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Ranting into the ether about banks

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    The last few weeks I’ve had to register a Lasting Power of Attorney at 3 retail UK banks for a geriatric relative who’s gone into care.

    Nat West were great. Branch walk-up, docs checked & copied in 10 mins, debit card & chequebook issued plus access to account within 5 days. Lloyds were pretty easy and efficient too.

    But bloody Santander were a Kafkaesque nightmare to deal with. 5 weeks so far, 3 branch appointments (3 weeks wait for the first one), about 2 hours in total on hold over the phone and they still can’t get it right. Bureaucratic and unhelpful in the extreme. I’d never bank with them after this experience (and will be closing the relative’s accounts there pronto).

    NSI (premium bonds and saver account) are also awkward because they’ve got no branches and insist on you mailing original PoA documents - but there’s no way I’m trusting those to the post or some underpaid clerks not to lose them - nor shelling out at a solicitor to have a certified copy notarised at rip-off prices. A bit of fraudulent online impersonation will have to do here.

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      Possibly not the best jargon to use right now.

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        OOOPS.

        $37 billion FinTech IPO derailed two days before listing because... unclear but clearly significant issues

        url=https://www.ft.com/content/c1ee03d4-...6-2f8423a6842e

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          That's gotta hurt (the bankers' bonuses)

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            Wow. I have concerns about Alibaba/Ant but this seems like a pretty terrible way for China to handle this. On the other hand, if Ant knew new regulations were coming in, why on earth did they straddle the IPO around them.
            Last edited by Ginger Yellow; 03-11-2020, 21:01.

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              My guess is that the bankers told them that they couldn't hold the valuation post-US election due to the chance of extreme volatility and that they couldn't get their act together in time to hit an earlier window

              The factors that go into IPO launch timing can be incredibly petty and stupid (though likely never this costly).

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                Co-op Bank doing an MREL issue. Will be interesting to see how it compares to Metro's pricing.

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                  Interesting, this is the first Litvak-style case I'm aware of in the UK, and the US co-operated.

                  FCA fines TFS-ICAP ?3.44 million for market misconduct


                  The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined TFS-ICAP Ltd, an FX options broker, ?3.44m for communicating misleading information to clients.

                  Between 2008 and 2015, brokers at TFS-ICAP carried out the practice of “printing” trades. This involved brokers communicating to their clients that a trade had occurred at a particular price and/or quantity when no such trade had actually taken place. TFS-ICAP brokers, across multiple broking desks, did this openly and over a prolonged period.

                  Printing trades sought to encourage clients to trade when they might not have done, in order to generate business for TFS-ICAP. As such, TFS-ICAP did not observe proper standards of market conduct.

                  Furthermore, TFS-ICAP did not react to warning signs that printing might be taking place or act to address the risk of it, and so failed to act with due skill, care and diligence.

                  Neither were there any records to evidence the practice which, in turn, meant the investigation had to establish the existence of a practice that was opaque and unrecorded in any of TFS-ICAP’s records.

                  TFS-ICAP also had shortcomings in its oversight and compliance arrangements to detect and counter the risk of brokers providing price or quantity information on the basis that it was based on actual trades when these had not taken place.

                  Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, said:

                  “This market should take notice that printing, or providing information to clients where the basis for the information is not true, is not in keeping with appropriate standards of market conduct. The market should also take notice that the opacity of such practices, while forensically challenging, is no bar to action either.”

                  The FCA is grateful for the assistance provided by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the United States in this investigation.

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                    "misleading" is an interesting way to describe it, isn't it?

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                      Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post
                      Co-op Bank doing an MREL issue. Will be interesting to see how it compares to Metro's pricing.
                      9% yield.

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                        Originally posted by TonTon View Post
                        "misleading" is an interesting way to describe it, isn't it?
                        That seems like flat out fraud over 7 years. And speaking as someone who works in the banking industry (but not a banker) the fine seems like a slap on the wrist.

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                          Meanwhile Monte Paschi is selling triple-C rated debt (preferred, admittedly) at less than 3%

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                            And some people are thankful for not having been asked to sign negative comfort letters in respect of same

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                              Nice work, Masa.

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                                Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post
                                Paywalled.

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                                  Not that I would have understood anything!

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                                    "Softbank abandons its Nasdaq Whale bets".

                                    What's not to understand?

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                                      I just googled whale bets.

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                                        Water futures now being traded on Wall Street:

                                        https://twitter.com/business/status/1335729456481243138

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                                          More amazing Softbank slides

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                                            I feel for their lawyers

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                                              The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today announced that it has commenced criminal proceedings against National Westminster Bank Plc (NatWest) in respect of offences under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 (MLR 2007).
                                              The FCA alleges that NatWest failed to adhere to the requirements of regulations 8(1), 8(3) and 14(1) of MLR 2007 between 11 November 2011 and 19 October 2016.

                                              These regulations require the firm to determine, conduct and demonstrate risk sensitive due diligence and ongoing monitoring of its relationships with its customers for the purposes of preventing money laundering.

                                              The case arises from the handling of funds deposited into accounts operated by a UK incorporated customer of NatWest. The FCA alleges that increasingly large cash deposits were made into the customer’s accounts. It is alleged that around ?365 million was paid into the customer’s accounts, of which around ?264 million was in cash.

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                                                Bloomberg and FT reporting the customer was Fowler Oldfield

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                                                  264 million in physical cash is quite the logistical challenge

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                                                    Did a little googling and there was a criminal trial recently for one of the bagmen. Apparently at the gold dealer they were taking about GBP 2m a day in 20s.

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