Royal & Sun Alliance has increased its stake in Royal Caribe, the Venezuelan insurer, from 20% to almost 100% at a cost of about £15m. [24-Dec-1996]
General Accident has linked up with Ometraco to form a general insurance company in Indonesia. [20-Dec-1996]
Irish Life is acquiring Guarantee Reserve Life Insurance, the Indiana-based assurance company, for £98m. [20-Dec-1996]
Flemings, the investment management group, is to start a service on the internet which will enable customers to buy, sell and transfer between 23 equity funds and 5 money market funds. [17-Dec-1996]
Lloyd Thompson and JIB Group have announced a £300m merger, to create an insurance broking group able to better compete in both the London and Asian markets. [17-Dec-1996]
Raphael Zorn Hemsley is acquiring Insurance Analysis, the Lloyd's adviser, for £1.2m. [17-Dec-1996]
The government is planning to expand the Financial Services Act to cover the selling of long-term care insurance, in order to prevent exploitation. [13-Dec-1996]
Lloyds TSB is linking up with Video Networks to trial home-banking via television in the Hull area. [11-Dec-1996]
Guardian Royal Exchange is to start making savings in its insurance division following the acquisition of Legal & General's commercial insurance business, and expects 350 jobs to be cut and 7 offices to be shut. [11-Dec-1996]
American Express is to launch an Amex-brand credit card next year in an arrangement with National Westminster Bank. [11-Dec-1996]
Barclays is to set up Barclays Ventures, in order to provide in-house venture capital investment management as it aims to provide a complete range of banking and investment services. [11-Dec-1996]
Barclays is selling its global custody business to Morgan Stanley for an undisclosed sum, a move which will result in the loss of 400 jobs. [11-Dec-1996]
Nationwide building society is to link up with Rochester-upon-Medway city council to form a local housing company for the £21m redevelopment of a site on the river Medway. [09-Dec-1996]
The government has announced plans for the introduction of open-ended investment companies, which have features of both investment companies and unit trusts and use a single pricing system. [06-Dec-1996]
National Westminster Bank has announced plans to shed a further 10,000 jobs over the next 5 years, through the closure of 200 branches and the centralisation of processing operations. [05-Dec-1996]
Royal Bank of Scotland is to join Link next summer, which will mean it becomes the first bank to offer its customers access to all the 21,000 cash machines in operation in the UK. [03-Dec-1996]
Halifax Building Society has linked up with Churchill Insurance Company to start offering car insurance. [02-Dec-1996]
Standard Chartered has signed a deal with Westpac, the Australian commercial bank, which will give Westpac customers access to its Asian banking network. [28-Nov-1996]
Consumer spending with credit and debit cards reached £7.5m in October, up 28% on last year, according to the Credit Card Research Group. [27-Nov-1996]
Royal & Sun Alliance is acquiring 60% of Connelly Temple, the Australian pensions business, for about £9m. [27-Nov-1996]
Sedgwick is to close River Thames Insurance, its UK underwriting business, in order to concentrate on specialist underwriting and consulting activities. [26-Nov-1996]
Abbey National is to set up a Hong Kong-based bank in a joint venture with Hambros Bank and Dah Sing Financial Holdings, and aimed at the "medium-high net worth market". [21-Nov-1996]
Guinness Mahon Holdings is to combine its corporate finance and corporate broking businesses into one advisory division. [20-Nov-1996]
Mastercard is acquiring a 51% stake in Mondex, the cash-card system being tested in Swindon, from a consortium of banks for £50m. [19-Nov-1996]
Barclaycard is to outsource all customer payment processing to Business Support Services, a division of the GUS mail order group, which will set up a new centre in Bolton. [18-Nov-1996]
Scottish Widows is to acquire a 20% stake in Royal Scottish Assurance, the Royal Bank of Scotland life assurance subsidiary, and will also become a partner in Direct Line Life, the life assurance business of Direct Line. [15-Nov-1996]
Royal Bank of Scotland is to acquire Scottish Equitable's 20% stake in Royal Scottish Assurance, its tied life assurance subsidiary, for undisclosed terms. [14-Nov-1996]
Royal Bank of Scotland has terminated an outsourcing contract with EDS, the computer services company, concerning cheque processing. [14-Nov-1996]
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the US investment bank, is planning to set up a new headquarters in London, and expects to double the current 150 staff already employed in the city. [11-Nov-1996]
Visa is to test-market its Visa Cash card in Leeds next year, with a launch through Barclays, Abbey National, Halifax, Co-operative Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB. [09-Nov-1996]
Mastercard International is to acquire a 51% stake in Mondex International, the UK cash card business, and would then promote the cards in banks that hold its franchise. [08-Nov-1996]
Lombard Tricity Finance has acquired the loan portfolio of United Utilities' Norweb retail business for £113m. [05-Nov-1996]
Intrum Justitia, the debt collection company, has merged its credit insurance management operation with privately-owned Credit Management Resources. [05-Nov-1996]
First National, the Irish building society, is acquiring Cheltenham & Gloucester's £70m branch business in Northern Ireland. [05-Nov-1996]
Prudential-Bache International Bank is moving its headquarters from Luxembourg to Devonshire Square in London. [04-Nov-1996]
Barclays Bank is to focus its retail custody operations in Peterborough by closing its offices in Trowbridge. [01-Nov-1996]
Coutts, National Westminster Bank's private banking operation, has reached an agreement with Board of Executors Private Bank in South Africa in which they will provide services to each other's clients. [31-Oct-1996]
Family Assurance is considering plans to supply electricity to its members after deregulation of the electricity supply industry in 1998. [29-Oct-1996]
Alliance & Leicester building society is to give savers about £1000 of shares each when it floats on the stock market next year. [28-Oct-1996]
Lloyds TSB is planning to auction 108 of its high street banks in November in order to raise £40m to reinvest in core banking activities. [28-Oct-1996]
