FCA Finds No Evidence of Customers Being Debanked over Political Views

THE GUARDIAN: Watchdog launched inquiry after row over Coutts’s handling of Nigel Farage’s account

Coutts on the Strand in central London. The bank was embroiled in controversy after it said it was going to close Nigel Farage’s account. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer
The UK’s financial regulator has found no evidence showing banks have shut or denied accounts to customers based primarily on their political beliefs, according to a preliminary review launched in the wake of the Nigel Farage debanking row.

Despite growing concerns that customers have been quietly discriminated against because of their political views, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said initial findings showed the primary reason for accounts being closed, suspended or denied was either that the account was inactive, or that they had concerns that the customer was involved in financial crime.

“While no bank, building society or payment firm reported to us that they had closed accounts primarily due to someone’s political views, further work is needed for us to be sure,” said the FCA chief executive, Nikhil Rathi. » | Kalyeena Makortoff, Banking correspondent | Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Peter Oborne EXPOSES Nigel Farage Banking Bigotry

Jul 10, 2023 | It's all very sinister... Peter Oborne is a columnist for Middle East Eye.

Peter Oborne’s new book, Fate of Abraham, here.

UK Banks to Meet Finance Regulator as Anger Grows over Savings Rates

THE GUARDIAN: NatWest, Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays bosses expected to attend FCA meeting and justify disparity between loan and savings rates

The chief executives of the UK’s largest high street banks will face the City watchdog today amid accusations they are ‘profiteering’ as savings rates offered to customers lag well behind surging borrowing costs.

Bosses including NatWest’s Alison Rose, HSBC UK’s Ian Stuart, Barclays UK’s Matt Hammerstein, and Lloyds Banking Group’s Charlie Nunn, will meet the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as they come under pressure to justify their decision to keep easy access savings rates low, while the cost of loans and mortgages has soared. » | Kalyeena Makortoff, Banking correspondent | Thursday, July 6, 2023

Jeremy Hunt Sets Out Sweeping Reforms to Financial Sector

THE GUARDIAN: Chancellor says plans will ensure City ‘benefits from dynamic, proportionate regulation’

The chancellor has announced plans to reform and repeal a number of City regulations, including rules originally meant to protect the UK from another financial crisis, in order to “unlock” investment and “turbocharge” growth across the UK.

Jeremy Hunt’s package of more than 30 reforms was announced as he travelled to Edinburgh to meet a group of chief executives from banks and insurers, who the government hopes will be in a stronger position to grow and compete with international peers as a result of the deregulation drive.

The package, known as the “Edinburgh reforms”, is wide-ranging, spanning from plans to consult on a new central bank digital currency to changing tax rules for investment trusts involved in real estate, and reforming rules around short selling – where investors bet that the price of an asset will drop.

The government said it also plans to trial a new trading venue that would operate intermittently but allow companies to raise money from investors before officially floating shares on the public market. » | Kalyeena Makortoff, Banking correspondent | Friday, December 9, 2022

Yet more crap from the Tories! As if the financial sector weren’t already deregulated enough! Those regulations were put in place for a purpose! I fear that Hunt is setting us up well for another financial crisis in the not-too-distant future.

The Conservative Party has screwed up on a grand scale with Brexit. Through that catastrophic mistake, it has put this country in the slow lane re-economic growth. And now, the huge problem is being compounded with yet more mistakes.

I despair of this country! I should have fled this sinking ship several years ago. Alas, unfortunate circumstances—the death of my late partner—came in the way.

In my lifetime, British governments of whatever stripe have never been able to get the economy right. There have been some bright spots here and there, but on the whole, our economy has tanked. The pound sterling certainly has during the last century. Successive governments had a strategy. In economics, it is known as 'managed decline'. – © Mark Alexander

In the Red? Banker Put 20-year ‘Tour of Strip Joints’ on Expenses

Pierin Vincenz paid £160,000 for strippers with his company credit card | ARND WIEGMANN/REUTERS
THE TIMES: “If you’re looking for entertainment, look no further,” boasts the Volkshaus, or “People’s House”, which bills itself as home to “an eclectic mix of bands, comedy, theatre and more”. The show that opened in the prestigious Zurich venue last week fully justified the hype.

