Banks

Pound Sterling The Pound spent most of the week higher against its major peers and on Monday it continued to ride higher against the US Dollar and Euro thanks to last week’s positive economic data releases. House price data released in the afternoon showed that prices had fallen for the first time in six-months in […]

The share price of the Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE:RBS) had dropped from 343.6 to 339.3 as of 13:20 today.  The consensus on the street is that the decline has come as the result of an statement by W&G Investments (LSE:WGI). The statement was in reference to the government-mandated divestiture of 315 under-performing RBS branches. […]

Pound Sterling The Pound made a second weekly gain after the UK currency received support from a host of positive economic data releases. On Monday Sterling made gains against the Euro as data showed that British banks increased the number of mortgages being approved .The data added credence to the belief that the UK recovery […]

Pound Sterling – The Pound began the week on a positive note after economic data continued to support hopes that the UK economy is making a strong recovery. A better than expected services PMI climbed from 56.9 in June to 57.4 in July. To ask a currency expert a question direct, click HERE Or to […]

Mike van Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets, commented in his Weekly Roundup to clients; A tough week for the FTSE 100 index, giving up 200 points high-to-low to revisit the lower end of its summer trading range. Markets continued to fret over the prospect of less Fed stimulus and have immediately questioned the […]

First major announcement under Mark Carney’s Governorship At its meeting on 1 August, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to provide some explicit guidance regarding the future conduct of monetary policy. The Committee intends at a minimum to maintain the current highly stimulative stance of monetary policy until economic slack has been […]

Britain’s banks have provided a bevy of news for the first Monday in August.  And – surprise!- not all of it is bad.  Not that long ago, any story about UK banks could have been written in one word:  “Disaster.”  Actually, it’s been so bad for so long that “bank” and “disaster” in the same […]

Return on average ordinary shareholders’ equity up 12.0% HSBC made a reported profit before tax of US$14.1bn, an increase of US$1.3bn, or 10%, compared with the first half of 2012, the company has reported. Profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was US$10.0bn, an increase of US$1.8bn or 23% compared with the first half of 2012. Return […]

Mr McEwan will replace out going CEO Stephen Hester. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (RBS) announces today that Ross McEwan has been appointed as a Director and Group Chief Executive with effect from 1 October 2013. Mr McEwan joined RBS as the UK Retail CEO in September 2012. Philip Hampton, RBS Chairman said […]

Research by part of the Lloyds Banking Group The number of first time buyers in the first six months of 2013 was 19% higher than in the same period last year, according to the half-year Halifax First Time Buyer Review. There were an estimated 120,000 first time buyers (FTBs) during January-June 2013, up from 101,000 […]