Royal & Sun Alliance has sold its 78% stake in Prosure, the South African insurer, to Mutual & Federal of South Africa, for £98m. [26-Oct-1996]
Life Assurance Holding Corp is to acquire the UK life and pensions operation of Combined Life Assurance, the Aon subsidiary, for undisclosed terms. [26-Oct-1996]
NatWest Securities Japan is to acquire Citicorp International Securities' Japanese trading operations, for undisclosed terms. [26-Oct-1996]
Primark of the US has bought ICV, the UK supplier of share price data, for £67m, and the company is expected to provide direct competition with Reuters. [25-Oct-1996]
National Westminster Bank is launching Advantage Premier, a new fee-paying current account which will offer travel and theatre discounts and low overdraft rates. [24-Oct-1996]
Irish Permanent has bought Capital Home Loans, the mortgage book worth over £200m, from Credit Foncier de France, for £12.6m. [24-Oct-1996]
The Private Bank & Trust Company of London is acquiring Reads Trust Company, the Jersey-based trust business, for undisclosed terms. [22-Oct-1996]
Barclays Bank is in discussions to sell its global custody business to Morgan Stanley of the US. [21-Oct-1996]
Inchcape is selling its Bain Hogg insurance broking business to Aon Corp of the US for £160m, having dropped plans to demerge it. [16-Oct-1996]
TSB Bank Scotland is setting up 13 new business banking centres to improve its service to smaller companies. [16-Oct-1996]
Barclays is merging its traditional fund management business with the recently-acquired BZW Barclays Global Investors operation as part of a move to increase the use of technology in its money management. [16-Oct-1996]
Barclays bank has announced plans to use Microsoft's Money 97 personal finance software for its PC banking service, which is due to launch next spring. [14-Oct-1996]
NatWest Markets has acquired Hambro Magan, the merchant banking operation, for undisclosed terms. [11-Oct-1996]
Bain Hogg, the insurance broker about to be demerged from Inchcape, has set up a £20m provision to reorganise its activities and to fund the demerger. [11-Oct-1996]
Investec of South Africa is in discussions to buy Carr Sheppards, the UK private client stockbroker, from Banque Indosuez of France. [10-Oct-1996]
Bradford & Bingley building society is preparing a cost-cutting campaign with unspecified job losses, as it tries to bring its cost base into line with competitors. [10-Oct-1996]
Midland Bank is to convert its cheque clearing system from paper to electronic image processing over the next three years in order to cut costs by up to 45%. [07-Oct-1996]
Chartwell Re of the US is planning to acquire Archer, the Lloyd's managing agency, a move which follows the trend of consolidation in the insurance sector. [05-Oct-1996]
Cox Insurance, the Lloyd's insurance company, is to acquire the Christopherson Heath agency for up to £34m. [04-Oct-1996]
Martin Currie, the fund management company, is acquiring Moorgate Investment Management for about £7m. [04-Oct-1996]
Norwich Union plans to raise £2bn in a stock market flotation next year, making it the first UK life assurer to give up mutual ownership. [03-Oct-1996]
Thomson Financial Services is to acquire the Sequal electronic trade confirmation service from the London Stock Exchange, which it will eventually merge with its own Oasys Global system. [01-Oct-1996]
Britannia building society has bought a £1.1bn mortgage book from Citibank for undisclosed terms. [01-Oct-1996]
Standard Chartered, the bank, is merging its corporate and institutional businesses into one division, a move that will result in some cost savings. [28-Sep-1996]
Guardian Royal Exchange is to provide general insurance to customers of the Northern Rock building society, a service previously provided by Commercial Union. [27-Sep-1996]
Prudential, the life insurer, has launched a branchless deposit-taking and mortgage lending operation, as part of a strategy to compete with banks and building societies. [26-Sep-1996]
Telephone banking in the UK is growing at a rate of 125,000 new subscribers every month, and is forecast to reach 30% of the population by 2000, according to Datamonitor. [23-Sep-1996]
Lloyds TSB has launched a £1.7bn bid to buy the remaining 37% of Lloyds Abbey Life, the life assurer. [21-Sep-1996]
Woodchester Investments of Dublin is looking to expand its car finance business into Sweden. [13-Sep-1996]
Legal & General is setting up a direct telephone sales centre in Cardiff, which will focus on health and term insurance and employ 100 staff. [13-Sep-1996]
Lloyds TSB is to close 150 of its 3,000 bank branches, with most of the staff being redeployed. [13-Sep-1996]
British Gas is to launch a credit card called Goldfish, which will enable cardholders to get money off their gas bills. [12-Sep-1996]
Midland Bank has transferred the consumer finance division of Forward Trust into First Direct, its telephone bank, a move which could double First Direct's rate of expansion. [12-Sep-1996]
Insurance claims for weather damage doubled to £113m in the second quarter, while subsidence claims rose from £30m to £70m and theft claims rose from £178m to £202m, according to the Association of British Insurers. [10-Sep-1996]
Brewin Dolphin Bell Lawrie is to launch an online share dealing service for Scotland through its Stocktrade division. [10-Sep-1996]
Bank of China is to open a merchant bank in London in order to assist with the increasing level of foreign investment into China. [06-Sep-1996]
Royal & Sun Alliance is looking for buyers for its 80% stake in Protea Asssurance of South Africa. [04-Sep-1996]
Direct Line is to stop giving telephone advice on life assurance products due to the complexities of discussing the financial situation of customers. [29-Aug-1996]
Citibank of the US is planning to build a £200m UK headquarters at Canary Wharf in London, which will employ about 2,500 corporate banking and capital markets staff. [28-Aug-1996]
Swiss Reinsurance has acquired Mercantile & General, the reinsurance division of Prudential, for £1.75bn, making it the largest life reinsurer in the world. [28-Aug-1996]
Minet Group, the UK insurance brokerage owned by The St Paul Companies of Minnesota, may now be sold off following the failure of a restructuring operation to make the business profitable. [28-Aug-1996]
