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Nationwide lashes out at rescued banks

The head of Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, accuses government-backed companies of seriously distorting the savings market as its profits fall more than 60%

Ministers defend new FSA powers

The economy will not suffer if legislation allowing bankers’ bonus deals to be ripped up drives ‘reckless’ individuals from the City to other countries, says the government

Santander offers fee-free account

The owner of Abbey has launched a bank account that does not impose any fees – even if the holder exceeds their overdraft limit – in advance of a court decision into the fairness of penalty charges

StanChart chief rails at bank regulation

Peter Sands, chief executive of Standard Chartered, questions the direction of global regulation and warns of a ‘real cost ... borne by the economy’ if proposed reforms are implemented

Politicians pursuing too many targets

Standard Chartered’s Peter Sands criticises the reactionary atmosphere sweeping through financial services, saying there is a need to acknowledge lingering macro-economic problems

FSA given extra clout to punish City crime

Errant financial companies are set to be prohibited from engaging in certain business lines under new enforcement powers to be given to the Financial Services Authority

Lloyds feels wrath of investors over CoCos

Britain’s small investors say that the bond exchange proposal outlined by Lloyds Banking Group is unfair, arguing that they might be frozen out of the offer involving contingent convertible instruments

UK banks split into two tiers

HSBC and Barclays provided stark evidence that the UK’s banks have polarised between successful commercial operators and struggling part-nationalised ones, as the country’s two biggest banks reported robust third-quarter results

RBS hit by £3.3bn impairment charges

The state-owned lender, which this week agreed changes required by Brussels in return for further state funds, swung to a pre-tax loss of £2.2bn from a £2.2bn profit a year ago

UKFI walks a line on bonuses

The body that manages the government’s stakes in state-supported banks has ‘to walk a tightrope’ when approving bonuses for top staff at Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, its chief executive told a parliamentary committee