U K
The information below comes from the
UK Activity Report.
Deutsche Bank is planning to shed 2,100 staff in its investment banking division, which is expected to include 350 London-based jobs. 31-Dec-2001
Lloyds TSB is to relocate the headquarters of its Black Horse financial services business and 1,000 staff from Cardiff's Newport Road to the new St William House scheme in 2003. 20-Dec-2001
The Inland Revenue is soon to announce plans for the creation of about 500 jobs at a new call centre on Bracken Hill Business Park in Peterlee next year. 20-Dec-2001
CGNU has acquired a 50% stake in a subsidiary of Caja Espana for £88m, in order to increase its presence in the Spanish life and pensions market and gain access to 535 branches. 18-Dec-2001
Yorkshire Bank is to set up a regional business centre at the former Wraggs industrial site in Sheffield, where it will employ 50 business advisors. 17-Dec-2001
HSBC is to set up a £14m call centre at the De Montfort Business Park in Leicester, and 625 staff will be relocated from the bank's existing sites on Charles Street and Wellington Street. 13-Dec-2001
American Express is planning to shed about 6,000 jobs in its worldwide credit card and travel services business, which is expected to affect about 400 UK-based staff at offices in Brighton and London. 13-Dec-2001
Alldaypa is planning to set up a £7m secretarial services call centre at either Salford Quays or Cheetham Hill in Manchester, with the creation of 500 jobs. 10-Dec-2001
Abbey National is to create 600 new jobs over the next 18 months in order to expand its small business banking division, including 500 branch-based managers and 50 sales staff for the First National leasing operation. 10-Dec-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is said to be considering four potential locations in Birmingham for a 350,000 sq ft Midlands headquarters. 10-Dec-2001
Britannic is to transfer about 150 jobs from the recently-acquired Alba life and pensions business in Glasgow to its Wythall Green site near Birmingham, while a further 250 Glasgow-based jobs will be lost. 06-Dec-2001
GMAC, the General Motors mortgage lending division, is closing its telesales centre in Bournemouth with the loss of 98 jobs, and the remaining business will be transferred to its Bracknell office. 04-Dec-2001
PricewaterhouseCoopers is to close its Nottingham office at the end of next year and move to a £7m purpose-built complex at the Pegasus Business Park, combining 500 staff from various sites. 04-Dec-2001
Pinsent Curtis Biddle is forming a strategic alliance with Paris-based legal practice Granrut, in order to further develop its relationships with French-owned companies. 30-Nov-2001
Taylor Price Direct Choice is to start recruiting staff for a new three-storey insurance centre due to open at the Claydon Business Park in Ipswich next April, which could employ up to 200. 30-Nov-2001
Standard Life Investments, the asset management company, is planning to open its first US office in Boston next year. 29-Nov-2001
The Welsh Development Agency is supporting a £1.8m investment by Creditsafe UK in a new telesales centre at the Caerphilly Business Park, which will create 60 jobs. 28-Nov-2001
Herbert Smith, the law firm, is planning to form an alliance with Stibbe, in order to expand its business into Belgium and the Netherlands. 27-Nov-2001
Unilever is considering plans to launch a venture capital fund to develop new business initiatives not related to its core activities of food and personal care. 26-Nov-2001
Wellington Underwriting is in discussions with a number of venture capital companies about plans to form a £400m London-based insurance company, in order to benefit from the expected growth in new business next year. 26-Nov-2001
Brit Insurance is planning to raise £154m in a share placing in order to double the volume of business it underwrites at Lloyd's of London next year. 26-Nov-2001
Hiscox is planning to raise £54m in a rights issue to fund the expansion of its Hiscox Insurance and Lloyd's operations. 23-Nov-2001
Eversheds, the law firm, is to relocate its two Cardiff offices and 615 staff to a new headquarters at Bute Square next summer. 22-Nov-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is to relocate 18 administrative offices and 3,000 Manchester-based staff to two new buildings at the £650m Spinningfields development by 2004. 22-Nov-2001
Adrian Flux Insurance is planning to create up to 50 jobs over the next year, following the recent consolidation of its three King's Lynn offices onto a single site at East Winch Hall. 21-Nov-2001
Legal & General is planning to spin off its fund management operation into a new wholly-owned subsidiary, as part of a restructuring programme being fund by the issue of a £500m convertible bond. 21-Nov-2001
Merrill Lynch is to shed 100 investment banking jobs in London and close private wealth management operations in Edinburgh, Manchester and Leeds. 19-Nov-2001
Edward Jones, the US stockbroker, is looking to open additional one-person offices in high street locations throughout the UK, expanding its existing chain from 102 to 400 within a year. 19-Nov-2001
HBOS is planning to centralise most of its credit card marketing, sales, finance and administration functions in Cardiff and its credit card processing and customer service facilities in Dunfermline. 19-Nov-2001
Hays has won a £30m contract to provide personnel services to Liverpool Victoria, including recruitment and training for 2,800 insurance and pensions staff. 19-Nov-2001
CGNU is to close a Norwich Union office in Cambridge with the loss of up to 70 policy administration staff, and the work will be transferred to other branches. 16-Nov-2001
HSBC has shed a further 60 investment banking jobs in London. 13-Nov-2001
Chesterton International is to shed 65 of the 1,600 jobs in its estate agency business, as part of a programme to reduce costs by £4m a year. 12-Nov-2001
HBOS is planning to invest £40m in the expansion of its Clerical Medical Investment Management business over the next three years, and 150 staff will be added to the current 250. 12-Nov-2001
US Bancorp Piper Jaffray is launching an investment advice business for small and medium-sized companies in London, and additional European offices will be added later. 12-Nov-2001
HBOS is considering plans to close up to 60 bank branches in Scotland, to eliminate overlap between the former Halifax and Bank of Scotland operations. 09-Nov-2001
MGt has announced 130 new jobs at its customer service call centre in Kirkcaldy, taking the workforce to nearly 600. 09-Nov-2001
Brewin Dolphin is to shed a further 40 jobs at its Edinburgh-based Stocktrade subsidiary. 09-Nov-2001
Royal & Sun Alliance is planning to raise £800m through a programme of unspecified disposals over the next year, and the proceeds will be used to expand its general insurance business. 09-Nov-2001
Saga Group is to create up to 750 new jobs in Kent, including 600 at a new £15m call centre near Margate selling financial and other services to customers over 50. 08-Nov-2001
HBOS is to close its Halifax business banking administration centre in Exeter in March and offer alternative employment to 90 staff, as part of a nationwide reorganisation. 08-Nov-2001
American Express is expected to shed dozens of jobs in Brighton, as part of a worldwide cost-cutting campaign. 07-Nov-2001
Axa Insurance is planning to shed 100 of its 500 management jobs, and further cuts are expected later among the 5,000 non-managerial staff. 07-Nov-2001
Credit Suisse First Boston is considering plans to sell its DLJ Direct online stockbroking service in the UK, which could be worth about £25m. 07-Nov-2001
The Welsh Development Agency is to receive £20m of European aid to enable its Finance Wales operation help Welsh firms create 10,000 new jobs over the next five years, and a further £25m will be provided by Barclays. 06-Nov-2001
Egg is creating 110 new jobs at its internet banking call centre in Derby over the next few months. 05-Nov-2001
Andersen is planning to shed up to 350 of the 7,000 jobs in its UK accounting and consultancy business. 05-Nov-2001
Murgitroyd Group is planning to raise £3m in a flotation on Aim to fund its patent attorney business into continental Europe. 05-Nov-2001
Abbey National has formed a £400m facilities management joint venture with Stiell to manage the bank's properties under a 10-year contract. 02-Nov-2001
Pinsent Curtis Biddle is to open an office in Manchester in January, staffed by about 20 lawyers. 01-Nov-2001
Barclays is to combine its Caribbean operations with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, creating a new company called FirstCaribbean International Bank with 87 branches. 01-Nov-2001
Eversheds, the law firm, has acquired a 36,000 sq ft office at Kett House in Cambridge, but is only expected to occupy 12,000 sq ft initially. 31-Oct-2001
DAS, the Bristol-based insurance company, has submitted plans to build a new 68,000 sq ft office at the Locking Castle Business Park in Weston-super-Mare. 31-Oct-2001
Ulster Bank is centralising its IT operations at the Danesfort office development in Belfast, which will involve the relocation of about 160 staff mainly from temporary accommodation in Newtownabbey. 31-Oct-2001
HBOS is to close the Bank of Scotland retail marketing operation in Dunfermline, with all 60 staff being offered relocation to Halifax, Chester or Edinburgh. 29-Oct-2001
Ins-sure Services is to combine its two London offices and 45 staff onto one site at Billiter Street in December. 26-Oct-2001
The Inland Revenue is considering plans to set up a new call centre on Merseyside with the creation of up to 500 jobs, and is said to be looking at two possible sites in Birkenhead and Bootle. 25-Oct-2001
Duke Street is setting up a new management company in Madrid called Iberduke Capital Partners, as part of a strategy to expand its private equity business in Spain and Portugal. 25-Oct-2001
PwC has announced plans to shed a further 330 jobs in its UK consulting business, and is seeking voluntary redundancies. 25-Oct-2001
Direct Line is expected to create more jobs at its new £5m insurance call centre in Birmingham, which already houses 680 staff. 24-Oct-2001
HBOS is planning to expand its activities in the small business banking market through the recruitment of an extra 1,500 staff over the next three years, which will involve the use of Halifax's high street branches. 22-Oct-2001
Weightmans is to open a law office in London next May, having acquired the litigation business of Vizard Oldham. 19-Oct-2001
Scottish Equitable is to launch a new personal investments business in Stirling next year, with the creation of at least 100 jobs. 19-Oct-2001
Egg is planning to shed up to 50 of the 2,000 jobs in its internet banking business as part of a restructuring programme aimed at saving £4m a year. 18-Oct-2001
AMP of Australia is planning to expand its door-to-door insurance salesforce in the UK from 600 to 1,000 over the next two years. 16-Oct-2001
Hanco is planning to double the size of its network of 1,150 cashpoint machines over the next two years, by installing about 150 new machines a month in convenience stores. 15-Oct-2001
Deutsche Bank is looking to dispose of four buildings in the City of London in order to consolidate its business onto fewer sites. 15-Oct-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland has announced plans to expand its operations in France, Germany, Spain and Italy, which will involve the appointment of four country heads and a 30% increase in the 300-strong staff. 15-Oct-2001
Bank of Ireland has launched a new leasing and hire purchase business and expects to recruit 150 staff over the next three years. 12-Oct-2001
Xchanging, the supplier of back-office support services, has secured £25m of venture capital from General Atlantic Partners to finance its expansion plans. 08-Oct-2001
Cazenove has closed its emerging markets investment business with the loss of about 25 jobs. 08-Oct-2001
Hermes Pensions Management is planning to more then double the size of its corporate governance business, increasing the number of specialists from 15 to 40 by the end of 2002. 08-Oct-2001
Cavanagh Group, the firm of financial advisers, is to raise £1.5m in a share issue in order to recruit new consultants. 08-Oct-2001
Travelex is to shed 70 of the 1,000 jobs at the headquarters of its Peterborough-based foreign currency exchange business. 04-Oct-2001
Zurich Financial Services is to launch a wealth management service in partnership with 7 Investment Management, which will be offered by phone and internet. 04-Oct-2001
Lazard has closed its wealth management business with the loss of up to 10 jobs. 03-Oct-2001
Manchester United is to expand its financial services division in partnership with Bank of Scotland, Britannia and Zurich Financial Services, and will set up an advice centre at Old Trafford. 02-Oct-2001
Moneybox is raising £11m in second-round funding to install an additional 2,400 cash machines in the UK, and will also open networks in Germany and the Netherlands. 02-Oct-2001
Alliance & Leicester is planning to shed 400 jobs at its Girobank headquarters in Bootle, as part of a previously announced scheme to cut 700 jobs nationwide. 01-Oct-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to create 6,000 jobs in order to improve customer service by replacing NatWest's automated telephone service. 28-Sep-2001
Ernst & Young is planning to shed 200 of its 8,000 staff following a fall in demand for corporate finance services. 27-Sep-2001
M&G has restructured its UK equities business with the loss of 15 investment management jobs. 26-Sep-2001
Franklin Templeton Investments, the US-based investment manager, is to close its sales and marketing office in Edinburgh and transfer up to 20 employees to London. 25-Sep-2001
Barclays has announced plans to invest £50m in the roll out of Woolwich's Open Plan account, which enables customers to offset their current account balance against their mortgage. 25-Sep-2001
Providian National Bank is planning to relocate its London headquarters to a 20,000 sq ft office on Monument Street. 24-Sep-2001
Alliance & Leicester has announced plans to shed 700 back-office jobs at a number of sites across the country. 24-Sep-2001
Abbey National has set up four new companies to manage its branch networks in Belfast, Cardiff, Newcastle and Ealing, in an extension of its franchising experiment that will give more control to local bank managers. 24-Sep-2001
PricewaterhouseCoopers is to close its office in Middlesbrough town centre and relocate the 20 staff to Newcastle by next January. 21-Sep-2001
Lab Medico Legal Services, the supplier of medical reports to solicitors, is planning to move to a larger office at Bracken Hill in Peterlee, where it will employ up to 120 staff. 20-Sep-2001
Beeson Gregory, the technology-focused investment bank, is in merger talks with Evolution Group. 20-Sep-2001
CGNU is creating 100 jobs at its Norwich Union car insurance call centres in Norwich and Worthing. 17-Sep-2001
The Labour Party is to create 50 administration jobs at a National Support Centre in North Shields, and relocation and recruitment will begin next month. 17-Sep-2001
Keoghs, the specialist insurance law firm, is closing its Southampton office, but will retain three of the 11 fee earners and continue to operate out of its larger Bolton and Coventry offices. 14-Sep-2001
Canary Wharf Group is in advanced discussions with two law firms planning to take office space at a new 32-storey tower - Allen & Overy and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. 13-Sep-2001
Bruce Stevenson, the Edinburgh-based insurance broker, has announced plans to restructure the company, recruit 14 new staff and possibly seek an acquisition. 12-Sep-2001
MBNA is seeking permission to double the size of its credit card headquarters on Chester Business Park, which could lead to the creation of up to 3,000 jobs. 10-Sep-2001
Abbey National has been approached by GE Capital and a number of other companies interested in buying its First National Retail Finance division, which is valued at about £250m. 10-Sep-2001
HBOS is planning to expand in the small business banking market, which will involve the creation of hundreds of jobs at Halifax branches and Bank of Scotland call centres. 10-Sep-2001
Davenham, the supplier of financial services to companies, is planning to raise up to £25m in a flotation next month. 10-Sep-2001
Axa Assistance is moving to a new head office in Redhill later this month, with 240 staff relocating from Leatherhead and 140 from Reigate. 07-Sep-2001
PwC is offering redundancy to 280 of the 3,500 staff in its UK professional services business, which will affect both consultants and ancillary staff. 07-Sep-2001
Barclays is to relocate its head office functions from a number of offices throughout London to a new 1m sq ft building at Canary Wharf. 06-Sep-2001
Savills is planning to spend £17m on the expansion of its upmarket estate agency business, through bolt-on acquisitions and the formation of partnerships. 06-Sep-2001
Britannic is to expand its insurance distribution network through two new deals with Irish Life & Permanent and Isle of Man-based Hansard Group. 05-Sep-2001
Virgin Incentives, the voucher-giving service, is opening a call centre in Thornaby on Teesside, with the creation of up to 20 jobs. 04-Sep-2001
Prudential's Scottish Amicable business is to stop selling mortgage protection and investment products through tied providers, and the affected staff will be absorbed into other parts of the business at Craigforth in Stirling. 04-Sep-2001
Collins Stewart is planning to expand its hedge fund business into Italy and other European countries, and is also continuing to grow its investment trust operations. 04-Sep-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is to close a NatWest cash centre in Cambridge in March with the loss of 67 jobs, and the local branches will be serviced by cash centres in London and the Midlands. 03-Sep-2001
Tep Exchange has raised about £1m in a flotation on Aim, in order to fund the development of its electronic trading platform for dealing in endowment policies. 03-Sep-2001
First Trust has announced plans to invest £10m in its banking network in Northern Ireland, including the creation of a £3m flagship branch in Belfast city centre. 31-Aug-2001
Lloyds TSB is planning to shed 500 of the 30,000 jobs in its 2,000-strong branch network by the end of the year. 30-Aug-2001
Centrica is to invest £12m in the launch of a new smartcard for golfers, in partnership with the English Golf Union and AdvancedWare. 30-Aug-2001
Swinton Insurance is to shed 70 jobs at its call centre in Manchester, following a decision by parent company MNA Holdings to move customer service away from the telephone and back to the high street. 27-Aug-2001
Cox Insurance is to recruit 100 additional staff at its insurance call centre in Bradford over the next few months. 27-Aug-2001
Cattles is planning to open up to 100 consumer credit branches over the next 18 months, taking the total to 550. 24-Aug-2001
Legal & General is to recruit 100 extra staff in Birmingham over the next nine months, partly due to a partnership deal that involves L&G's products being sold by the Woolwich. 23-Aug-2001
Bank of Scotland is opening the country's first convenience store bank at a Spar outlet in Inverkeithing, and the idea could be expanded to other areas. 23-Aug-2001
Grant Thornton is to close its accountancy office in Witney and transfer the 25 staff to offices in Oxford and Banbury. 23-Aug-2001