Banks are expected to soon announce plans to link the UK's 22,000 ATM cash machines, allowing customers to use any machine. [27-Aug-1996]
The Alliance & Leicester building society may set up a share dealing service for members who become shareholders at next year's flotation. [26-Aug-1996]
Coutts, National Westminster Bank's private banking operation, is considering the acquisition of a private US bank in order to move into the US onshore wealth market. [26-Aug-1996]
Prudential Corp is in discussions to sell its Mercantile & General reinsurance subsidiary, with Swiss Reinsurance said to be one of the interested parties. [24-Aug-1996]
HSBC Gibbs Holdings has sold its Premium Credit operation to a management buy-out called Vendcrown, for £40m plus equity. [24-Aug-1996]
HSBC's Marine Midland subsidiary in New York is acquiring First Federal Savings & Loan for £397m. [23-Aug-1996]
Card Clear, the credit card fraud prevention company, is acquiring its rival Cardcast for £15.4m so that they can focus on developing the market together. [23-Aug-1996]
National Westminster Bank Group is to co-operate with Fleet Financial Group in the supply of banking services in the UK and US, with a new office being set up in Boston, Mass. [21-Aug-1996]
Charles Taylor, the insurance management services concern, is planning to join the Stock Exchange with a value of about £30m. [19-Aug-1996]
Debit cards were used in over 1bn transactions in 1995, up 25% on 1994, and are expected to reach 2bn by the year 2000, according to the Association for Payment Clearing Services. [17-Aug-1996]
Clerical Medical, the life assurance and pensions concern, plans to slash costs at its international division by cutting back in Asia and no longer selling policies in the Americas. [16-Aug-1996]
Halifax Building Society is linking up with Churchill Insurance in its first move into motor insurance, and aims to sell policies to 250,000 of its 17m customers. [14-Aug-1996]
Rathbone Brothers is acquiring Neilson Cobbold, the Liverpool-based stockbroker, for up to £15.9m. [14-Aug-1996]
The Royal Bank of Scotland has set up a new service that allows life assurance companies and other financial services concerns to offer banking facilities without having to apply for their own banking licence. [12-Aug-1996]
Card Clear and Cardcast, the credit card fraud prevention companies, are discussing a possible merger, perhaps involving a share offer by Card Clear for Cardcast. [10-Aug-1996]
United Friendly and Refuge Group have announced a £1.46bn merger, creating a major home services insurer with combined assets of £6.5bn. [09-Aug-1996]
First National Building Society of Ireland has bought The Mortgage Corporation, the UK mortgage lending business, from Salomon Brothers for £53m. [08-Aug-1996]
Commercial Union is looking to expand its insurance business into Russia and the Czech Republic in order to rely less on the UK market. [08-Aug-1996]
Liberty International is planning to set up a pensions company later this year, focusing on the customer base at its shopping centre company. [08-Aug-1996]
Midland Bank is to expand its First Direct telephone banking operation next year to enable it to cope with 10,000 new accounts per month. [06-Aug-1996]
Royal Bank of Scotland is buying SG Warburg's share custody division for up to £50m. [02-Aug-1996]
Royal & Sun Alliance, the recently-merged insurance group, is planning to close 94 high street offices, with the loss of 1,300 jobs. [01-Aug-1996]
NM Rothschild & Sons has bought Causeway Invoice Discounting for about £5m, in order to improve its banking services. [01-Aug-1996]
Guardian Royal Exchange is planning to dispose of its Swiss reinsurance company for £65m. [01-Aug-1996]
National Westminster Bank has confirmed that it is still looking to acquire a life assurance company, despite spending £450m on a share buy-back. [31-Jul-1996]
Friends Provident, the life assurer, is introducing a deposit account for maturing policy holders in its first move into banking. [30-Jul-1996]
Britannia Building Society has suspended 20% of its sales force due to failure to correctly complete information sheets on customers. [26-Jul-1996]
The Bank of England is to spend £8m a year on strengthening its banking supervision following the collapse of Barings bank, and will recruit 100 extra people. [25-Jul-1996]
Halifax Building Society is to cut 1,200 jobs at its head offices in West Yorkshire following its acquisition of Leeds Permanent, but expects to create 1,200 jobs by expanding into insurance and telephone banking. [24-Jul-1996]
Goldman Sachs of the US is to acquire CINMan, the UK coal industry pension fund manager, in a deal thought to be worth up to £50m. [22-Jul-1996]
Royal & Sun Alliance, formed from the merger of Royal Insurance and Sun Alliance, has made its debut on the stock market, and is now preparing to make cost savings of £175m a year by eliminating duplicated activities. [20-Jul-1996]
ABN Amro, the Dutch bank, is closing its corporate banking branch in Birmingham, and transferring accounts to London and Manchester. [19-Jul-1996]
Britannic Assurance is planning to introduce serious-illness insurance products in October, following government moves to encourage people to provide for future problems. [18-Jul-1996]
BAT Industries is to combine its UK financial services operations, including Eagle Star, Allied Dunbar and Threadneedle, into a new group called British and American Financial Services. [15-Jul-1996]
HSBC Holdings, the owner of Midland Bank, is looking to acquire a medium-sized US investment bank, and has already identified about 20 possible targets. [15-Jul-1996]
Midland Bank, Abbey National and the Halifax Building Society have announced an alliance to share their automated teller machines, thus giving customers more locations to withdraw cash. [12-Jul-1996]
The Prudential has sold Leven, its Dutch life assurance operation, to Achmea Group for undisclosed terms. [11-Jul-1996]
Guardian Royal Exchange has bought Legal & General's commercial general insurance business for £48m, and hopes to achieve cost savings by merging the business with existing operations. [10-Jul-1996]
Guardian Insurance is forming a joint venture company with Membership Services Direct, the provider of insurance to affinity groups such as trade unions. [09-Jul-1996]
The EBS partnership, the electronic foreign exchange broker owned by 13 foreign exchange banks, has acquired Citicorp Dealing Resources from Citibank for over $150m. [08-Jul-1996]
