Banking

More than two thirds (63%) of Scottish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) saw revenue increases in the second quarter of this year against 2021, compared to 55% UK wide, according to the latest quarterly Barclays SME Barometer.

Farmers across the UK have seen the costs of running their businesses soar over the past 12 months, with new research from NatWest revealing that 99% have seen at least one routine expense rise above the general UK CPI inflation rate of 9%.

Edinburgh-based private bank Hampden & Co has reported record half year results for the first half of 2022 as total income increased 47% year-on-year to £8.8 million. The bank's deposits also rose by 21% to £731mand loans and advances up 14% to £434m. The bank benefitted from s

Edinburgh-based charity Bank of Scotland Foundation has announced it is providing almost £1,000,000 of additional financial support to Scotland’s third aector to help charities through the cost of living crisis. This will enable them to provide more grants throughout the remainder of thi

Payit, NatWest’s open banking payments solution, has reached a milestone £1 billion in processed payments.

High street banks in the UK have failed to mirror the Bank of England's latest interest rate hike to millions of savers, with customers stuck with rates as low as 0.01%. The UK's ten largest banks have still not increased rates on their easy access savings accounts after the 0.5% increase in the bas

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has released the annual surveys of the UK's banks showing how well customers are being looked after. The surveys are independently conducted by Ipsos MORI (for personal accounts) and BVA BDRC (for business accounts) using a sample of thousands of individua

The UK's second oldest bank, C. Hoare & Co., has announced the appointment of Giles Andrews as an independent non-executive director of the bank. Mr Andrews has extensive experience in financial technology, lending and investment. In 2004, he co-founded Zopa, an online peer-to-peer lending busin

The Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC) has appointed Bryan Zhang as independent chair of the newly set-up strategic working group (SWG). The committee, led by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) and including the CMA and HM Treasury, announced the forma

NatWest Group has announced that Scott Marcar will join its executive committee as chief information officer from 5 September 2022, subject to regulatory approval. Mr Marcar joins the group from Deutsche Bank where he was CIO. Scott has over 25 years of technology experience having led teams across

The Post Office has posted figures showing that a record £801 million in personal cash withdrawals were made in July.

Business activity across the Scottish private sector increased at only a fractional pace during July, according to the latest Royal Bank of Scotland PMI data. The seasonally adjusted headline Royal Bank of Scotland Business Activity Index - a measure of combined manufacturing and service sector outp

Edinburgh-based private bank Hampden & Co has hired Gill Sanders from Adam & Co as a banking director. Ms Sanders spent over 20 years with Adam & Co, most recently as associate director, private banking.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has announced an interest rate hike of 0.5% today in the face of rising inflation. At its meeting ending on 3 August 2022, the MPC voted by a majority of 8-1 to increase Bank Rate by 0.5 percentage points, to 1.75%. One member preferre

Nationwide Building Society is extending the maximum loan size available to £5 million for mortgages with a loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of up to 75%. The following are the maximum loan sizes now available: