The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has introduced a temporary rule that gives those who have recently complained about the purchase of a payment protection insurance (PPI) policy more time in which to refer their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The regulator has suspended the six month time limit until 27th October 2010 but [...]
Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management has announced that it has hired a quartet of investment professionals to cater to the needs of ultra-high net worth clients in Venezuela and Colombia. The Miami-based team includes Executive Director Luis Miguel Gonzalez Ocque and Vice President Alan Shlesinger, both of whom are private wealth advisers, and Vice President [...]
On 22 June the new Coalition Government is set to change the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) regime, potentially adversely affecting a large number of small investors and prudent savers, Brewin Dolphin has warned. Brewin Dolphin has called for the Government to proceed carefully, and to consider keeping the capital gains tax allowance at £10,000, taking [...]
Equity Bank has announced it is working in collaboration with Kenya’s largest mobile service company to help combat poverty through financial empowerment. The bank and Safaricom have launched the new M-KESHO account, which will permit customers of Safaricom to deposit money with Equity Bank. The account builds upon the mobile firm’s successful M-PESA service which [...]
The CBI has responded to the European Commission’s plans for a new levy on banks. Director General Richard Lambert has expressed concern at the proposed measures, arguing that if they were implemented in Europe but not elsewhere they would have the effect of eroding the competitiveness of the European banking sector. Lambert added that the [...]
For more than a year the British interest rate has rested at the historic low of 0.5%, but there are now calls for this to change. Influential thinktank the OECD has stated that the UK recovery is improving, with exports and financial conditions doing better than before. However, the thinktank also warned that interest rates [...]
The Faster Payments Service will have its second anniversary this week, marking two years since the service began to cut the time taken for UK payments to be processed. The service is well underway according to a recent Payments Council report, with a greater volume of internet and telephone banking transactions being generated than had [...]
Brewin Dolphin has reported its interim financial results for the half-year ended on 28 March 2010. The firm reported total income of £120.9m, up by 15% from £104.7m made during the same period last year. Pre-tax profits were up by 37%, rising from £11.1m to £15.2m, with diluted earnings per share rising from 3.5p to [...]
Nationwide Building Society has reported that it made an underlying profit of £212m for the year ended 4 April 2010, with statutory pre-tax profits of £341m. Before provisions are taken into account Nationwide recorded an underlying profit of £811m. The building sosicety’s capital ratios remain good, standing at 12.2% for the Core Tier 1 ratio [...]
United Bank for Africa plc (UBA) has been given the green light by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to confirm the appointment of Phillips Oduoza as group managing director. Oduoza, who assumes his role with effect from 1 August, replaces Tony Elumelu, who is leaving the position in accordance with new CBN rules limiting [...]
The Bank of Japan’s Policy Board has elected to keep the country’s interest rate steady at 0.1%. The decision, which was reached unanimously, comes as Japan’s economy continues its moderate recovery. The growth of emerging economies have helped encourage Japan’s exports and production, with private consumption also on the rise. In Japan inflation (excepting fresh [...]
Sberbank has announced its financial results for the first four months of the year, in accordance with the bank’s internal methodology. The Russian financial institution saw its net interest income increase by 11.9%, year-on-year, with a 15.5% rise in net fee and commission income. Operating income, pre-provision, declined by 19.5% compared with the corresponding period [...]
US Senators have passed a bill that contains the most sweeping reforms to America’s system of financial regulation, since the 1930s. With a comfortable majority of 59 votes to 39, the new legislation tackles the failings that have been blamed for the credit crisis, from predatory lenders to the derivatives market and banks that are [...]
MBNA has launched a new mobile phone service for its UK credit card customers. The Mobile Banking Text service allows cardholders to retrieve account information, including balance, payments and transactions, within seconds, by texting 83838. Ian Craig, spokesman for Bank of America Europe Card Services, which operates the MBNA brand, says: “Our customers’ needs and [...]
Actimize, part of NICE Systems and provider of a single financial crime, risk and compliance software platform for the financial services industry, has issued a warning to the banking sector that it may have insufficient protection against fraud related to this year’s World Cup. A spike in fraudulent activity occurred when the FIFA World Cup [...]
In its latest annual report, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has revealed that complaints about payment protection insurance (PPI) accounted for some 30% of new cases, in the year to the end of March 2010. The watchdog dealt with 49,196 PPI complaints, compared with 31,066 over the previous twelve month period and while a small [...]
Russian investment bank Troika Dialog has been awarded the title of Best Investment Bank in Russia, according to the Global Finance selection of the World’s Best Investment Banks for 2010. The firm has managed to retain a robust capital position and strong business performance despite economic challenges. It presently tops the Russian Debt Capital Market [...]
KfW Bankengruppe has announced its financial performance results for Q1 2010. The German bank recorded group profit of €575m, tenfold better than the €57m group profit earnt during the same quarter last year. The pre-evaluation operating result fell from €636m to €567m, with net interest income standing at €665m. KfW’s total assets increased from just [...]
Actimize AML specialist Joe Longoria argues that commercial and ethical imperatives compel institutions to make sure accurate data is disclosed for AML and counter-terrorism purposes. Section 314(a) of the US Patriot Act was a milestone in the fight against terrorist financing and money laundering. Since 2002, the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement [...]