Bradford & Bingley is to shed a further 500 back-office jobs, including 200 at head office, as part of a cost-cutting campaign aimed at saving £30m a year. 23-Aug-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland has announced plans to create 100 jobs at a new £3m call centre in Norwich for its Virgin One all-in-one current account and mortgage. 20-Aug-2001
CGNU is to create 250 jobs at its Norwich Union life and pensions business in York, having decided to relocate some administration processing investment from Croydon. 20-Aug-2001
Skipton Building Society has bought a majority stake in Direct Life & Pension Services for £4.1m, in order to gain access to voice recognition technology that will enable computers to initiate phone calls to sell life assurance. 20-Aug-2001
Yorkshire Building Society is creating 72 jobs at call centres in Bradford over the next six months. 17-Aug-2001
Beenz.com is to close its internet currency business with the loss of 25 jobs in London. 17-Aug-2001
Citigroup, the US financial services group, has announced plans to shed 3,500 jobs worldwide, but has not revealed how many of its 12,000-strong European workforce will be affected. 15-Aug-2001
Beeson Gregory has raised £4.5m in a share placing to expand its IP2IPO intellectual property division. 06-Aug-2001
CGNU has merged its Asserta division with Propertyfinder to create one of the leading online databases of upmarket properties. 06-Aug-2001
Standard Chartered is seeking credit card acquisitions in Hong Kong, and has also announced plans to list in Hong Kong and raise £450m in a share issue. 02-Aug-2001
TD Waterhouse is to close its share dealing office in Bradford with the loss of up to 80 jobs, although some staff will relocate to Leeds and Manchester. 01-Aug-2001
CGNU is to acquire a 50% stake in Bia Galicia, the Spanish life and pensions business, from Caixa Galicia for £89m. 01-Aug-2001
Portman Building Society is to trial a mobile bank in rural areas of Devon, which will involve the supply of banking services from a van. 31-Jul-2001
Consignia is to terminate a contract with Girobank for the collection and delivery of notes and coins from post offices nationwide in June 2002, but the two sides are trying to negotiate a new deal. 30-Jul-2001
Bank of Scotland is to recruit an additional 15 managers at its new business bank in Inverness. 30-Jul-2001
Halifax Cetelem is to set up a national operations centre in Coventry to supply finance and credit services to retailers, with the creation of more than 100 jobs. 27-Jul-2001
American Express is to open Sharepeople investment centres in four of its London travel centres, and the trial will be extended to other sites if successful. 24-Jul-2001
Alliance & Leicester is looking to spend up to £500m on acquisitions to expand its retail and small business banking operations. 23-Jul-2001
The Scottish Executive has announced plans to move the Scottish Public Pensions Agency from Edinburgh to Galashiels at the end of next year, which is expected to lead to the relocation of 50 jobs and the creation of 175 new jobs. 19-Jul-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to take full control of the Virgin One integrated banking business, by acquiring the 25% stakes held by Virgin and AMP. 17-Jul-2001
Societe Generale of France has shed 90 jobs in London as part of a reorganisation of its investment banking division. 17-Jul-2001
Groupama of France is said to be looking to sell its UK insurance business, which could be worth about £400m. 17-Jul-2001
Liverpool Victoria is expected to create more than 100 jobs in Poole through the acquisition of Essex-based Bishopscourt Financial Holdings and some of its subsidiaries. 16-Jul-2001
Royal & Sun Alliance is considering plans to break up its life assurance business, in order to attract bids from smaller companies. 16-Jul-2001
NewMedia Spark is to shed some of the 30 jobs at its London office and postpone plans to set up an office in India, in order to reduce costs in its technology investment business by £3m a year. 16-Jul-2001
Northamptonshire County Council and Milton Keynes Council are inviting companies to bid to take over their support services, such as accounts, IT and personnel, which could involve the transfer of more than 800 staff. 13-Jul-2001
Ward Evans is to move its financial services headquarters from York to Leeds this summer, but there will be no compulsory job losses. 10-Jul-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is considering plans to expand its US presence by acquiring Mellon Financial of Pittsburgh for more than £1.3bn. 09-Jul-2001
Labour is planning to relocate its headquarters and 80 jobs from London's Millbank to North Shields, while a further 60 staff will be moved to new offices in central London. 06-Jul-2001
The government has announced plans to set up 20 pension administration centres around the country, including one in Swansea that will create 500 new jobs. 05-Jul-2001
Eversheds, the law firm, is to relocate 310 staff from two offices in Newcastle-upon-Tyne to a new office at the Central Square development early next year. 05-Jul-2001
Axa has acquired Independent Insurance's website for small commercial risks for undisclosed terms, which will involve the transfer of 17 staff. 05-Jul-2001
J2C, the online trading centre formerly known as Just2Clicks, is to close itself down and return £35m to shareholders. 02-Jul-2001
CGNU has acquired a 50% stake in the life assurance division of Unicaja of Spain for £92m. 28-Jun-2001
Halifax has opened its new £45m banking call centre in Belfast, and has also announced plans to create a further 100 jobs at an e-commerce centre on the site. 27-Jun-2001
SG Securities, the London stockbroking arm of France' Societe Generale, is to close its emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa business and reorganise its UK equities business with the loss of 67 jobs. 27-Jun-2001
Abbey National is creating 15 new jobs in Chelmsford, as the town has been chosen as one of nine locations nationwide to act as an advice centre for its new Inscape investment management service. 27-Jun-2001
Misys is closing two online financial services operations - Screentrade.com and Theformula.com - with the loss of up to 120 jobs in London and Peterborough. 25-Jun-2001
Millfield is planning to expand its network of financial advisers from 100 to about 300 by April 2002. 19-Jun-2001
Independent Insurance has gone into voluntary liquidation due to possible financial irregularities, putting 2,000 jobs at risk. 19-Jun-2001
Handelsbanken of Sweden is to open a branch in Leeds to act as the centre for its operations in Yorkshire and the north east. 18-Jun-2001
The Meteorological Office is to invest £0.5m in a new online trading exchange for weather risk derivatives called WeatherXchange.com. 18-Jun-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is to create 80 new jobs at the NatWest Bank call centre at Theale near Reading. 18-Jun-2001
PricewaterhouseCoopers is to close its Derby office next month, and 50 staff will relocate to Nottingham. 15-Jun-2001
Active is to expand its financial services business process outsourcing centre near Rotherham with the creation of 250 jobs, while a further 100 jobs will be created in Halesowen. 15-Jun-2001
PricewaterhouseCoopers is to create a further 50 jobs at its new Business Process Outsourcing centre in Potters Bar, having won a contract to provide human resource services for Nortel Networks. 14-Jun-2001
Legal & General is planning to create a further 300 jobs at its two financial services sites in Cardiff this year. 13-Jun-2001
Ilkeston Permanent, the building society with one branch and 4,500 savers, is to merge with the Derbyshire building society in November. 13-Jun-2001
The London Stock Exchange is to relocate to larger premises at Paternoster Square in the City of London, having signed a 25-year lease on an eight-storey building at King Edward's Court. 13-Jun-2001
Lazard is to close its money market business in London with the loss of 60 jobs, in order to focus on its advisory, capital market and asset management operations. 12-Jun-2001
Lloyds TSB is planning to auction 100 bank branches through Healey & Baker, in a sale and leaseback arrangement that will raise about £36m. 12-Jun-2001
Green Flag has announced plans to recruit a further 194 staff at its insurance call centres in Leeds and Pudsey, with vacancies in motoring assistance, customer service, telesales and claims departments. 11-Jun-2001
Card Protection Plan has announced plans to create a further 400 jobs at its Holgate Park headquarters in York. 11-Jun-2001
Independent Insurance has had trading in its shares suspended while a £150m share placing is prepared to strengthen the group's capital base. 11-Jun-2001
Alexander Forbes is looking to spend up to £110m on the acquisition of UK insurance brokers over the next year, and may move its stock market listing from South Africa to London. 11-Jun-2001
Ward Evans is to create about 12 new jobs in its York-based insurance and financial services business over the next two months, to add to the existing 185. 06-Jun-2001
Ipoints has acquired the UK business of Webmiles, the Bertelsmann-funded internet loyalty scheme, as well as the customer base and debts of the Surfmiles scheme. 06-Jun-2001
Standard Chartered is to shed 60 jobs in London, as part of a reorganisation of its private banking and wealth management operations. 06-Jun-2001
Kwik-Fit Insurance is to create a further 100 jobs at its insurance call centre in Tannochside, to add to the existing 800. 05-Jun-2001
Halifax is considering plans to set up a third operations centre for its Intelligent Finance internet and telephone banking business in Fife, which could lead to the creation of up to 400 jobs. 05-Jun-2001
Sony is to move its currency hedging and fund-raising activities to London in order to make savings in commissions and interest payments, which will involve the transfer of 20 staff. 05-Jun-2001
Davies Wallis Foyster is to set up a national centre of excellence for high-volume legal transactions in Warrington, which will trade under the name of DWF Maxima and create about 150 jobs. 04-Jun-2001
Parkman, the supplier of outsourced professional services to the public sector, is planning to raise up to £10m in a flotation. 04-Jun-2001
Schroders is to outsource its IT operations to CSC, in a £169m deal that will involve the transfer of more than 200 staff. 04-Jun-2001
Transacsys is linking up with FPS to launch pension vending machines, which will enable holders of corporate Girovend electronic cash cards to transfer money into their pensions. 04-Jun-2001
CGNU is investing £250m in its new Norwich Union internet business, which will involve online banking and wealth management and the creation of 300 jobs in Norwich. 30-May-2001
Prudential is launching an online insurance broking business called Quinner in Germany. 30-May-2001
Bank of Ireland is looking to acquire firms of independent financial advisers to expand its moneyeXtra financial website in the UK. 28-May-2001
Halifax is linking up with Nationwide and Alliance & Leicester to acquire a 51% stake in Mortgage Brain of Croydon for £5m, in order to develop a trading platform for financial advisers. 24-May-2001
UBS Warburg is to shed up to 240 jobs in London in order to reduce costs in its investment banking operations. 23-May-2001
Jones Lang LaSalle is opening a new office in Norwich this month to provide property management services to CGNU, and staff numbers are expected to double to 100 over the next 12 months. 23-May-2001
Aberdeen Asset Management is considering plans to move its Aberdeen headquarters from Albyn Place to Marischal College. 23-May-2001
Britannia Building Society is closing its Britannia Independent financial advisory service in Hanley with the loss of 15 jobs, while the payroll, internal audit and valuation departments are being outsourced. 22-May-2001
Pearl Assurance is to close its customer management call centres in Peterborough and Cardiff with the loss of up to 270 jobs. 21-May-2001
KPMG is planning to shed up to 10% of its 2,100 UK consulting staff, following a fall in demand for IT services. 21-May-2001
Beenz.com has cut its international offices from 15 to two with the loss of about 230 jobs, and is still seeking a buyer for its internet currency business. 18-May-2001
Towry Law, the financial adviser, has received a takeover approach from an unnamed company. 17-May-2001
GlobalNetFinancial is to shed a further 100 jobs in its online personal finance operation, and is looking for a strategic partner or buyer for the business. 17-May-2001
Esure is to set up a customer support call centre in Glasgow for its motor insurance business, with the creation of up to 400 jobs over the next three years. 17-May-2001
Moneygator, the supplier of online personal finance services, is to close down its business and return £7m cash to shareholders. 16-May-2001
People's Bank of the US is to close its office in Brackmills, Northampton, with the loss of up to 220 jobs, but staff will be offered the chance to relocate. 14-May-2001
Ulster Bank is to set up a £8.3m internet-enabled account management centre at Danesfort in Belfast, with the creation of 210 jobs over the next five years. 11-May-2001
The Funding Corporation is setting up a new financial services business in Chester to provide hire-purchase finance, and expects to create more than 100 jobs. 10-May-2001
