In the year it was named the Most Customer Focused Bank in Nigeria by international advisory firm KPMG, Guaranty Trust Bank plc is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Managing Director Tayo Aderinokun has said that Guaranty Trust Bank remains focused upon delivering the best customer service possible. Aderinokun’s comments came ahead of the 2010 Customer Service [...]
The Blackstone Group and Pátria, the Brazilian alternative asset manager, have announced a partnership involving Blackstone taking a 40% share of Pátria. Under the terms of the agreement the two firms would collaborate to build their strength in Brazil and South America. Blackstone Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Schwarzman has stated that the [...]
US commercial bank BBVA Compass has announced that Manuel Sanchez, president and chief executive officer, is to take on the role of US country manager. Sanchez, who succeeds Jose Maria Garcia Meyer, will also acquire a seat on the Executive Committee and will report directly to BBVA Compass President and Chief Operating Officer Angel Cano. [...]
The Irish central bank has today published its assessment of the capital requirements for the Republic’s banks. The nationalised Anglo Irish Bank needs a staggering €29.3 billion injection of capital to meet minimum regulatory requirements under a “severe hypothetical stress scenario”. In the event that “unexpected additional losses” are incurred, an additional €5 billion of [...]
Paying by card can increase costs by up to 200%, according to new research from Which? Money. The consumer group has been studying the hidden charges that are frequently attached to airline, cinema and trains tickets, either as a flat-fee or as a percentage of the cost. For example, Which? claims that paying for a [...]
Swiss investment bank UBS has announced the appointment of Alex Wilmot-Sitwell as co-chairman and co-CEO of Asia Pacific. Wilmot-Sitwell will lead the region alongside incumbent chairman and CEO Chi-Won Yoon. He will take up his new post on 1 November and be based in Hong Kong. Carsten Kengeter, presently co-CEO of UBS Investment Bank, will [...]
An increase in the scale of quantitative easing currently undertaken by the Bank of England could be a step in the right direction, according to Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Adam Posen. Speaking to the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, Posen explained why he believed a further monetary stimulus could help the economic recovery. [...]
Police have raided addresses across London and arrested nineteen people suspected of stealing millions in cash from online bank accounts. Investigations by the Metropolitan Police Central e-Crime Unit have revealed that an international criminal gang has been operating in the UK, using malicious software to capture bank log-in details and steal least £6 million in [...]
Northern Trust has announced that it has bolstered its presence in Sweden with the appointment of Annika Larsson and Erik Norland to the Stockholm office. Larsson and Norland both become senior relationship managers, as the firm continues its strategic policy of serving clients as close to their home country as possible. Larsson brings more than [...]
The Paragon Group is re-opening to new business, having arranged funding via a new warehouse debt facility from Macquarie Bank. The buy-to-let lender closed its doors to new customers in 2008, when the credit crisis restricted its ability to borrow on the wholesale money markets. However, the company has secured a £200 million warehouse facility [...]
The deputy governor of the Bank of England has urged Briton’s savers to start spending, rather than complain about low interest rates. In an interview with Channel 4 News’ economics editor, Faisal Islam, Charlie Bean said: “In the short term we want to see households not saving more, but spending more”. With savers currently enduring [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has told 129 debt management firms that they face losing their consumer credit licences unless immediate action is taken to comply with its Debt Management Guidance. The firms will need to provide independently audited evidence that action has been taken within three months, to avoid licensing action. The formal [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to cut a further 500 jobs. The majority state-owned bank is reducing the headcount at its London-based investment banking operations, having already announced 3,500 job losses across its IT and back office operations earlier this month. RBS has seen around 27,000 job losses worldwide since it was rescue by [...]
The KBC Group is to sell KBC Business Capital, a specialist asset-based lending (ABL) division in the UK, to a wholly owned subsidiary of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. The sale will not affect KBC’s Tier 1 capital ratio, and will provide capital relief, but not to a material extent. KBC Business Capital employs [...]
Merriman Holdings, Inc. has announced that it has hired Alex Seiler and appointed him to the post of chief executive officer of the firm’s broker/dealer, Merriman Capital, Inc. Seiler brings with him more than three decades of experience in asset management and brokerage, including time spent at both Morgan Stanley and HSBC. At HSBC he [...]
JC Flowers is reported to have hired former Skipton Building Society head, John Goodfellow, sparking speculation that the firm is keen to extend its involvement in the UK’s mutual sector. In August, the US private equity group struck a deal with Kent Reliance Building Society, providing £50 million to back a restructure that involves the [...]
Santander is creating 400 jobs across the UK, in addition to the 600 new branch-based posts announced in August. Liverpool, Glasgow and Leicester will benefit from the recruitment drive, which will bolster the group’s call centre operations. The Spanish bank expects to open one million new accounts in the UK in 2010, having hit the [...]
