Banks

Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) has a small problem. Question:  When is the best time to sell something? Answer:  When someone wants to buy it. Situation:  Lloyds Banking Group needs to sell 630+  bank branches. Problem:  No one wants to buy them. In December 2011 the news was that the Co-Operative Group was the preferred bidder […]

Barclays have announced a 35% fall in first quarter profits. Citing the cost of transforming the bank to become a “Go-To” bank profits fell by £609m to £1.8bn. An increase in European losses was a further contributing factor to the first quarter losses. In a statement the bank’s chief executive, Antony Jenkins, said  “We set […]

Is it just me or is HSBC (LSE:HSBA) more adept at shooting itself in the foot than most other banks?  Or have they simply understood something that the rest of us have only guessed at? That “little people” are irrelevant. In a span of less than 24 hours, the bank has announced 3,166 workers, i.e., […]

Yesterday the Bank of England released the minutes from the early April meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee Meeting.  Although the report indicated that the committee generally sees value in its Funding for Lending Scheme, it didn’t seem too anxious to expand it in the near future. The problem facing the committee is that, so […]

Bank of America argues that their customer strategy is working Bank of America Corporation has announced net income of $2.6 billion, or $0.20 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2013, compared to $653 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2012. Revenue, net of interest expense, on a fully […]

Renters now spend an extra four weeks at work paying off their home New Halifax research showed that April 13th was is this year’s Mortgage Freedom Day in the UK; as on the 103rd day of the year new UK homeowners will have finally earned enough to pay off the annual cost of their mortgage. […]

  Banking giant to pay dividends on from April to June The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) today announced that it has declared dividends on the following series of its non-cumulative preferred stock (represented by depositary shares, each representing a 1/1,000th interest in a share of preferred stock): $229.17 per share of Floating Rate […]

Service being launched in conjuction with the Bank of Ireland The UK Post Office has announced it will enter the current account market during spring 2013 in a move that is set to make it one of the largest providers of financial services on the high street. The current account, which will be provided by […]

Vince the Cable Guy is much more refined than his American cousin, Larry, but he is certainly no less opinionated.  In fact, he has managed to grab quite a few headlines in the last several days as he flexes his muscle as Britain’s Business Secretary in attempts to correct all that he perceives is wrong […]

Three former directors banned from serving as company directors. A UK parliamentary report has argued that leading bank HBOS was an “accident waiting to happen”. The newly released report by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards blamed the banks leaders, including Andy Hornby, Lord Stevenson and Sir James Crosby, for the failures that led to the bank’s 2008...