Legal & General is to remove all entry charges on its unit trusts as it aims to increase its share of the unit trust market from under 1% to 5%. [04-Jul-1996]
Sedgwick has bought Richard Sparrow, the London-based reinsurance broker. [04-Jul-1996]
Cater Allen, the banking and broking concern, is looking to buy a fund management company as it moves further into retail financial services. [29-Jun-1996]
The Access credit card is to be replaced by the MasterCard brand, as the four banks which own the Access brand are to sell it to MasterCard for about $40m. [28-Jun-1996]
Prudential Corporation is planning to float its Mercantile & General reinsurance business at a value of up to £1.5bn, and concentrate more on life assurance and retail banking. [26-Jun-1996]
Visa International is launching a Visa Cash card, which can be loaded with money and used as a cash-alternative in shops, in partnership with Lloyds TSB, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Abbey National, Barclays, and the Halifax. [26-Jun-1996]
Willis Corroon plans to sell Consumer Benefit Life Insurance, its US life and health reinsurance operation, to Gerling Global US Investments, for $32m. [25-Jun-1996]
Halifax Building Society is said to be negotiating a deal to sell Bupa medical insurance policies through its high street branches. [24-Jun-1996]
Royal Bank of Scotland is test marketing a card that can be loaded with cash and then used abroad to withdraw money. [24-Jun-1996]
Royal Insurance is selling its one third share in Epic - the Dutch-based European Partners for Insurance Cooperation - for £114m. [22-Jun-1996]
Sun Alliance has acquired a 49% stake in the Italian financial products intermediary Investment SIM. [21-Jun-1996]
Standard Life has become the latest UK insurer to open an office in China, but it could be a few years before it is allowed to start trading. [19-Jun-1996]
Liverpool Victoria is to form its own general insurance underwriting operation. [19-Jun-1996]
Guardian Royal Exchange has won approval to restructure its US operations by combining its seven regional companies into a single capital base. [19-Jun-1996]
Churchill, the telephone-based motor insurer, is moving into motor repairs by setting up a network of garages to do crash repairs for its 600,000 policyholders. [17-Jun-1996]
National Westminster Bank is to sell control of its Spanish retail banking operation to Banco Sabadell. [13-Jun-1996]
Woolwich Building Society is said to be planning to launch a telephone-based retail savings product. [13-Jun-1996]
National Westminster Bank is to acquire Greenwich Captital Markets, the US broker based in Connecticut, from Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan for $600m. [11-Jun-1996]
Standard Life is to sell most of its 32% stake in the Bank of Scotland in a secondary offering, which means that a single company is unlikely to make a takeover bid. [11-Jun-1996]
Hambros is looking to buy an international fund management business and build up its private client banking operation. [06-Jun-1996]
St James's Place Capital, the financial holding company, is to concentrate on life insurance and split out its investment portfolio into a new investment trust. [05-Jun-1996]
Barclays Bank is to combine its four private banking operations in London to enable it to offer an integrated asset management service aimed at wealthy clients. [04-Jun-1996]
Lloyds TSB is to sell Hill Samuel Bank's corporate finance department to Close Brothers for undisclosed terms, with the remainder of the subsidiary being integrated into Lloyds TSB. [01-Jun-1996]
The Nationwide building society has agreed a three year deal to take over the sponsorship of the Football League, for £5.25m. [31-May-1996]
Euclidian, the Lloyd's investment company, is to buy Indemnity Insurance Services for an initial £1.8m. [29-May-1996]
United Friendly is pulling out of motor insurance, due to increasing competition. [25-May-1996]
Visa is expected to launch a plastic card next month, which will rival Mondex as an alternative to cash. [20-May-1996]
Virgin is moving further into financial services with the launch of a range of low-cost term insurance and health insurance products. [20-May-1996]
Birmingham Midshires Building Society is interested in a merger with the West Bromwich in order to create a "retail financial giant in the West Midlands". [17-May-1996]
United Standard Insurance, the London insurance market reinsurer, has had provisional liquidators appointed following losses on claims for North American pollution and asbestos. [16-May-1996]
Commercial Union, the composite insurer, is testing telephone sales of life and investment products from a Glasgow office, and it has also announced plans to cut its staff by 5% a year. [16-May-1996]
Westdeutsche Landesbank, the German bank, is to expand its UK investment banking subsidiary, West Merchant Bank, which now has about 750 people. [15-May-1996]
General Accident is to continue to try to reverse the recent price cuts in UK private motor insurance with last month's 4% rise to be followed by further increases. [15-May-1996]
Prudential, the life assurance group, is undergoing a strategic review and is said to be considering the sale or flotation of Mercantile & General, its reinsurance business. [15-May-1996]
The Coventry building society is ending its arrangement with Commercial Union, the insurer, and pulling out of selling endowment mortgages. [14-May-1996]
Standard Life, the assurance concern, is planning to sell all or part of its 32.2% stake in the Bank of Scotland, but it is expected to go to investors rather than a potential predator. [14-May-1996]
Standard Life, the insurer, is looking into the possibility of selling its 32.5% stake in the Bank of Scotland, which is worth over £900m. [13-May-1996]
Royal Bank of Scotland plans to apply its Direct Line formula to sales of credit cards and telephone sales of mortgages, as it aims to get 20% of profits from non-banking and insurance activities by the year 2000. [09-May-1996]
Churchill Insurance has set up a software development centre in India in order to cut costs. [09-May-1996]
Insurance claims for subsidence could rise by up to 50% this year according to the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters, due to the recent hot summer and dry winter. [08-May-1996]