The titillating case of the banker, his company credit card and whether the £160,000 he spent on strippers was a legitimate business expense has been welcomed as the “corporate crimes trial of the decade” by the Swiss press. » | Matthew Campbell, Foreign Correspondent, The Sunday Times | Saturday, January 29, 2022

The Times currently has a special offer on for new subscribers: Only £1 for 3 months’ access.

Crypto’s Rapid Move into Banking Elicits Alarm in Washington

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The boom in companies offering cryptocurrency loans and high-yield deposit accounts is disrupting the banking industry and leaving regulators scrambling to catch up.

BlockFi, a fast-growing financial start-up whose headquarters in Jersey City are across the Hudson River from Wall Street, aspires to be the JPMorgan Chase of cryptocurrency.

It offers credit cards, loans and interest-generating accounts. But rather than dealing primarily in dollars, BlockFi operates in the rapidly expanding world of digital currencies, one of a new generation of institutions effectively creating an alternative banking system on the frontiers of technology.

“We are just at the beginning of this story,” said Flori Marquez, 30, a founder of BlockFi, which was created in 2017 and claims to have more than $10 billion in assets, 850 employees and more than 450,000 retail clients who can obtain loans in minutes, without credit checks.

But to state and federal regulators and some members of Congress, the entry of crypto into banking is cause for alarm. The technology is disrupting the world of financial services so quickly and unpredictably that regulators are far behind, potentially leaving consumers and financial markets vulnerable.

In recent months, top officials from the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators have urgently begun what they are calling a “crypto sprint” to try to catch up with the rapid changes and figure out how to curb the potential dangers from an emerging industry whose short history has been marked as much by high-stakes speculation as by technological advances. » | By Eric Lipton and Ephrat Livni | Sunday, September 5, 2021

Artwork for The New York Times by Dalbert B. Vilarino.

Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Report Bumper Second-quarter Profits

THE GUARDIAN: Investment banking arms of two Wall Street firms benefit from global glut of mergers and acquisitions

Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have reported bumper profits for the second quarter as their investment banking divisions continued to ride the global boom in mergers and takeover deals.

The two US banks have been capitalising on the surge in merger and acquisitions activity, which broke records for the second straight quarter in the three months to June, according to Refinitiv data, and helped make up for a slowdown in trading since the start of the year.

Goldman Sachs, which continues to generate the highest investment banking fees among its peers, reported profits of $5.5bn (£4bn) in the second quarter. That was the second highest profit on record for the bank, only surpassed by its first quarter of 2021, and compared with just $373m in profits a year earlier when the group had to draw down provisions to cover a $2.9bn settlement over the 1MDB corruption scandal with global regulators. » | Kalyeena Makortoff, Banking correspondent |Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Trump Sets Up Next Great Recession

President Trump just gutted the Wall Street reform put in place after the crash in 2008. Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola, and Michael Shure, the hosts of The Young Turks, tell you how Trump set up the next recession.

Consultants Who Advise on Bankers' Pay Make Prostitutes Look Respectable Says Former Chancellor Lord Lawson

MAIL ONLINE: Lord Lawson made comment as MPs took evidence on standards in banking / He said pay consultants make prostitutes 'seem thoroughly respectable' / Former Chancellor said they feared missing out on future advisory fees if they suggested modest pay deals

Pay consultants who advise banks on their salary packages make prostitutes look ‘respectable’, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer said today.

Tory peer Lord Lawson gave his forthright opinion as MPs took evidence on standards in the banking industry.

He said: ‘In my experience, they [pay consultants] are a profession which makes prostitution seem thoroughly respectable.’

And Lord Lawson, who ran Britain’s finances under Margaret Thatcher, refused to back down even when a female witness giving evidence to him took exception to the characterisation.

