentally sustainable banking available for everyone, with funds from green accounts “invested in green technology and the green economy, on projects like renewable energy [...]
Open banking: UK banks could pay to access central hub of Brits’ financial data June 18, 2020 British banks would pay for access to a central open banking resource under proposed next steps to introduce the concept in the UK, an industry body said today. Open banking functions to let people share their spending habits, regular payments and payees with other banks would move into a separate service company, under next steps [...]
Commerzbank fined £38m by FCA over anti-money laundering failures June 17, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority has fined Commerzbank London £37.9m for failing to have proper controls to prevent money laundering over a five-year period. Announcing its second-largest ever fine for failures to combat potentially illegal transitions, the FCA said Commerzbank’s failures to put anti-money laundering systems in place between 2012 and 2017 had “created significant risk”. [...]
HSBC to cut 35,000 jobs as bank resumes redundancy plan June 17, 2020 HSBC is resuming a massive redundancy plan that had been put on pause after the outbreak of coronavirus, with 35,000 jobs set to be cut. The job cuts will be made over the medium term, while the lender will also freeze almost all external recruitment, said chief executive Noel Quinn in a memo sent to [...]
The City View podcast: The view from Luxembourg, with Nicolas Mackel June 17, 2020 In this episode, Christian gets the view from Luxembourg, which has established itself as a key European hub for financial services. Nicolas Mackel is CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, the body representing financial services in the country, and he shares his thoughts on how the sector should respond to the economic challenges of the pandemic; [...]
Activist investor Cerberus vows to continue push for change at Commerzbank June 16, 2020 Activist investor Cerberus has said it will use “alternative paths” to push for change at Commerzbank if the lender continues to resist calls to reform. Cerberus did not outline what paths it might take in a letter sent to the chair of Commerzbank’s supervisory board dated yesterday and seen by Reuters. One possibility is for [...]
City watchdog tells UK banks to prepare for coronavirus debt pile June 16, 2020 British banks must accelerate preparations for dealing with businesses unable to repay funds borrowed to help them survive the coronavirus pandemic, the financial regulator warned. Over 860,000 UK businesses have taken out state-backed loans worth over £38bn under three emergency credit programmes introduced by the government as lockdowns forced companies to shutter temporarily. Financial Conduct [...]