Finance

Britain's financial watchdog has defended its controversial decision not to sanction lender RBS or its former executives for past mistreatment of small business customers. The Financial Conduct Authority said it was sticking by its decision not to apply penalties for actions of RBS's former turnaround unit, the Global Restructuring Group. "Our investigation has found that GRG clearly fell short of the high standards its clients expected but it was largely unregulated and so our powers to take action in such...

London, 2nd May: The UK arm of ETL Global, the international network of professional services firms, has acquired an interest in leading, top 40, London-based accountancy and business advisory firm, SRLV, for an undisclosed sum.  The transaction marks the 28th acquisition by the UK business and closely follows its investment in leading law firm Glaisyers Solicitors LLP in December last year. Based in the West End and founded some 30 years ago, SRLV supports numerous high net worth individuals, A-list...

‘Bacon, ‘cheddar’ and ‘bread’ have emerged among the top 40 slang words Brits use for money.  Phrases such as ‘dosh’, ‘notes’ ‘bob’ and ‘dough’ are also more common place now as is ‘spondulix’, ‘reddies’ and ‘buckaroos’. Others admitted they refer to their hard-earned cash as ‘loot’, while ‘lolly’, ‘bucks’, ‘Arthur Ashe’ or ‘plunder’ also made the list. Regional favourites include ‘bob’ (42 per cent) in Yorkshire, ‘tuppence’ (41 per cent) in the South West, and ‘wedge’ (39 per cent) in...

French national Maxime Renahy says he operated undercover for the Direction Generale de la Securite Exeterieure

Sentiment and volumes are deteriorating sharply in the financial services sector, with various indicators at their lowest since the Financial Crisis of 2008, according to the latest CBI/PwC Financial Services Survey. The quarterly survey of 84 firms found that optimism about the overall business situation in the financial services sector plunged sharply, falling at the quickest pace since December 2008. Optimism has now been flat or falling for over three years. Business volumes fell for a second consecutive quarter, and...

The EU’s agreement of a short extension of Article 50 reduces the likelihood of a no-deal ‘Brexident’ next week. Even if Scope has expected the UK to avoid a no-deal exit, the consequences of prolonged uncertainty for the UK’s credit ratings are growing. The EU agreed Thursday to a short Article 50 extension until 22 May, less than the UK’s request for an extension to 30 June and conditional on the Brexit deal being approved in the UK Parliament next...

The Treasury Committee has warned that the UK must get a grip on money laundering and that is could even increase post-Brexit. The Committee concluded that efforts to fight money laundering in the UK is “highly fragmented.” at the moment. They urged the government not to ignore the seriousness of economic crime in a rush to secure new trade deal in the post-Brexit political environment. Committee chair Nicky Morgan said government should not "bow to buccaneering regulatory pressures” The Treasury...

Money is a bigger taboo than sex, religion or politics, according to new research. Half of Brits say talking about personal money matters is taboo in everyday conversation, higher than sex (42 per cent), religion (26 per cent) and politics (14 per cent). The study also found that a quarter of Brits have lied to family and friends about their personal finances, with one in ten admitting to lying to their partner about how much debt they have. And 23...

The pound has soared to the highest level versus the euro since 2017 after both the government and the opposition gave signs of changing strategy on Brexit. Sterling gained for a third day against the common currency after the Labour party came out in favour of a second Brexit vote and Prime Minister Theresa May was expected to bring up the topic of extending the Brexit deadline beyond March 29 at a meeting of her cabinet on Tuesday. Politics.co.uk Editor...