The CMA is right to place its faith in tech, not gimmicks May 17, 2016 The CMA has made a bold call in its retail banking market investigation, ignoring continued cries to break up banks and ban the prevalent free-if-in-credit current account model, and instead putting its faith in innovation. It correctly identified that the problems in the current account market start with customers’ difficulties navigating the market. But, perhaps [...]
ECB chief economist Peter Praet warns of banking “profitability shock” May 17, 2016 Eurozone banks should brace themselves for a profitability crisis, the chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB) has warned today, predicting that the worst is far from over for the industry. "We have in the sector a severe profitability shock," ECB executive board member Peter Praet told a panel in Brussels this morning. Banks in the [...]
The break-up plan: It’s high time to end Britain’s banking oligopoly May 17, 2016 It has been called a near banking "oligopoly". The Big Four banks enjoy such market dominance that they reportedly hold more than three quarters of all active current accounts. According to the FCA, the largest six banks also control 80 per cent of the mortgage market. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) grew sufficiently concerned [...]
British banks are chalking out strategies to deal with Brexit fallout, says BoE’s Andrew Bailey May 16, 2016 Bank of England Deputy Governor Andrew Bailey is having “daily” conversations with British banks to chalk out coping mechanisms in the face of a Brexit. Analysts expect that Britain voting to leave the EU is likely to result in sterling losing up to a fifth of its value. "All the banks are looking at this [...]
Deutsche Bank hires former EDF finance director Thomas Piquemal as global M&A head May 16, 2016 Deutsche Bank has appointed former EDF finance boss Thomas Piquemal as its global head of mergers & acquisitions. Piquemal, who was until March group senior executive vice president for finance at EDF Group, will also become chairman of corporate & investment banking in France. He quit the energy group after disagreements over investment in Hinkley Point which he [...]
HSBC is moving 840 IT jobs out of the UK May 16, 2016 HSBC is moving nearly 1,000 technology jobs out of the UK, the bank has announced. Some 840 jobs will be moved to other locations around the world, including India, China and Poland as part of its plans to cut thousands of jobs in the UK as part of a major restructure. The roles, currently based in [...]
How traditional banks can keep ahead of their fintech noisy neighbours in innovation race May 16, 2016 There have been plenty of reports about fintechs being bad news for banks, but in actual fact they may be the best thing to happen to traditional banks and the banking sector for a long time. No, really. Many have warned that the introduction of digitally savvy options into the retail banking sector will prove [...]
RBS mulls sale of Williams & Glyn and NatWest May 15, 2016 Royal Bank of Scotland's advisers are reportedly weighing a shock move to divest both Williams & Glyn and NatWest, as the bank seeks to accelerate sell-off plans. According to the Sunday Telegraph, RBS advisers, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Robey Warshaw, are weighing the NatWest move in a bid to ease tech problems behind the Williams [...]
Libor probe dropped in Germany for ex-Deutsche Bank staff May 15, 2016 Frankfurt prosecutors late last week dropped a case into five former Deutsche Bank staff for alleged Libor manipulation. It is understood that it could not be established that any erroneous information submitted by staff could have influenced the rate, and that the law did not provide any basis for prosecution. "We investigated whether there was a violation of [...]
These are the 18 highest-paying jobs in London’s finance sector May 13, 2016 If you're thinking of moving into the finance sector, chances are the salary is going to be one of your main reasons. But which roles offer the megabucks? Salary benchmarking site Emolument.com has crunched the numbers – and found that with an average salary of £178,000 and a bonus almost as high, at £148,000, bankers in [...]