Financial services vacancies in London rose 7% in July, compared with June, according to Morgan McKinley. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, the recruitment specialist’s Andrew Evans revealed that July saw the second-highest level of hiring activity in the City since August 2008. According to Mr Evans, the trend illustrates that the London jobs market [...]
Coventry, the UK’s third-largest building society, has reported a 40% annual rise in underlying pre-tax profit for the first half of 2010, to £46.5 million. Net mortgage lending rose to £751 million during the period, or the equivalent to 31% of all net UK mortgage lending, according to Bank of England figures. Gross advances totalled [...]
Climate activists have “swooped” on Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) Edinburgh headquarters, at Gogarburn. Around one hundred members of Camp for Climate Action (CCA) are already established with their marquees, eco-toilets and kitchens, and hundreds more are expected to arrive over the next few days. CCA spokeswomen, Ruth McTernan, says: “It’s been a dramatic start [...]
The World Bank has announced that it is to help support the efforts to combat the effects of the devastating floods that have struck Pakistan. More than 14 million people are thought to be directly affected by the disaster, with more than a million acres of farmland affected. The floods are a larger catastrophe than [...]
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC) has come top of The Banker’s Chinese Ranking of Commercial Banks’ Competitiveness, for the third year running. The Chinese banking giant also enjoyed a double award success, winning The Banker’s Best commercial Bank of the Year 2009 and Best IT Bank of the year 2009 awards. [...]
Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2010. DIB reported a quarterly net profit of AED 301m, a rise of 50% compared to the Q1 net profit of AED 201m. Total income increased by a more moderate sum, up from AED 1,079m to AED 1,108m. Total assets declined [...]
Russian financial institution Sberbank has released its financial results for the first seven months of the year, in line with its own internal methodology. Net interest income rose by 2.8% year-on-year, with net fee and commission income rising by 16.3%. Pre-provision operating income fell by 10.8%, but after provisions operating income was up by 1.9 [...]
Defined benefit pension pots have shrunk further in the past four weeks, according to Aon Consulting’s DC Index. The employee benefits firm has calculated that a 30-year-old’s and 60-year-old’s annual pension income has decreased by £518 and £358 respectively, while 65-year-olds are left on a mere £7,666 a year. The sum amounts to almost half [...]
Over 2.6 million UK savers could be missing out on a collective £362 million in the 2010/2011 tax year, according to moneysupermarket.com. Research by the price comparison site indicates that over 50% of savers don’t intend to use their full £5,100 cash ISA allowance, while 15% of Britons who already have ISA savings are not [...]
The number of Britons taking out payday loans has quadrupled over the last four years, with 1.2 million people now borrowing a combined £1.2 billion, Consumer Focus has reported. With a typical payday loan costing £20 for every £100 borrowed, the danger for consumers comes when a borrower can’t repay their loan within a month, [...]
UK and European corporate borrowers are beginning to consider the Asia-Pacific (A-P) markets to seek finance, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The accountancy firm suggests that Asian banks are increasing the scope of their lending and expanding market share as European lenders face a continued liquidity squeeze. PwC debt advisory partner, Jason [...]
General Electric is thought to be developing plans to enter the UK savings market with a new online banking operation. According to reports, the US conglomerate’s GE Capital division is keen to diversity its funding base by securing customer deposits in European countries. The group has recently launched an Internet bank in Germany and developments [...]
The head of the world’s largest currency papermaker, De La Rue, has resigned following reports of “irregularities” at the company’s mill on the River Test in Hampshire. James Hussey was appointed chief executive last year, having previously been managing director of the group’s currency division. The irregularities are understood to relate to paper quality, rather [...]
Credit Suisse has confirmed that the Reserve Bank of India has granted it a licence to establish a bank branch in Mumbai. This step forward means that Credit Suisse can now significantly expand its offering to clients in India, with the Mumbai branch able to accept deposits and use its balance sheet to provide clients [...]
German bank WestLB Group has reported that in the first half of 2010 it made a pre-tax profit of €114m, which has largely been attributed to the stable performance of its customer business. This is approximately a third of the €302m made in the first half of 2009. The second quarter of the year saw [...]
KfW Bankengruppe has released its financial results for the first half of 2010. The German bank made a consolidated profit of €980m, up from €478m in the same period last year, although Q2 profits did decline from the €575m achieved in the previous quarter. The firm’s pre-valuation operating results declined slightly from the record high [...]
The latest Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index has revealed that consumer confidence fell 7 points in July, to 56. This is the third consecutive time the monthly index has seen consumer confidence fall. The Expectations Index saw an even heftier fall, down 13 points, continuing a trend which began in February of this year. The Bank [...]
Dutch bank ING has reported its financial results for the second quarter of the year, with underlying net profit of €1,202m, sixfold the profits of the same period last year (€212m). The quarter’s underlying net income was also an improvement on Q1 2010, when ING made €1,018m. ING recorded net income of €1,090m, up from [...]
The Policy Board of the Bank of the Japan has decided to retain the country’s interest rate at 0.1%. The decision, which was made unanimously, comes as overseas growth helps support the moderate Japanese recovery. Although CPI continues to fall the rate of decline has slowed, and both exports and production continue to improve. The [...]
