FSA warns on pension unlocking

Brewin Dolphin raises Budget pension concerns

The Chancellor’s forthcoming Budget has provoked a number of suggestions, questions and concerns, particularly regarding the area of pensions. Director of Financial Planning at Brewin Dolphin Investment Management John Fletcher has raised a number of concerns revolving around potential changes to higher rate tax relief on pensions. Fletcher has opined that limiting tax relief to [...]

Barclays makes inroads into customer complaints

New figures from Barclays show a 31% drop in complaints for the “Banking” category in 2011, compared with a year earlier. What’s more, “Banking” complaints for the final six months of 2011 were down 10% versus the first half, indicating continued progress. However, in the “General Insurance and Pure Protection” category, which houses Payment Protection [...]

Overseas bank charges “exorbitant”

Some banks are charging exorbitant fees for overseas transactions with the details of their fees often hidden away on websites or undisclosed on statements. Which? is making the claim, having recently put the UK’s seven biggest banks and building societies to the test to see which offers its customers the best deal for transactions abroad. [...]

AFG reports rising 9M profits

Alliance Financial Group Berhad (AFG) has announced that in the first nine months of its financial year it made a net profit of RM372.3m, a rise of 14.8%. This meant that the firm saw net earnings per share rise from 21.2 sen in the corresponding period last year to 24.4 sen in the first nine [...]

BANK URALSIB reports Q4 and 2011 results

BANK URALSIB has reported its financial results for the full-year and fourth quarter 2011, in accordance with Russian Accounting Standards (RAS). Annual net income was RUB3.9bn, down from RUB4.2bn in 2010, and pre-tax income was RUB5.1bn, compared to RUB5.8bn in the previous year. Annual net operating income rose by 19.3% to RUB27.7bn, and net interest [...]