Barclays is launching a £60 a year current account called Additions, that offers life assurance, free £100 overdraft facilities and discounted medical cover for children, prompting fears that this could be the beginning of the end for free banking. [08-May-1996]
Sun Alliance and Royal Insurance are planning a £6bn merger to form Royal & Sun Alliance, a deal which could result in 5,000 job losses. [04-May-1996]
Abbey National is acquiring Wagon Finance, the used car financing business, from United News & Media for £121m. [04-May-1996]
Cornhill Insurance has acquired Pet Plan, the animal health insurer, for £32.5m. [02-May-1996]
Currency Management Corporation of London is planning to launch a real-time foreign exchange service on the internet. [01-May-1996]
National Westminster Bank plans to restructure with the creation of "a new retail bank" which will mean the closure of 350 branches by 2000. [01-May-1996]
General Accident is buying two German companies for £61m from UAP of France - UAP Allgemeine, a general insurer, and UAP International Leben, a life insurer. [01-May-1996]
Guardian Royal Exchange is buying the RAC's insurance broking business for £68m, and the business will become part of Guardian Direct but will continue to use the RAC name. [01-May-1996]
UAP, the French insurance group, is planning to raise £500m by floating a minority stake in its UK holding company, Sun Life and Provincial Holdings. [30-Apr-1996]
Lloyds TSB, the newly-merged banking group, is to lose 500 jobs by closing the TSB administration centre in Birmingham, with some staff transferring to the Lloyds centre in Bristol. [26-Apr-1996]
The Co-operative Bank is pulling out of fund management with the sale of CIM to Colonial Group of Australia for undisclosed terms. [26-Apr-1996]
Halifax Building Society is buying 33 estate agency offices from the Alliance & Leicester for undisclosed terms. [26-Apr-1996]
Bank of Scotland plans to move into the Asia Pacific region using its expanding business in Australia and New Zealand as a base. [25-Apr-1996]
Friends Provident is launching a telephone sales service called Blue Line that will initially sell just a flexible savings plan. [25-Apr-1996]
Sligos Payment Services has launched CashStop! Services, a new system which will enable people to easily pay bills, from companies such as BT, British Gas and the BBC, at retail outlets. [24-Apr-1996]
Prudential has been revealed as a potential buyer of Friends Provident, the mutual life assurer, along with Sun Alliance and Abbey National. [23-Apr-1996]
Yorkshire Bank is to cut 300 jobs at its headquarters in Leeds in order to remain competitive. [20-Apr-1996]
Halifax Building Society has bought Banque Paribas' £340m UK residential mortgage business. [20-Apr-1996]
Guardian Royal Exchange is discussing the acquisition of RAC Insurance's insurance services business, with the intention of combining it with its telephone insurance operation. [19-Apr-1996]
Securitised Endowment Contracts, the financial services company, is buying two independent financial advisors - IFA Network and IFA Network Services. [19-Apr-1996]
Zurich Insurance is setting up new offices in Portsmouth and Leeds, but closing offices in Maidstone, Milton Keynes, Manchester, Southampton, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Nottingham and Glasgow, with the net loss of about 100 jobs. [19-Apr-1996]
The government is planning to approve electronic cheque clearing, which will mean that cheques no longer need to be returned to the bank on which they were drawn, but this move could cost 30,000 jobs according to Bifu, the banking union. [18-Apr-1996]
The Bank of Ireland is buying the Bristol & West building society for £600m, which is expected to keep its own brand with no job losses. [16-Apr-1996]
National Savings bonds and certificates had record sales of £11.7bn last year, with pensioners bonds at a record £2.3bn and premium bonds at a record £1.5bn, according to the government. [13-Apr-1996]
CGA Direct, the insurance broker, has been bought by management from Oriel Group for £20m. [13-Apr-1996]
Bristol & West building society has closed its share accounts to new investors due to a rush of speculators hoping to benefit from a possible takeover of the society. [12-Apr-1996]
Members of the National & Provincial building society have voted to accept its transfer to the Abbey National bank, thus losing its mutual status. [12-Apr-1996]
The possibility of a link up between Lloyds TSB and Trust Bank New Zealand has been strengthened by an announcement by Trust Bank that merger discussions have been taking place. [12-Apr-1996]
The possible merger of Switzerland's biggest banks - Credit Suisse and Union Bank of Switzerland - would have major implications for the jobs of London-based staff of both banks. [10-Apr-1996]
Commercial Union plans to set up a life assurance company in Pakistan next month. [09-Apr-1996]
The Post Office is planning to increase the range of banking services offered at its branches, and is in discussions with a number of financial institutions. [09-Apr-1996]
Northern Rock is planning to float and convert from a building society into a £1bn bank, while also setting up a charitable foundation in aid of the north east of England. [04-Apr-1996]
The Newton Group, the independent investment house, has bought the asset management operation of Hogg Robinson Financial Services for an undisclosed sum. [02-Apr-1996]
IKB Deutsche Industriebank is planning a major expansion into the UK to offer long-term loans to medium-sized UK-owned manufacturing companies. [01-Apr-1996]
Standard Life is planning to offer deposit accounts later this year by outsourcing the deposit-taking to a bank. [01-Apr-1996]
Westdeutsche Landesbank of Germany aims to acquire Quorum, the UK fund management concern, from New York Life Insurance. [30-Mar-1996]
Legal & General is to set up a direct sales centre for its financial services products in Cardiff, creating up to 400 jobs. [29-Mar-1996]
Lloyds TSB could be about to acquire Trust Bank New Zealand. [29-Mar-1996]
Norwich Union has won a deal to provide household insurance products to Barclays Insurance Services. [27-Mar-1996]
Halifax Building Society has indicated it may make more acquisitions after it is floated next year, possibly to achieve economies of scale or to move into new areas such as general insurance. [27-Mar-1996]
Inchcape's Bain Hogg insurance business is to merge its European activities with the non-French activites of the French broker, Cecar, in which it has a 40% stake. [27-Mar-1996]
