Despite a concerted effort by the UK banking community, regulators and the UK government it seems that more and more people are falling victim to online banking scams. So called "phishing" attacks have grown in number from just 1,700 five years ago to over 51,000 last year. Reported online banking losses from fraud have increased from £23.2 million in 2005 to nearly £60 million in 2009 and looks set to rise for the foreseeable future.
In a move which is certain to limit the number of companies potentially interested in the 318 Royal Bank of Scotland branches up for sale, it has been revealed that prospective buyers will need to find additional funding of £2 billion to support the loan book attached to the business. While there has been speculation that a number of newcomers to the UK market will emerge, the additional funding requirement would seem to suggest only larger more well-established institutions will join the race for the branch network.
The Coventry building society has today confirmed talks are progressing with the Stroud and Swindon building society to create a group which would have around £20 billion in assets. While talks are at a very early stage it is believed that the Coventry building society, with 1.2 million members and 48 branches, and the Stroud and Swindon building society, with 265,000 members and 43 outlets, are keen to try and structure a deal acceptable to both parties.
As the UK banking arena moves out of recession and back into a growth phase there are growing concerns that so called "free banking" is again under threat. While in reality there is no such thing as "free banking" in the UK or anywhere around the world, whether this takes in direct charges or indirect charges, we are starting to see an increase in service charges and banking fees.
US financial giant Citigroup is reported to be looking for buyers for its Egg Internet banking operation which was acquired back in 2007 for over £500 million. The operation, which was originally part of the Prudential Group, has been hit by the difficult trading climate in the UK and posted a loss of £106 million in the six months to June 2009. However, it is the underlying financial strength of Citigroup as a whole which has probably forced the group to enter talks with potential buyers.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today confirmed that the complaints procedure currently in place at the Royal Bank of Scotland is to be investigated. This comes at a time when record complaints have been received by the Financial Ombudsman Service with Lloyds bank and Barclays bank very prominent in the figures. It will be interesting to see the scope of the investigation because at this point in time few details have been released into the public domain.
Mervyn King, the Gov of the Bank of England, has today voiced his concern that previous vocal support for wholesale changes to the UK and international banking arena may well be starting to subside. There is a growing concern that as the worldwide economy picks up, as it has been of late, the need to curry favour with the public by pushing ahead with banking regulation changes could begin to diminish.
The Financial Ombudsman Service has today issued figures relating to complaints received about banks in the UK. In the final six months of 2009 the ombudsman received just over 20,000 complaints regarding Lloyds bank group, split between Lloyds bank and Bank of Scotland. Over the same period the Financial Ombudsman Service revealed that Barclays bank was second in the league table with nearly 11,000 complaints received.
At a time when the UK banking sector, and the building society sector especially, is under pressure, today saw the Leeds building society announce record savings and more than 71,000 new customers over the year. This now takes the building society's membership number to 680,000 with savings now standing at £6.8 billion, an increase of £225 million over the period in question. Profits at the building society also increased by 51% to £31.7 million buoyed by an impressive control of the society's cost base - the cost income ratio is just 36%, the lowest in the sector.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is expected to make an announcement tomorrow regarding the recent setback in the legal battle with UK banks about overdraft charges. While rumours in this...
