Morning refresh: what you need to know to start the day
Good morning from the City desk of the Evening Standard.
Last week was a torrid week for banks. After the furore surrounding the closure of Nigel Farage’s Coutts account, both the CEO of Coutts and the CEO of its parent company NatWest stood down amid suggestions from government that further rules could be on the away to make it more difficult for banks to close customer accounts. Our finance editor Simon English gives his take on NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose’s exit here.
Amid all the noise, though, banks have quietly been making a lot of money. Lloyds posted a 23% rise in profits while NatWest profits soared by £1 billion.
Here’s a look back at some of our other headlines from last week:
- Company insolvencies hit the highest level since 2009.
- Wealth manager WH Ireland warned it was on the brink of collapse without further support.
- The Bank of England has called in the former Federal Reserve boss to find out why its forecasts are wrong.
- Financial freesheet City AM was sold to e-commerce firm THG after nearing entering insolvency.
- Hot chocolate chain Knoops has secured a £6 million loan from wealthy aristocrats to fuel a global expansion.
Today we’re expecting results from education business Pearson and consumer products firm Haleon. Later in the morning we’ll get data on UK mortgage approvals and consumer credit.