Carol Arrowsmith, a senior pay consultant with accountancy firm Deloitte, said it was ‘difficult’ to accept the suggestion that her profession was worse than prostitution.

‘It may be difficult but it may be true,’ retorted the famously outspoken Westminster grandee. » | Rob Davies | Wednesday, January 30, 2013

François Hollande Vows to Tax the Rich to Pay Off French Deficit
THE GUARDIAN: Leftwing frontrunner in presidential race launches manifesto on how Socialist party would deal with financial crisis


François Hollande, the leftwing frontrunner in the French presidential race, has vowed to make the rich pay the highest price to help drag France out of its economic crisis, while promising to pump more money into schools and state-assisted jobs.

The Socialist rural MP, who recently declared "my real adversary in this campaign is the world of finance", launched his manifesto on Thursday, a road map of how the left would deal with the financial crisis. Hollande said he would raise taxes for banks and big companies as well as France's richest people, and use the money to help wipe out the nation's crippling public deficit.

By scrapping some €29bn (£24bn) worth of tax breaks for wealthier people introduced under Nicolas Sarkozy, he said he could find €20bn to deal with the corrosion of French society: record unemployment, soaring youth jobless figures and an education system that has been shamed as one of the most unequal in Europe, where one in six children leave with no qualifications. » | Angelique Chrisafis | Thursday, January 26, 2012

Barroso Proposes Penalties for Rogue Bankers
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Financiers accused of skulduggery could become subject to criminal sanctions under laws set to be proposed by the president of the European Commission.

Jose Manuel Barroso has said he will this week propose “individual criminal responsibility for financial players to be recognised in European law”.

The plans for an EU-wide directive would focus on curbing high frequency trading.

“We have seen abusive behaviour, and some of this caused the current crisis. We are going to clamp down on these practices,” Mr Barroso told Le Parisien. “Those who violate the rules will face criminal penalties. This will be a first in European legislation and a strong signal.”

The Commission will invoke new powers under Article 83 of the Lisbon Treaty allowing the EU to impose minimum rules and sanctions on member states when needed “to ensure the effective implementation” of EU policies.

The clause allows the EU to broaden the European Arrest Warrant beyond limited areas such as terrorism, drug-trafficking, and money-laundering to softer crimes if they have a “cross-border dimension”. Read on and comment » | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Sunday, October 16, 2011

Thank God for someone like Barroso. At least he speaks for the people. The UK government won't act. The US government won't act. It looks as if the European government is willing to act. Let them do so! The banksters need to have their wings clipped. I'm all for it. I am foursquare behind Barroso. More power to him! – © Mark

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Nick Clegg: I Was Wrong to Use Father’s Help to Secure Bank Internship
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nick Clegg’s drive to stop privileged children with "sharp-elbowed" parents monopolising internships was undermined when he admitted securing a placement at a bank with the help of his father.

The Deputy Prime Minister was embarrassed as he launched his landmark social mobility strategy, which includes at its heart a plan to open up work experience to all classes, after it emerged that he also employed unpaid interns in his parliamentary office.

Speaking at an event to launch the strategy, he said it had been “wrong” of his wealthy banker father to have secured him a placement at a Finnish bank by “having a word” with a friend who worked there.

“I think the whole system was wrong,” he added. “I am not the slightest bit ashamed of saying that we all inhabited a system that was wrong.”

Mr Clegg announced that he was banning the practice of unpaid work experience across his party after a former intern came forward to say that he had not even been paid out of pocket expenses such as travel and lunch while working for free for the Liberal Democrat leader.

The Coalition is moving to take action on the “tacit conspiracy” which sees privileged professionals give their children a leg up in life by using contacts to secure internships, which are often viewed as the first step on the career ladder.

As part of the strategy, Mr Clegg called on employers to pay interns the minimum wage, or at least reasonable expenses, to avoid excluding those who could not afford to work for free. » | Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Wulff hält Bankern wegen Finanzkrise Standpauke
REUTERS DEUTSCHLAND: Berlin - Bundespräsident Christian Wulff hat den Banken die Leviten gelesen.

