Economy of the United Kingdom

Agence France-PresseApril 3, 2013 08:15

Thousands of investors in Royal Bank of Scotland on Wednesday launched a potential £4.0-billion ($6.0-billion, 4.7-billion-euro) claim against the bank and its old bosses over a controversial 2008 shares sale conducted just before its state bailout. The RBOS Shareholder Action Group -- comprising more than 12,000 private shareholders and over 100 institutional investors -- announced the legal action in a statement which argued that they had all lost money in a rights issue that misrepresented the bank's health.

RBS lines up CFO van Saun to lead U.S. spin-off - source

Thomson ReutersApril 2, 2013 11:15

By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)<RBS.L> is preparing to appoint Finance Director Bruce van Saun as head of its U.S. arm Citizens ahead of its stock market listing, a person familiar with the matter said.

UK launches new financial regulators; real test to come

Thomson ReutersApril 2, 2013 10:45

By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Britain launched its new system of financial supervision on Tuesday, hoping that two new regulators will succeed where a single one failed in preventing banking crises and protecting consumers from getting fleeced. Experts say the real test of the new system will not come until boom times return and regulators get a chance to prove they have the mettle to rein in excesses.

Lloyds' lending to manufacturers to top one billion pounds

Thomson ReutersMarch 31, 2013 20:15

By Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest retail bank Lloyds said on Monday it was on course to beat its own target of lending 1 billion pounds to UK manufacturers before September 2013. Lloyds, which is 39 percent owned by the British government, said it had lent 700 million pounds to manufacturers in the past six months, following the launch of its 'Manufacturing Commitment' last September.

RBS sued over "misleading" 2008 cash call

Thomson ReutersMarch 28, 2013 12:00

By Kirstin Ridley LONDON (Reuters) - A group of shareholders in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) <RBS.L> has launched a multi-million pound lawsuit against the state-owned bank for misleading investors at the height of the credit crisis in 2008. In the first court document filed in the UK over the bank's record 12 billion pound cash call in April 2008, a group of 21 claimants - including international investors and pension funds - allege the bank published a defective prospectus littered with misstatements and omissions.

BP to go ahead with $500 million North Sea investment

Thomson ReutersMarch 27, 2013 20:45

By Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) - British Oil major BP is to proceed with a $500 million (330.4 million pounds)-plus investment plan in the remote Shetland Islands, another shot in the arm for North Sea oil. Though North Sea production has fallen by about two thirds since 2000 and a surprise tax increase in 2011 led to dire predictions about the region's future, industry body Oil & Gas UK in February forecast a pick-up in production from 2014, fuelled by a surge in investment.

UK banks told to plug £25 billion capital hole

Thomson ReutersMarch 27, 2013 06:00

By Huw Jones and Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's banks must raise 25 billion pounds of extra capital by the end of the year to absorb any future losses on loans, the central bank said, less than investors had expected. Replenishing banks' capital buffers, decimated by the financial crisis and heavy fines for misconduct, is a crucial step for returning part state-owned lenders RBS and Lloyds to full private ownership by the 2015 general election.

Prudential fined £30 million for secret AIA bid plans

Thomson ReutersMarch 27, 2013 05:45

By Kirstin Ridley LONDON (Reuters) - Prudential Plc has been fined £30 million and had its CEO publicly censured for failing to inform Britain's regulator about an ill-fated Asian takeover because it feared a leak. The fine, one of the heaviest dished out by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), rekindles bitter memories of a costly misjudgement which Britain's biggest insurer and its Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam are keen to consign to the past.

SFO boss says makes progress in Libor probe

Thomson ReutersMarch 26, 2013 16:00

By Kirstin Ridley LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's anti fraud agency said on Tuesday it was on the brink of announcing "significant progress" in its investigation into the alleged rigging of benchmark interest rates. David Green, head of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), told a seminar for fraud lawyers in London he expected to be able to update the industry "in the next quarter". Green declined to divulge further details.

Osborne defends mortgage help scheme

Thomson ReutersMarch 26, 2013 12:45

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne defended the government's new mortgage guarantee scheme on Tuesday, saying the primary aim was to get mortgage credit flowing, not to lift property prices. "The objective of the scheme is to increase the availability of mortgages," Osborne told a parliamentary committee. He refused to be drawn on whether the scheme would boost house prices, as many commentators - including Britain's independent budget watchdog - have suggested.