Merrill Lynch Investment Managers is to shed up to 300 administration and IT jobs in London, and a further 600 jobs will be lost in other countries. 10-May-2001
Shepherd & Wedderburn is planning to create 50 jobs at its law offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, including 40 lawyers and 10 support staff. 09-May-2001
Merrill Lynch and HSBC have launched their new online bank and brokerage for the mass affluent, and the first two of about 20 investment centres have been opened in London and Birmingham. 09-May-2001
Prudential has announced plans to transfer up to 2,000 sales staff to Inter-Alliance, the independent financial adviser. 07-May-2001
Primary Insurance Group is to close its Horsham office in July with the loss of about 80 jobs, and the business will be transferred to other branches in London and Altrincham. 04-May-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is considering plans to consolidate its 15 Manchester offices into two new buildings, and a decision is expected soon. 02-May-2001
Foreign & Colonial is to focus its fund management business on continental Europe and change its name to F&C Management. 02-May-2001
Quinn-Direct is planning to set up a new call centre for its insurance business in Enniskillen with the creation of an unspecified number of jobs, but has not yet disclosed the location of the facility. 30-Apr-2001
Hiscox is planning to double the size of its retail insurance business over the next five years, in order to reduce its dependence on the Lloyd's market. 27-Apr-2001
Barclays is planning to extend the opening hours at most of its 1,719 branches over the next two years, with the creation of 2,000 jobs. 27-Apr-2001
Scottish Provident has announced plans to sell its 39% stake in Aberdeen Asset Management through a placing on the stock market, and the £300m proceeds will be used to enhance the bonuses of policyholders. 27-Apr-2001
CPP is looking to recruit a further 250 staff at its financial services call centre in York by September, taking the total workforce to 1,000. 26-Apr-2001
Cazenove, the investment bank, has completed a £200m private fund raising of equity and debt, which will end its partnership structure and lead to a flotation within two years. 26-Apr-2001
HSBC is to expand its call centre operations in Leicester with the creation of 250 jobs, and will move its commercial contact operations to the city over the next 18 months. 25-Apr-2001
BDO Stoy Hayward is to shed 11 of its 300 partners as part of a restructuring programme following the 1999 merger with Moores Rowland. 25-Apr-2001
Schroder Salomon Smith Barney of the US has shed up to 100 jobs at its European securities business in London. 24-Apr-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is seeking a suitable site for a new headquarters in Edinburgh for 3,000 staff, and is currently in discussions to acquire the 78-acre site of the former Gogarburn psychiatric hospital near the airport. 20-Apr-2001
National Mutual, the pensions mutual with 690 staff, is considering a number of takeover bids, including one from GE Capital. 20-Apr-2001
Consignia is investing £50m on computer equipment designed to make its system compatible with the Link network of cash machines, which will enable customers to use debit cards at 40,000 post office terminals around the country. 19-Apr-2001
Zurich Financial Services is to restructure its UK life insurance business with the loss of 500 jobs, including 170 in Swindon, in order to save £50m a year and outsource non-core activities. 18-Apr-2001
Claims Direct, the personal injury claims company, is to close 13 of its 17 franchised high-street shops. 12-Apr-2001
Barclays Stockbrokers is planning to shed at least 90 of its 1,800 jobs, with contract staff expected to go first. 06-Apr-2001
Charles Schwab is to shed up to 180 of its 850 UK staff, due to a fall in trading volumes in its stockbroking business. 06-Apr-2001
Manchester City Council has approved plans for the development of a £30m court complex in the Spinningfield area, which will include 18 court rooms and facilities for 180 staff. 05-Apr-2001
Jupiter Unit Trust Managers is to relocate its administration department from London to Kings Hill in Kent with the creation of about 25 jobs. 05-Apr-2001
Manchester United is planning to extend its range of financial services, and possibilities include pensions, insurance, bank accounts, mortgages and savings. 04-Apr-2001
Oxygen, the internet investment vehicle, has announced plans for a £5m reverse takeover by Tera of Finland, which will provide Oxygen with access to Tera's skills in wireless internet applications. 03-Apr-2001
The London Stock Exchange is considering the possibility of relocating to Canary Wharf or a number of other sites in London. 02-Apr-2001
Beenz.com, the internet currency company, is said to have put itself up for sale. 29-Mar-2001
Britannia Building Society is to relocate its mortgage processing centre and up to 70 staff from Hanley to its headquarters in Leek this summer. 27-Mar-2001
Alliance & Leicester is to set up a chain of stores to provide information to people planning to buy or improve homes, with the first two outlets opening in Banbury and Leamington Spa. 27-Mar-2001
Bradford & Bingley is investing £10m in the launch of mortgage broking and independent financial advice centres in its network of more than 500 branches. 26-Mar-2001
Collins Stewart is planning to expand its asset management business through acquisitions and organic growth this year, and will invest £1.3m in its Quest online research operation. 20-Mar-2001
BDO Stoy Hayward is to combine its accountancy operations in Nottingham, which has 20 partners and 200 staff, onto one site at Charnwood House. 20-Mar-2001
Bank of Scotland is forming a joint venture with Zurich Financial Services to offer bank accounts, credit cards, loans and mortgages to Zurich's customers. 19-Mar-2001
Goldman Sachs is planning to relocate its J Aron precious metals trading business from New York to London. 19-Mar-2001
Foreign Currency Services, the foreign exchange bureau, is to create 60 new jobs in Stirling following a £2.3m cash injection, and is also setting up an operation in New York. 19-Mar-2001
Donns is to relocate its Manchester-based law firm to larger premises at The Observatory on Cross Street later this month, and is also setting up a £0.25m accident management call centre. 14-Mar-2001
Lloyds TSB is planning to create 500 more jobs at its call centre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 14-Mar-2001