Lloyds TSB may form a general insurance underwriting operation in order to cut costs and improve revenue. [27-Mar-1996]
Halifax is acquiring Clerical Medical, the life assurer, for £800m, which should enable it to use independent advisers for the sale of pensions, life assurance and investments. [26-Mar-1996]
Barclays Bank plans to cut 1,000 staff in high street branches, largely in London, the south east and north east. [26-Mar-1996]
United Bank (UBL), the Pakistani bank with branches in the UK, has been asked by the Bank of England to submit £3.5m from head office, due to concern about whether it has adequate capital. [25-Mar-1996]
CE Heath has announced plans to demerge its insurance broking business from its Rebus Group computer services business. [23-Mar-1996]
Axa of France could make a UK insurance acquisition in a joint venture with Generali of Italy. [22-Mar-1996]
The government is to abandon its opposition to the principle of pensions being split at divorce. [22-Mar-1996]
Sun Alliance is discussing the possible acquisition of Friends Provident, the mutual life assurer. [22-Mar-1996]
TR Pacific has launched a £150m bid for Thornton Asian Emerging Markets Investment Trust. [22-Mar-1996]
Morgan Grenfell Development Capital has bought CGA, the household and motor insurance telebroker, from Oriel for £12m. [22-Mar-1996]
Britannic Assurance is to rationalise by cutting back its sales force, closing some branches, withdrawing from motor insurance and moving into health insurance. [21-Mar-1996]
Singer & Friedlander, the independent merchant bank, plans to move into markets vacated by the big investment banks by making acquisitions. [20-Mar-1996]
Nelson Hurst, the insurance broker, plans to make further acquisitions and expand in South America. [20-Mar-1996]
Alliance & Leicester, the building society, is planning a total review of costs in preparation for flotation and transformation into a bank. [19-Mar-1996]
Abbey National is considering the formation of an in-house telephone-based stockbroking operation, and it may use it to benefit from the windfall profits that National & Provincial customers will get when the Abbey National takeover goes through. [18-Mar-1996]
First National Building Society of Ireland is to introduce a direct telephone operation in the UK. [18-Mar-1996]
Chesterton International has bought back the Chestertons Residential estate agency business in London from Woolwich Building Society for £8m. [16-Mar-1996]
The Monopolies and Mergers Commission is to investigate the way Scottish solicitors provide estate agency services, as they are said to exclude non-solicitor estate agents from property centres. [16-Mar-1996]
The London Stock Exchange may soon give the go-ahead for a new range of tax-efficient property investment vehicles, which would allow property unit trusts to be traded on the exchange. [15-Mar-1996]
Tradepoint Financial Networks plans to raise £8.5m with a listing on the Alternative Investment Market, and it believes it needs to take 2% of London's share trading volume in order to break even. [15-Mar-1996]
Legal & General plans to expand its banking services, but is not considering retail banking. [15-Mar-1996]
The government has decided against increasing tax rebates for life insurers to contribute to the cost of selling personal pensions. [14-Mar-1996]
Schroders, the investment bank, is planning a business efficiency review partly due to a rapid rise in information technology spending. [14-Mar-1996]
Barclays Bank is to shed a further 500 jobs from its regional offices. [13-Mar-1996]
Credit card fraud fell 14% to £83m last year according to the Association for Payment Clearing Services, but banks will continue with plans to reduce it further by launching cards with electronic chips, probably in late 1997. [13-Mar-1996]
Prudential is looking to re-enter the Indian insurance market and hopes to get a government licence to start a joint venture within two years. [13-Mar-1996]
The government is to announce measures to give building societies more power, and at the same time allow them to be taken over by financial institutions from elsewhere in Europe. [11-Mar-1996]
Citibank of the US will soon announce the location for its new London headquarters, from a shortlist of Canary Wharf, the Baltic Exchange and London Bridge City. [11-Mar-1996]
Independent advisors have seen their market share for life assurance sales increase since agents have been required to tell customers their costs and commissions, according to the Association of British Insurers. [09-Mar-1996]
Lloyds TSB, Barclays, Abbey National and the Royal Bank of Scotland are considering the launch of a stored-value smart card to rival Mondex. [08-Mar-1996]
Sun Alliance has announced a reorganisation with 1,000 job losses, as well as plans to sell its Chancellors estate agency chain to management. [08-Mar-1996]
Foreign & Colonial is discussing the possible acquisition of ESN Pension Management Group. [08-Mar-1996]
BAT is to review its financial services business in order to improve income and cut costs by streamlining Eagle Star, Allied Dunbar and Threadneedle Asset Management. [07-Mar-1996]
Fishers Intl, the financial services concern, is buying Robert Bishop (Southern), the claims management company, and Miller Knight, the loss adjuster, for a maximum £3m. [07-Mar-1996]
Birmingham Midshires building society is looking for partners to enable it to launch a credit card and a current account next year. [07-Mar-1996]
The life assurance sector will see continued cutbacks and job losses this year as companies cut charges to increase market share, according to a review of the sector by Standard & Poor. [06-Mar-1996]
Skandia of Sweden has become the first European insurer to link its offices with the electronic networks of the London international insurance market, following a relaxation of the rules to enhance London's status as an insurance centre. [05-Mar-1996]
Close Brothers plans to double the size of its corporate finance operation, and is also looking to grow in asset management possibly by acquisition. [05-Mar-1996]
Cardcast, which has created a data broadcast system to provide information on lost and stolen credit cards, plans to raise £1.7m by joining the Alternative Investment Market. [05-Mar-1996]
Alliance & Leicester Building Society is to stop selling endowment policies following the formation of its own life assurance company. [05-Mar-1996]
