Bank and its money laundering reporting officer fined for failing to take heed of warnings October 12, 2016 A Bangladesh state-owned bank has been slapped with a multi-million pound fine by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for "serious and systematic" anti-money laundering failings at its UK arm. The banking regulator fined Sonali Bank £3.3m, prevented it from accepting new deposits for five and a half months and imposed a penalty of £17,900 on the bank's former money laundering reporting [...]
TSB to slash rates on Classic Plus account from next year October 12, 2016 TSB has confirmed it is cutting the interest rate on one of its top accounts. From 4 January next year, the challenger's Classic Plus account will offer a three per cent rate on balances up to £1,500, which is less generous compared with the five per cent rate on balances up to £2,000 currently offered. In [...]
Lloyds Banking Group drops over 1,000 jobs October 12, 2016 Lloyds Banking Group is cutting over 1,000 jobs as part of its previously announced three-year strategy. Although the bank is culling 1,340 positions in total, it is also creating 110 new roles, bringing the net jobs lost to 1,230. In October 2014, the bank announced it would be cutting 9,000 roles over a three-year period. In July of [...]
Bank boards increasingly cautious about cyber security October 11, 2016 Banks are increasingly worried about cyber security, with the risk now ranking among the top worries for boards, research out today has found. Just less than half (48 per cent) of the banks asked as part of a worldwide survey by EY and the Institute of International Finance identified cyber security as one of the three most important risks [...]
EU financial transaction tax to be unveiled this year October 11, 2016 Plans for an EU financial transaction tax (FTT) could be published by Christmas after politicians in 10 Eurozone countries agreed to push ahead with plans. After a meeting in Luxembourg late last night, officials declared this morning they would start drafting the legislation which will allow them to place a levy on the trading of financial [...]
Brace yourself, Wall Street: These major banks have quarterly earnings out this week October 11, 2016 Wall Street investors are unlikely to have that Friday feeling this week, as several big banks are set to release results and the outlook is less upbeat than it could be. Wells Fargo, JP Morgan and Citigroup are all due to reveal earnings for their third quarter on Friday. Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris [...]
Pressure mounts on FCA to introduce overdraft cap October 11, 2016 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has come under renewed pressure to clamp down on excessive overdraft fees today after new research revealed thousands of people are being hit with triple-digit bills. Debt charity Step Change said between six and 10 thousand people a month contact them looking for help managing their finances after incurring overdraft [...]
Banks’ profitability to be hit by Brexit fears over risky assets October 11, 2016 Market volatility will sap the efforts of Europe's biggest banks to offload their riskiest assets, and continue to drag on their profitability, a new study has warned. Moody's said this morning that the five largest investment banks – Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, RBS and UBS – will have to accept discount prices for so-called [...]
Bob Diamond takes interim chairman role at Africa-focused banking firm Atlas Mara October 11, 2016 Former Barclays boss Bob Diamond has been appointed interim chairman of African banking firm Atlas Mara. He will step in to the role when current chairman Arnold Ekpe stands down on 1 December. "It has been a privilege to serve as chairman of Atlas Mara," Ekpe said. "What the team has achieved in establishing and [...]
FCA commits to having 50/50 gender split in its senior leadership team by 2025 October 11, 2016 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has unveiled a new set of diversity targets as part of an effort to show its commitment to inclusion. The City watchdog published targets for the Women in Finance Charter, which it signed in June 2016 and announced its Black, Asian, minority ethnic (BAME) targets for 2020 and 2025. Read [...]