Barclays is to close its NuDelta IT processing department in Swindon later this year with the loss of 16 jobs, in order to transfer the work to Gloucestershire. 12-Mar-2001
Chaucer Holdings, the Lloyd's insurance company, is raising £20m in a share placing and acquiring BRIT Insurance's stake in Chaucer Dedicated for £3.4m. 12-Mar-2001
Cattles has raised £39m in a share placing and is planning to open a further 40-50 consumer credit branches this year. 09-Mar-2001
Scottish Enterprise is planning to shed about 350 jobs over the next three years in order to improve productivity, which will affect its entire network of 13 Local Enterprise Companies. 08-Mar-2001
Britannic is to stop selling life assurance on a door-to-door basis with the loss of 1,600 sales jobs and 400 back office jobs, and has also announced the £97m acquisition of the remaining 25% of Britannic Asset Management. 08-Mar-2001
Portman Building Society is to start relocating 500 staff to a new £27m headquarters in Bournemouth in May, while a further 50 new jobs will be created. 07-Mar-2001
Bank of Ireland is to open a new business centre in Edinburgh next month, employing five staff, and is now considering other locations around the UK. 06-Mar-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is looking to expand its US business by acquiring retail banks in New England, and has also announced that negotiations are taking place for the sale of the former NatWest headquarters in Lothbury. 02-Mar-2001
Bradford & Bingley is to close 11 bank branches and 57 estate agencies with the loss of about 300 jobs, while 20 branches will be merged with neighbouring locations. 01-Mar-2001
Easier has closed down its internet-based estate agency business having failed to find a buyer, and the company will be turned into a cash shell. 01-Mar-2001
Abbey National and Bank of Scotland have abandoned their plans for a merger, but talks could resume if the Lloyds TSB bid for Abbey is blocked by regulators. 01-Mar-2001
Hermes Investment Management is to invest £2.5m in Equity.i, the independent research and advice service for quoted companies. 28-Feb-2001
Bank of Scotland is planning to open Scotland's first drive-by bank at a Texaco station near Dunfermline, and is now seeking additional sites. 28-Feb-2001
Zurich Financial Services is to outsource its systems development and IT support to IBM in a 10-year deal that will involve the transfer of 800 staff. 27-Feb-2001
Millfield is to raise £18m in a flotation on Aim in order to fund the expansion of its independent financial advisory business. 27-Feb-2001
Singer & Friedlander is planning to raise £64m from property disposals in order to fund acquisitions in fund management and private banking in the UK and continental Europe. 27-Feb-2001
Lloyds TSB has started recruiting more than 250 new staff for its call centre at Tredegar Park in Newport. 26-Feb-2001
Winterthur Life is to shed up to 60 jobs in Basingstoke this year, in order to cut back its estate agency division. 26-Feb-2001
Miller Fisher, the insurance services company, is in takeover talks with an unnamed company, which could lead to a bid for the group. 26-Feb-2001
Provident Financial is planning to launch new credit and insurance operations in Hungary and Slovakia, as part of a strategy to increase its central European business to offset slowing growth in the UK. 23-Feb-2001
Standard Chartered is looking to expand its retail banking and consumer debt operations in the Far East, and has confirmed plans to centralise its back-office processing and customer support functions at two hubs in India and Malaysia. 22-Feb-2001
City Invoice Finance is looking to expand its factoring and invoice discount services into Yorkshire, the East Midlands, London and the south east, and may float the business to raise cash for expansion. 21-Feb-2001
Citigroup has announced plans to expand its European operations from its new London headquarters, and will focus on investment banking, wealth management and credit cards. 21-Feb-2001
AMP of Australia is planning to launch an online investment service in the UK, and customers will be able to seek guidance from call centre staff. 20-Feb-2001
Bfinance, the financial services internet company, has raised £22m of second-round funding to develop its technology and strengthen its salesforce. 20-Feb-2001
Lehman Brothers is to relocate the European headquarters of its investment banking business from the City of London to Canary Wharf, having decided against a move to Hackney. 16-Feb-2001
Sun Life Financial of Canada is to shed 1,700 jobs in its UK insurance business, including 660 in direct sales, 120 in sales support and more than 900 at its Basingstoke head office. 16-Feb-2001
Alliance & Leicester is planning to expand its chain of 309 branches this year, and will also install 1,500 new cash machines. 16-Feb-2001
Abbey National is forming a joint venture with Electronic Data Systems of the US to handle servicing of mortgages and personal loans, and Abbey will transfer 1,700 staff to the new business. 14-Feb-2001
Prudential is to shed 2,000 jobs in order to improve margins in its life assurance business, which will involve 250 job losses in Reading and the closure of its direct sales force to concentrate on telephone and internet sales. 14-Feb-2001
Interactive Investor International is to outsource its transaction capabilities and reduce costs in its online personal finance business, which will lead to job losses among the 120 staff. 13-Feb-2001
The Post Office has reached agreement with VIP.com for the installation of vending machines in up to 1,000 branches over the next three years, in order to sell telephone and online payment cards. 13-Feb-2001
The Post Office is planning to launch stakeholder pensions in its 18,000 branches in April, managed by Standard Life. 12-Feb-2001
Baillie Gifford is looking to expand its investment business into continental Europe, and is seeking alliances in Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. 09-Feb-2001
BWD Securities is planning to expand its financial services business into the south of England by forming alliances with independent financial advisers. 08-Feb-2001
Barclays is to close its own-brand life insurance division with the loss of 750 jobs, mainly at Stratford in east London, and new pensions and life insurance business will be transferred to Legal & General. 08-Feb-2001
Abbey National's First National Commercial Banking division has acquired the UK portfolio of investment property and nursing home mortgages owned by KBC of Belgium for £70m. 08-Feb-2001