Die Ursachen der Finanzkrise seien nicht beseitigt, warnte das Staatsoberhaupt am Donnerstag auf dem Deutschen Bankentag in Berlin: "Ohne einen grundlegenden Kurswechsel drohen neue Finanzkrisen." Noch eine Rettungsaktion mit Steuer-milliarden könne sich der Staat nicht leisten. Auch Kanzlerin Angela Merkel warnte, die Institute könnten sich bei künftigen Finanzkrisen nicht auf neue Staatshilfen verlassen. Die Branche räumte Fehler ein, warnte aber vor einer Überlastung ihrer Ertragskraft durch die Regulierungsoffensiven der Politik.

"Haben wir aus den Fehlern wirklich gelernt?", fragte Wulff die versammelte deutsche Hochfinanz: "Mein Fazit lautet: Nein - weder haben wir die Ursachen der Krise beseitigt, noch können wir heute sagen: Gefahr erkannt - Gefahr gebannt." Er habe Zweifel, dass der mit der Pleite der US-Investmentbank Lehman Brothers im Herbst 2008 ausgelöste globale Schock dauerhaft nachwirke. "Manchmal scheint mir, dass dank der staatlichen Krisenmaßnahmen der Schreck bei vielen verflogen ist und die alten Verhaltensweisen zurückgekehrt sind." Die Krise habe die Politik an die Grenze ihrer Möglichkeiten gebracht. Eine so große, konzertierte Rettungsaktion sei nicht wiederholbar.

Bis Ende des vergangenen Jahres hatte der Staat zur Stützung wackelnder Banken Garantien von bis zu 400 Milliarden Euro und bis zu 80 Milliarden Euro an Eigen-kapitalhilfen bereitgestellt. Überall in Europa mussten sich die Regierungen schwer verschulden, um ihre Geldinstitute zu sichern. Das ist eine der Hauptursachen für die grassierende Schuldenkrise in der Euro-Zone. » © Reuters | Donnerstag, 31. März 2011

Inside Story: UK March for an Alternative
In an event dubbed the march for the alternative, hundreds of thousands gathered in London - protesting against the coalition's planned spending cuts - the largest cut-backs since the Great Depression. Organised by the Trade Union Congress, the protests remained largely peaceful. However events were overshadowed by violence that later erupted. But as Europe is still struggling to avoid another financial crisis, would such measures have any impact? And what are the social and political implications?
 Inside Story, with presenter Ghida Fakhry, discusses with: Jeremy Batstone-Carr, head of research at Charles Stanley stockbrokers; Max Keiser, financial analyst and renowned banking critic [Wiki] and Tom Clougherty, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, a U.K.-based think tank dedicated to free market policies.

Senior Lib Dem Sacked for Criticising Controversial Deal for Bankers
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Coalition tensions over bankers’ bonuses have been laid bare with the sacking of a senior Liberal Democrat who criticised a controversial deal announced by George Osborne.

Lord Oakeshott, a close ally of Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, was last night removed from his post as the Lib Dem spokesman on Treasury issues.

His departure from the post came after he condemned the Coalition’s agreement with the banking industry as inadequate and accused Mr Osborne’s team of “arrogance and incompetence”.

Under the deal with the industry, the heads of the taxpayer-backed high-street banks will receive multi-million pound pay and bonus packages for last year.

The Chancellor said it was time to move from “retribution to recovery” and agreed to water down laws which would have identified multi-million pound bank traders.

