NatWest owned by RBS gets ready for overdraft refunds

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) subsidiary NatWest is preparing to refund customers overdraft fees if it loses the test case, according to an internal bank document that’s shows how banks are preparing in the event the case is lost.

The NatWest document points out that the cost could run into millions as the group accepts (read more…)

Category: Business News, Europe | December 2nd, 2008 | Comments (0)

Nationwide Beats Abbey as Top Trusted Saving Bank

According to research at moneysupermarket.com, Nationwide Building Society is the most trusted savings provider with 14 percent of the people asked voting for Nationwide, a close second with 13 percent was Abbey (LON:ANLA) who is now owned by Spanish banking giant Santander.

The poll asked people out of 20 different providers where they would (read more…)

Category: Business News, Europe | December 2nd, 2008 | Comments (0)

Credit Suisse AG joins HSBC and cuts 650 jobs

Credit Suisse AG (NYSE:CS) announced they are making 650 job cuts, this come just a few hours after HSBC (LON:HSBA) announced they were cutting 500 jobs in the UK.

A Credit Suisse spokesperson said that the staff were told on Monday, but would not disclose any further information. However they did say that the job losses would be mainly in the investment banking (read more…)

Category: Business News, Europe | December 2nd, 2008 | Comments (0)

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS): Government Review

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was told yesterday by the UK government that its business strategy, boardroom appointments and lending policy were being reviewed. This comes after the British taxpayer took 58 percent stake in the Edinburgh-based bank last week.

The UKFI which is the body that has been set up to look after the government’s stake (read more…)

Category: Business News, Europe | December 2nd, 2008 | Comments (0)

Countrywide Financial Corp is being sued over $8.4 Billion Loan Deal

Greenwich Financial Service Fund sued Countrywide Financial Corp, the troubled home lender that Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) recently brought over claims an agreement to reduce payments on mortgages by $8.4 billion would hurt investors.

The fund said that 400,000 mortgages will decline under the deal, and that investors (read more…)

Category: Business News, US | December 2nd, 2008 | Comments (0)

JPMorgan Chase axes 9,200 jobs at Washington Mutual(WaMu)

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) the NY City banking giant will be cutting 9,200 jobs at Washington Mutual (WaMu) (OTC:WAMUQ) the announcement was made on Monday several months after they acquired the failed loans and saving bank.

Due to bad mortgage debts, WaMu the Seattle-based bank collapsed, resulting in the biggest bank failure in American history, JPMorgan Chase brought the troubled bank in (read more…)

Category: Business News, US | December 2nd, 2008 | Comments (0)

Cyber Monday sends Dow Jones Tumbling 430 Points

Cyber Monday 2008 sales started today, the on-line shopping day that follows on from Black Friday and thanksgiving, allowing a kick-start of the US holiday shopping season and the optimism of a profitable one for retailers.

Meanwhile Wall Street suffered as Investors feared the worsening economic conditions would continue throughout the holiday shopping season, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Index tumbling (read more…)

Category: Business News, Global Economy, US | December 1st, 2008 | Comments (0)

Morgan Stanley Set To Buy Overlapping Regional Banks

Just months after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) became bank holding companies, reports have been made that Morgan Stanley are in negotiations to acquire several regional banks that overlap its existing asset management and brokerage clients, according to a report on Monday in the WSJ.

According to reports the new-York based bank is in presently cutting jobs overseas (read more…)

Category: Business News, US | December 1st, 2008 | Comments (0)

HSBC cuts 500 jobs in UK: Union Outraged

HSBC (LON:HSBA) announced today that 500 jobs will be going across the UK, although they did state that none of the job losses will be customer facing.

The bank had also said that the some employees that are affected by the job cuts may be offered alternative roles within HSBC, Europes largest bank by market (read more…)

Category: Business News, Europe | December 1st, 2008 | Comments (0)

HSBC eyeballs AIG Asian business

HSBC (LON:HSBA) could be set to purchase the Asian businesses of American International Group Inc (AIG) the troubled US insurer. The deal could be worth around $8.7 billion according to analyst James Hutson at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

HSBC posted pre-tax profits showing that 16 percent was contributed by the banks insurance business in the first half of 2008. While HSBC have said they have no plans to rush (read more…)

Category: Business News, Global Economy | December 1st, 2008 | Comments (0)