Bank of Ireland is to invest £8m in a customer contact centre in Newry, which will begin operations in July 2002 and create 300 jobs. 08-Feb-2001
Bell Lawrie White is to expand its stockbroking business into independent financial planning, and will double the space at its Courthouse Square office in Dundee to cope with the additional workload. 08-Feb-2001
Halifax has announced plans to create a further 400 jobs at its Card Services business in Cardiff this year. 07-Feb-2001
Lloyds TSB has announced plans to set up a new wealth management division called Create, which will enable affluent investors to consolidate all their financial products into a single account. 07-Feb-2001
McClure Naismith has announced plans to move to larger offices in Edinburgh later this year, recruit 40 lawyers and launch new legal services in banking and corporate finance. 06-Feb-2001
Charles Schwab is considering plans to install stockbroking counters in the 314 bank branches of Alliance & Leicester. 05-Feb-2001
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young is forming a business outsourcing alliance with the Vertex division of United Utilities, which will involve the transfer of 320 staff from Vertex to Cap Gemini. 05-Feb-2001
QBE Insurance is to shed 120 jobs in the retail division of its Iron Trades insurance business in Middlesbrough. 02-Feb-2001
Next has agreed to end two consumer finance joint ventures with Bank of Scotland, as part of a strategy to focus its Ventura division on the supply of call centre and customer management services. 02-Feb-2001
Deutsche Bank is to shed 500 administration and back-office jobs in London, as part of a streamlining strategy that will reduce its global workforce by 2,600. 02-Feb-2001
Northern Rock is to create 250 jobs at new administration headquarters in Gosforth and Sunderland this year. 01-Feb-2001
Brewin Dolphin is to shed 50 jobs in its Stocktrade division, and will delay floating the online stockbroking business for at least a year. 01-Feb-2001
Halifax is in discussions to acquire Equitable Life's fund management business, administration systems and 450-strong salesforce. 01-Feb-2001
Lloyds TSB has announced a formal £19bn takeover bid for Abbey National which could lead to the loss of 600 branches and 9,000 jobs, but Abbey has rejected the offer. 01-Feb-2001
HSBC is to buy Barclays Bank's 13 branches and fund management operations in Greece. 31-Jan-2001
Skandia Life is to create up to 450 jobs in Southampton this year, as it prepares to move into a new office at Liberty House in Commercial Road. 31-Jan-2001
ING Group of the Netherlands is planning to shed 500 jobs at its investment banking division in London, and has also announced the £188m sale of the US operations of Barings to ABN Amro. 30-Jan-2001
Zurich Financial Services is to rename its Allied Dunbar network of 4,700 advisers to the Zurich Advice Network, in order to strengthen the Zurich brand in the UK. 29-Jan-2001
JP Morgan, the investment bank, is planning to recruit 100 software engineers at its technology centre in Glasgow this year, and a further 120 jobs are planned at its accounting subsidiary in Edinburgh. 24-Jan-2001
Hiscox, the Lloyd's insurer, has received a £334m takeover approach from Chubb of the US. 24-Jan-2001
Prudential has acquired Orico Life Insurance of Japan for £133m, and now plans to introduce new products and distribution channels to the Japanese market. 24-Jan-2001
Royal Bank of Scotland is to reorganise its wealth management operations by creating a separate private banking business, which will involve Child & Co and Drummonds Bank being placed under the control of Coutts. 22-Jan-2001
PwC, the professional services firm, is to shed about 10% of its UK partners in order to eliminate unnecessary positions. 19-Jan-2001
Unisys has won a £200m contract to manage Abbey Life's 1.5m life insurance policies, which will involve the transfer of about 1,000 jobs and the overhaul of computer systems. 19-Jan-2001
E-Loan UK and E-Loan Europe are to close their internet-based personal finance businesses with the loss of 130 staff, unless a buyer can be found. 19-Jan-2001
Credit Suisse First Boston is to shed up to 280 jobs at its investment banking operations in New York and London. 19-Jan-2001
Abbey National is to relocate a customer service centre from Milton Keynes to Bradford, where it will create about 200 jobs. 18-Jan-2001
First Tuesday, the organiser of internet networking meetings, may be sold by the Yazam venture capital fund to a group of its own network leaders. 18-Jan-2001
Barclays has announced a deal to sell Legal & General pensions and investment funds, which will lead to the closure of its own life assurance and B2 retail fund management business and the loss of 750 jobs in the London area. 17-Jan-2001
Britannia Building Society is to spend £40m updating its computer and IT systems, and aims to improve customer service by creating a fully-integrated system throughout the branches. 16-Jan-2001
Axa Insurance is to create 60 new jobs at a call centre in Morecambe over the next few months. 16-Jan-2001
Lehman Brothers, the investment bank, is considering plans to build a new £80m corporate headquarters at Northgate in Hackney. 15-Jan-2001
Halifax is to close its business centre on Edinburgh's Haymarket Terrace in May, and the 90 staff will be redeployed at the Intelligent Finance division in Livingston and at retail branches. 12-Jan-2001
Abbey National has awarded a £323m claims management outsourcing contract to Capita Group, and has also announced plans to withdraw from insurance underwriting. 11-Jan-2001
Marsh is planning to create a further 100 jobs at its insurance office in Norwich. 10-Jan-2001
Manchester Building Society has acquired a 10% stake in Rochdale-based MS Financial Services in order to move into the independent financial advice sector. 09-Jan-2001
Axa Insurance is to create up to 200 new jobs at its Severalls Lane Industrial Estate call centre in Colchester. 08-Jan-2001
CGNU is to set up a new Norwich Union regional sales office in Aberdeen, after restructuring its existing regions in Glasgow and Edinburgh. 05-Jan-2001
HSBC is to buy the Indian retail banking operations of Deutsche Bank for undisclosed terms. 02-Jan-2001
Tenon Group is planning to raise up to £75m in a rights issue in order to expand its accountancy business into support services and human resources. 02-Jan-2001
Chelsea Building Society is expected to face a renewed call to convert into a bank at its annual meeting in April. 02-Jan-2001
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