However, under the terms of the “Project Merlin” deal, the country’s main high-street banks have agreed to increase lending and provide funding for community projects – in return for the Government not vetoing their bonus payments. >>> James Kirkup, and Robert Winnett | Wednesday, February 09, 2011

MAIL ONLINE: Clegg forced to sack Treasury spokesman after he pours scorn on 'weasel' Osborne's deal with banks: The coalition was in disarray over a lending and bonuses deal with Britain's biggest banks as Nick Clegg was forced to sack a member of his frontbench team for an extraordinary public attack on the Treasury. >>> James Chapman and Becky Barrow | Wednesday, February 09, 2011

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: RBS's Stephen Hester and Lloyds' Eric Daniels accept multi-million pound bonuses: The chief executives of state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group have accepted multi-million pound bonuses on the same day George Osborne unveiled details of a deal with UK banks that should cut pay-outs. >>> Harry Wilson and Andrew Trotman | Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Swiss Banker Convicted Over WikiLeaks Publications
THE GUARDIAN: Judge gives Rudolf Elmer suspended fine for breaching banking secrecy in giving client information to whistleblowing website

Rudolf Elmer is chased by the media as he leaves the Zurich district court. Photograph: The Guardian
A Swiss banker who publicised private client data on WikiLeaks was found guilty today of breaching strict banking secrecy and threatening former colleagues, but was given only a suspended fine.

The judge acquitted Rudolf Elmer on charges he sought $50,000 (£31,250) for returning client data to former employer Julius Baer and that he made a bomb threat to the bank's headquarters.

Elmer, who helped bring WikiLeaks to prominence three years ago when he used it to publish secret client details and who handed over new data to the website on Monday, had admitted sending Julius Baer data to tax authorities.

But he had denied blackmail and a bomb threat against Baer, and said he had never taken payments in return for secret data.

The court sentenced him to a fine of 7,200 Swiss francs (£4,700), suspended for two years, without giving reasons; those will come in a written judgment. The prosecution had called for an eight-month jail term and a fine of 2,000 francs.

The defence will decide whether to appeal within 10 days. >>> Reuters | Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Swiss Bank UBS Bans Tight Skirts and Fake Nails
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Swiss banking giant UBS has issued a strict dress code for employees, calling on them to wear "skin-coloured" lingerie and to ditch "fancy and coloured" artificial fingernails.

In a document stretching to more than 40 pages, UBS described a head to toe company dress code, including permissible hairstyles, what cut of skirt and which type of socks to wear.

Women should not wear "flashy" jewellery or skirts that are "too tight behind."

Underwear must not be "visible against clothing or spilling out of clothing." Rather, they should be "skin-coloured under white shirts."

Employees should also ensure that natural roots are not showing if they have coloured their hair, the document dictated.

Men should wear a "straight-cut two button jacket and pants that make up part of a classic professional suit." >>> | Thursday, December 16, 2010

Europe Set to Link Banking Bonuses to Basic Salaries
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: European regulators are set to tether banker bonuses to the level of basic salaries in a move that could deal the most severe blow yet to the culture of multi-million pound pay-outs.

Under the terms of proposals, expected to be published on Friday, investment banks may be forced to limit bonuses to a set multiple of bankers' salaries that would be agreed with financial watchdogs.

The Committee of European Bank Supervisors (CEBS) wants to see an end to bonuses that can be up to 50 times bigger than a banker's salary. Instead, the group, which is based in London and comprises members of the 27 European Union member states, wants banks to have to agree a maximum ratio of fixed-income to deferred pay with their national regulators.

Jon Terry, head of reward at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said: "While CEBS is unlikely to set a specific ratio, we expect them to propose a framework from which banks will work with national regulators on agreed bonus multiples, and then to have to justify them in the context of their risk profiles. This is going to be a radical change for many institutions." >>> Louise Armitstead | Friday, December 10, 2010

This is good news. But does it go far enough to curtail the greed of these money-grubbers? If something isn't done about this selfish culture that we now live in, I fear that the riots on the streets of London last night will look like a picnic in the park by comparison with what awaits us. The system we have now works for the good of one group of people only: the rich. The middle classes have been trampled on for far too long. – © Mark

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Eric Cantona: “Kill the (Criminal) Banks”

ARAB NEWS: Editorial: Wrong medicine – Cantona may be a brilliant footballer but he knows little about banks >>> | Friday, December 03, 2010

Lagarde: Bankers Better Be Careful