The government is considering a move to make insurance companies reimburse it for state benefits paid to victims of accidents while they are not working. [04-Mar-1996]
Johnson & Higgins, the US insurance broker, has bought Corporate Risk, the Scottish broker, as it attempts to become the leader in large accounts for UK plcs. [04-Mar-1996]
First Direct is considering a move into electronic banking through home computers, and is separately looking into offering extended warranties on electrical items in competition with retailers. [04-Mar-1996]
Lloyds Bank is shutting its treasury activities in New York and transferring the foreign exchange business to London. [01-Mar-1996]
Barclays Bank is to launch a 24 hour telephone advice service for people filling in the new self-assessment tax forms, and will also offer a service filling in the forms. [29-Feb-1996]
Insurance industry losses from domestic subsidence claims increased from £125m to £326m in 1995, while claims for domestic theft fell 10% to £567m and claims for commercial insurance were unchanged at £205m. [29-Feb-1996]
Celtic Football Club is to launch a personal equity plan, administered by Caledonia Investments with much of the commission going to Celtic. [29-Feb-1996]
General Accident is raising motor insurance premiums by an average 4% from April, and says it is looking for a significant acquisition in Germany or France. [28-Feb-1996]
Barclays Bank has bought back 40m of its shares for £306m in order to help it manage its capital, following a 12% profit increase. [28-Feb-1996]
Abbey National has identified 100 National & Provincial branches to close if its takeover goes through, and claims it would achieve cost savings of £50m. [27-Feb-1996]
Unit trust sales increased in January, with the amount invested by private investors up £477m. [27-Feb-1996]
HSBC Holdings has denied it is looking to expand its UK and US banking activities through acquisition, but it is considering acquisitions in fund management. [27-Feb-1996]
Employees at the Midland and Yorkshire banks are being balloted by the Banking Insurance & Finance Union over whether they will stage walkouts over disputes about pay and jobs. [26-Feb-1996]
AA Insurance is to set up its own direct underwriting operation and hopes it will lead to discounts of up to 10% for customers moving away from other telephone insurers. [24-Feb-1996]
The Shetland Islands council has awarded PDFM the contract to manage a £63m pension fund, which up to now has been managed by Rothschild Asset Management. [24-Feb-1996]
The Nationwide building society is cutting its mortgage rate by 0.45% to 6.99% in April and increasing interest rates on savings accounts by 0.25% in March, in what is seen as a challenge to their competitors which have opted to become banks. [23-Feb-1996]
Woolwich Building Society plans to close 25 branches and 30 estate agency offices this year, which will leave it with 425 branches and 150 offices. [23-Feb-1996]
Bristol & West, the building society, is withdrawing from estate agencies with the sale of its remaining Hamptons branches to a company created by NatWest Ventures and Cluttons Residential Estate Agency, for £3.8m. [23-Feb-1996]
Sedgwick is discussing the possible acquisition of Oakwood to expand its Lloyd's members agency operations. [23-Feb-1996]
London saw 35 new offices opened by foreign banks in 1995, and there are now a record 541 foreign banks with representation there, according to Noel Alexander the management consultancy. [23-Feb-1996]
Halifax Building Society is to close 120 high street branches, leaving it with just under 1000, following its merger with Leeds Permanent. [22-Feb-1996]
The Lloyds TSB Group has said it would consider purchasing another building society in order to improve productivity and increase competitiveness. [22-Feb-1996]
Commercial Union, the composite insurer, says it is looking to expand internationally by organic growth and new ventures especially in Asia, the US and eastern Europe, but it is not looking for UK acquisitions. [22-Feb-1996]
Guardian Royal Exchange is looking for acquisitions in the life insurance markets in the UK and Germany, as well as the general sector in the US. [21-Feb-1996]
Sedgwick has forecast a period of consolidation for international insurance brokers, saying the market is only suited for three or four major players compared to the current six. [21-Feb-1996]
Dresdner Bank and its subsidiary, Kleinwort Benson, are planning to jointly run offices in New York and Tokyo in a move that is seen as a further step to integration. [21-Feb-1996]
National Westminster Bank is acquiring Gartmore, the fund management concern which was 75% owned by Banque Indosuez, for £472m. [20-Feb-1996]
National Westminster Bank is looking to acquire companies involved in long-term savings and investments as well as insurance, and is rumoured to be interested in Clerical Medical, the life assurer. [20-Feb-1996]
Sales of life and pension policies rose in the last quarter of 1995, with sales of regular yearly premium policies up 6.6% on the previous quarter to £549m, according to the Association of British Insurers. [20-Feb-1996]
Salomon Brothers of the US is to approach lenders who may be interested in buying The Mortgage Corporation, its UK mortgage business which has a portfolio of about £1.3bn. [19-Feb-1996]
Direct Line is moving into the investment market with the launch of a Pep, and its telephone-based approach is likely to increase pressure on margins in the market. [17-Feb-1996]
Independent Insurance Group is to buy Safom, the French insurance underwriting agency. [17-Feb-1996]
Barclays is selling its 40 Cyprus branches to the Hellenic Bank for £11.6m. [17-Feb-1996]
Lowndes Lambert is acquiring Blackwall Group, the holding company for Blackwall Green the insurance broker, for up to £10m. [15-Feb-1996]
Lloyds Abbey Life is looking to buy a mutual insurance company to improve its product range. [15-Feb-1996]
Sun Alliance is to lose a significant part of its income as its US partner, Chubb Corporation, is pulling out of an agreement in which Sun has been getting 14% of Chubb's US premium income in return for 7.5% of its worldwide non-life turnover. [14-Feb-1996]
Liverpool Victoria is acquiring Frizzell, the insurance concern, from Marsh & McLennan of New York for £188m. [08-Feb-1996]
Scottish Life has created an international life group and fund management operation based in Edinburgh. [07-Feb-1996]
Oriel, the insurance concern, is in discussions with a possible purchaser, thought to be Aon of the US. [07-Feb-1996]
Clerical Medical, the mutual life assurance concern, is said to be looking for a bidder and values itself at up to £1bn. [05-Feb-1996]
The Bank of Scotland is to sell Dunedin Fund Managers, the investment management company which has suffered from staff defections, and Kleinwort Benson is assisting in the search for a buyer. [03-Feb-1996]
Flemings is launching the Oasis fund, a fund for Islamic investors which will be registered in Luxembourg. [03-Feb-1996]
Singer & Friedlander is moving its corporate finance staff from Bristol, Birmingham and Nottingham to London, following greater competition in the supply of finance to regional companies. [02-Feb-1996]
Compagnie Financiere SFAC of France is to acquire Trade Indemnity, the credit insurer, for £177m. [02-Feb-1996]
ABN Amro, the Dutch bank, is to build a headquarters for its investment banking operation at Spitalfields, which is seen as a boost to those trying to stop financial services companies moving away from the City of London to Canary Wharf. [01-Feb-1996]
Alliance & Leicester has announced flotation plans and aims to become a bank early in 1997. [01-Feb-1996]
Halifax Building Society plans to form an insurance service company with household policies being underwritten by Royal Insurance, thus ending its 100-year relationship with Sun Alliance. [01-Feb-1996]
Birmingham Midshires has decided against forming its own financial services operation and is instead renegotiating with Sun Life. [31-Jan-1996]
The government has plans to merge the major financial services regulatory bodies into the Securities and Investments Board after the next election. [30-Jan-1996]
The Royal Bank of Scotland's telephone insurance business Direct Line is moving into the retail savings business with the launch of an instant access deposit account. [30-Jan-1996]
Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale of Germany is acquiring Panmure Gordon, the London stockbroker, for about £30m. [30-Jan-1996]
Britannic Assurance is withdrawing from the car insurance market, blaming price competition from telephone-based insurers. [30-Jan-1996]
NatWest Ventures is setting up a Milan office to provide equity to private business. [30-Jan-1996]
HSBC Holdings is to merge its European investment banking activities, currently run separately by James Capel and Samuel Montagu, under the name of HSBC Investment Banking. [30-Jan-1996]
High street spending using debit cards rose 25% to £21bn in 1995, thus overtaking credit cards, according to the Credit Card Research Group. [29-Jan-1996]
TransAtlantic Holdings is acquiring a 70% stake in Portfolio Fund Management, in a return to the UK savings market by its controlling-company Liberty Life Association of Africa. [29-Jan-1996]
National Savings has reduced its rates on its accounts, bonds and certificates, while reducing the Premium Bond prize fund return. [26-Jan-1996]
Building societies are expected to be hit by a margin war in 1996, and 1995 may be the last year of consistent profit growth, according to stockbrokers UBS. [26-Jan-1996]
Barclays may pull out of share registration and transfer its business to Lloyds Bank Registrars and Independent Registrars Group. [26-Jan-1996]
National Westminster Bank's Lombard division is buying 15% of Credit General Industriel, the French car finance business. [26-Jan-1996]
Bradford & Bingley Building Society has announced a 0.25% cut in its mortgage rate, which could cause a price war. [25-Jan-1996]
Woolwich Building Society has bought Midland Bank's residential mortgage book in France. [24-Jan-1996]
Yorkshire Bank staff are trying to improve their pay offer by voting for an overtime ban on certain days in February. [24-Jan-1996]
Ace, the insurer based in Bermuda, is buying 51% of Methuen, the Lloyd's of London managing agency. [23-Jan-1996]
Of the top 100 life assurance companies in the UK, only half will still be going in 2005 according to Datamonitor research. [22-Jan-1996]
Sales of life insurance started to pick up again in the second half of 1995, according to sales figures from Scottish Widows, Legal & General, Britannic Assurance and Lloyds Abbey Life. [19-Jan-1996]
Fidelity Brokerage of the US is negotiating to buy Hambros' futures, options and bond clearing activities. [16-Jan-1996]
Midland Bank has bought Commercial Union's remaining 20% stake in Midland Life, the life assurance subsidiary. [13-Jan-1996]
Woolwich Building Society has confirmed that it will become a bank, thus giving up its mutual status. [12-Jan-1996]
The private client stockbroking activities of Commercial Union and Credit Commercial de France are being merged to form Quilter & Co. [12-Jan-1996]
Aon of the US has bought AA Commercial Insurance Brokers' insurance portfolio. [11-Jan-1996]
The Prudential has outsourced its global custody of securities to Midland Bank and Mellon Bank of the US. [10-Jan-1996]
Legal & General has launched Lifetime Healthcare, its first medical insurance plan, with an investment of £10m. [10-Jan-1996]
Kleinwort Benson has bought most of SBC Warburg's leasing finance and advisory business. [10-Jan-1996]
Fifty percent of people would be happy to buy financial services over the telephone according to findings by Prospektus. [09-Jan-1996]
Demachy Worms of France and Union have jointly formed the Matrix Fund, a portfolio of money market funds to help small companies with their international money management. [09-Jan-1996]
The government is expected to soon change legislation over the clearing of cheques, which should quicken the process. [05-Jan-1996]
Barclays Bank is introducing BarclayZone, an electronic stock dealing and information service which includes a video link between its Glasgow office and the customer. [04-Jan-1996]
Life Assurance Holding is acquiring Lifetime Assurance's UK activities. [04-Jan-1996]
Stroud & Swindon Building Society is acquiring City & Metropolitan, with C&M members likely to get bonuses of up to £2,500. [03-Jan-1996]
Albert E Sharp is acquiring Brown Shipley, the stockbroking and personal equity plan operation, from Guinness Peat for £7m. [03-Jan-1996]
Nationwide has now opened its life assurance and unit trust operations in an attempt to rely less on services related to mortgages. [02-Jan-1996]