The risks are elevated, but investors have faith UK financial services can weather the storm June 23, 2020 The mood music in Brussels has changed over the last few weeks — and the financial services sector is back in the spotlight. In recent negotiations, the EU explicitly challenged the notion that Britain will be able to “cherry-pick” the benefits of the Single Market and retain its strategic position in financial services post-Brexit. With [...]
The City must promote more women to top jobs, says Treasury June 23, 2020 The Treasury wants more ambitious diversity targets in the City as the pace of finance firms hiring women to top jobs is still too slow, according to a new review. The Treasury launched its Women in Finance charter in 2016 in a bid to improve diversity in Britain’s financial sector, where just 14 per cent [...]
RBS extends business account switching deadline amid coronavirus June 23, 2020 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has given business customers another six months to switch their accounts to other banks under the terms of its financial crisis state aid package. RBS said fewer customers have used the Incentivised Switching Scheme to swap banks during the pandemic. As a result the deadline for switching applications will be [...]
London Stock Exchange boss appointed as new FCA chief June 22, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has today appointed Nikhil Rathi, the current chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, as the permanent boss of the Financial Conduct Authority. Rathi will replace Christopher Woolard, who was serving as the FCA’s interim chief executive following former boss Andrew Bailey’s move to become governor of the Bank of England. The [...]
German banks press EU for action on Brexit equivalence June 22, 2020 The Association of German Banks (BDB) has called for the EU to prioritise equivalence rules in discussions surrounding the UK’s upcoming exit, arguing they are vital for achieving market and financial stability on both sides. “Clarity regarding future market access arrangements should be provided at the earliest possible date,” the BDB said in a position [...]
Bailey: Bank of England will reverse QE before raising rates June 22, 2020 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey believes the Bank of England must begin reversing quantitative easing before hiking interest rates from record lows. Bailey said today that a reveral of QE should come before lifting rates from their historic lows of 0.1 per cent, signalling an upending of long-standing Bank of England policy. Bailey said [...]
Amigo warns of ‘material’ hit from new wave of complaints June 22, 2020 Amigo has warned of a “substantial increase” in complaints pouring in after reaching a £35m deal with the financial regulator to clear a backlog of thousands of customer issues up to June. The loans provider has set aside £35m to deal with around 9,000 complaints received in 2020 under a deal with the Financial Conduct [...]
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 [...]
