Banks

Pound Sterling This week has been one of gains and upward momentum for Sterling. On Monday the Pound made gains against the US Dollar and edged upwards against the Euro after May’s manufacturing PMI data rose to 51.3 from the 49.8 recorded in April. A figure above 50 signals expansion. Construction data also boosted the Pound […]

Rate not changed since March 2009. ​The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee MPC had today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion. Today’s meeting of […]

Everyone knows the story of the prodigal son and how he took his portion of his father’s fortune and mismanaged it through a series of foolish choices.  Then, when he was destitute, he returned home, where his father restored him to his familial position. Apparently the 21st Century version has another chapter.  In the new, […]

Loan cuts despite funding costs falling “significantly”. The Bank of England has published updated data on the use of the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS). The data shows that for each group participating in the FLS the amount borrowed from the Bank and the net quarterly flows of lending to UK households and businesses for […]

Agency argues that ratings “reflect the high quality of the underlying collateral”. Fitch Ratings has assigned the following ratings to J.P. Morgan Mortgage Trust 2013-2: –$398,288,000 class A-1 exchangeable certificate ‘AAAsf’; Outlook Stable; –$398,288,000 class A-2 exchangeable certificate ‘AAAsf’; Outlook Stable; –$338,545,000 class A-3...

Unknown whether Sir Jonathan will introduce himself to clients as “Evans, Sir Jonathan Evans”. Sir Jonathan Evans has been appointed a Director of HSBC Holdings. He will be an independent non-executive Director and a member of the Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee. Sir Jonathan’s career in the Security Service, known as MI5, spanned 33 years, the […]

Stock market rallies may come and go, but in the recent past it has been only one way for the big banks as far as their share prices are concerned, and that is to the upside. This is hardly surprising given that the Government not only bailed them out after they gambled on the financial […]

Deal set to be completed next week. Lloyds Banking Group has announced that it has agreed the sale of a portfolio of US RMBS (residential mortgage backed securities) to a number of different institutions for a cash consideration of £3.3 billion. The transaction is part of the Group’s continued capital accretive non-core asset reduction. The […]

Pound Sterling – With UK markets closed for a national holiday it was a slow start to the week for the Pound. Although Sterling went on to weaken against the US Dollar as UK retail sales dropped to a 16-month low, it was able to recoup losses as separate reports showed a surge in British house […]

State-supported bank seeks to focus on UK interests. Lloyds Banking Group, which is 39% owned by the UK state, has announced the proposed sale of its International Private Banking business to Union Bancaire Privée (‘UBP’). The deal will include the business of the Group’s Geneva-based Private Bank, its branches based in Geneva, Zurich, Monaco and […]