Mon-who? Challenger bank Mondo rebrands as Monzo following trademark snag August 25, 2016 Challenger bank Mondo is no more, officially rebranding itself today as Monzo. The smartphone-centric firm originally called itself Mondo, after the Italian word for world, before its trademark for the name was successfully challenged by another company. After raising £1m in 96 seconds through crowdfunding earlier this year, the bank has clearly decided reaching out to the public is [...]
Royal Bank of Canada bumps up dividend as income increases August 24, 2016 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has today announced a boost to its income, along with a slightly sweeter dividend for its third quarter of its financial year. RBC revealed net income of CA$2.9bn (£1.7bn) for the three months to the end of July, an increase of 17 per cent on CA$2.5bn the year before. Meanwhile, diluted earnings per share were reported [...]
Here’s why RBS has told thousands of clients to get a move on and find another bank August 24, 2016 Most banks fight tooth and nail to hang onto clients, but one industry player has a very good reason for telling a certain group of customers they need to find somewhere else. RBS has written to Global Transaction Services (GTS) clients who will be affected when the bank shuts down certain offerings at the end of the year to gently [...]
OneSavings Bank chief executive explains why his business is safe as houses August 24, 2016 Despite worries the referendum would wobble housing demand, the boss of OneSavings Bank has found particular niches of the market to be quite lucrative. In particular, Andy Golding told Morning Wire the bank was focusing on the "normal stock" side of the market in London – as opposed to the "high-end, crazy value stuff" – which was "still very [...]
UK banks’ share prices set new post-referendum highs August 24, 2016 Shares in UK banks are standing at a post-referendum high after a string of encouraging economic data has restored confidence in the health of the sector. Lenders with big domestic footprints were hit hard in the days after the 23 June referendum. Share prices fell by as much 40 per cent. Both Barclays and RBS suffered the [...]
Atlas Mara profits plunge but Bob Diamond’s venture positive on rest of 2016 August 24, 2016 Atlas Mara announced today it was feeling positive about the rest of 2016, even though it reported a drastic drop in profits year-on-year. The figures The financial services company, which focuses its efforts on banking in Africa, reported net profit after tax of $1.2m (£0.9m) for the first half of 2016, down 70.7 per cent on the $4.1m profit reported the [...]
The hardest word: Full text of Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio’s letter to his staff over tryst allegations August 24, 2016 Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio has issued an apology to his staff after an alleged tryst with Russell Group boss Dr Wendy Piatt. Sky News reported last night that Horta-Osorio was preparing to write to his 75,000 staff expressing "deep regret" over the allegations, which surfaced earlier this month after he and Platt went on a business trip [...]
UK mortgage approvals fell to their lowest level in 18 months in July – meaning house prices could fall by five per cent next year August 24, 2016 The number of mortgages approved fell to their lowest level in 18 months in July, suggesting house prices could fall considerably by the end of 2017, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) has said. Figures by the BBA showed 37,622 mortgages were approved in July, down from 39,763 in June and 41,620 in May. It's an impressive slide since [...]
One Savings bank shares are up nine per cent after releasing “another strong set of results” August 24, 2016 Shares in specialist lender One Savings bank jumped over nine per cent this morning after it released half year resilient results that it said were meeting all its targets. The figures Although statutory profit before tax leapt from £46.6m to £100.0m, underlying profits were less dramatic, increasing from £47.6m to £64.6m. New lending increased by 25 per [...]
Barclays becomes the latest bank to get on the CoCo bond bandwagon August 23, 2016 Barclays has today become the latest lender to launch a CoCo bond. The transaction for the bonds, which will be denominated in US dollars, has not been priced yet and is expected to launch in the near future, depending on market conditions. Contingent Convertible capital notes – or CoCos for short – are a type of [...]