Barclays completes exit from retail banking in Europe with sale of French business

Barclays is to sell its French retail banking business to AnaCap Financial Partners as it continues a drive to sell off non-core assets.

The deal - for an undisclosed sum - will see the lender shed 74 retail branches and a life insurance business, as well as wealth, investment management and brokerage operations in the country.

It means Barclays has now completed its exit from consumer-facing banking in continental Europe. However, it will retain its corporate and investment banking businesses in France.

Boss Jes Staley said: “This is another positive step in reducing our non-core unit, creating a more focused, simpler Barclays, and thereby releasing the strong performance of our core business.

“The agreement to sell our French business completes Barclays' exit from retail banking in continental Europe.”

The move is part of the lender's strategy of focusing on its core UK and US banking operations by selling its hinterland businesses.

The overhaul has seen the lender sell its Barclaycard credit card operations in Spain and Portugal to Bancopopular-e, sell down its stake in Barclays Africa, offload its Egyptian operations and sell its wealth and investment management business in Singapore and Hong Kong.

PA

Finance watchdog checks on home loan market competition

(Orbit homes)

Britain's financial watchdog has launched a full review of the £1.3 trillion mortgage market to see if customers could get better deals and whether links between industry players limit choice.

The high cost of buying a home in Britain, exacerbated by a housing shortage, has put ownership out of reach for many people and the government is under pressure to address the problem.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) originally started looking at mortgages in October 2015 to see if there were parts of the market where competition could be improved. Its full review was announced on Monday.

“As a mortgage is likely to be the biggest financial commitment most people make in their lifetime, we're keen to ensure that competition in the mortgage sector is healthy and working to the benefit of consumers,” Christopher Woolard, the FCA's executive director of strategy and competition, said.

There are 11.1m home loans in Britain totalling £1.3 trillion, of which £220bn was borrowed in 2015, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), an industry body.

The watchdog's review will focus on residential mortgages, the process of switching products with the same provider and remortgaging with a new one. It will not look directly at commercial or buy-to-let loans.

Reuters

Lloyds fails on fee-free in no-frills bank accounts market

The group said final offers have so far been made to just eight customers (Reuters)

Fewer than a tenth of the no-frills bank accounts provided by Lloyds Banking Group conform to new guidelines requiring such accounts to be fee-free, data from Britain's finance ministry showed on Monday.

The data are the first official study of banks' provision of these basic bank accounts in Britain since the Treasury department and nine biggest lenders agreed new guidelines in 2014 stipulating that such accounts should not charge any fees.

The rules, which came into force on 1 January this year, are designed to widen access to banking and help vulnerable customers avoid running up huge fees by requiring banks to provide simple accounts that do not charge for basic services.

Lloyds provides half of the just under 8m basic bank accounts in use in Britain, the data show. Fewer than 250,000 of the bank's nearly 4m accounts are fee-free according to the terms of the 2014 agreement, although all new accounts opened with the bank since the start of the year are.

Reuters

Number of drivers bringing legal action against Uber doubles

(AFP/Getty)

A further 25 Uber drivers have joined the legal a against Uber, according to the law firm bringing the case. The current number of workers claiming now stands at 50.

The announcement follows October’s historic employment tribunal ruling which found that a group of Uber drivers were not self-employed but were workers and therefore entitled to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage and holiday pay. The judgment could affect tens of thousands of Uber drivers.

According to Nigel MacKay of law firm Leigh Day who is representing the claimants, the recognition of the drivers as workers does not prevent them from working flexibly,

Mr MacKay said: “The judgment at the Employment Tribunal does not prevent Uber drivers from working flexibly, it simply ensures that whilst they are working the drivers receive the rights that every other worker is entitled to.

“Since the judgment was issued, we and GMB have spoken to hundreds of Uber drivers who wish to claim compensation for Uber’s failure to provide these entitlements in the past, as well as to ensure that they are paid at least the national minimum wage and holiday pay in future.

2022 World Cup host Qatar loosens rules for migrant workers

Qatar has introduced long-expected reforms to policies governing its vast foreign-labor force, though the changes still require workers to seek clearance from their bosses before leaving the country.

The 2022 World Cup host nation said the new policies came into effect Monday, a year after the ruling emir signed off on the change.

Qatar's treatment of its more than 2m-strong labour force has come under intense scrutiny by labor activists, rights groups and media organizations.

Critics say the energy-rich country's “kafala” sponsorship system that effectively binds workers to their employer leaves migrants open to abuse, and in some cases can amount to forced labor.

Qatar says the new policies guarantee freedom of movement, with employees generally free to leave so long as they inform their employer first.

AP

Tesla settles Norway lawsuit over car's performance

Electric carmaker Tesla Motors has reached an out-of-court settlement with 126 Norwegian customers who claimed their cars' performance did not match promises made in the firm's marketing.

Lawyers for the owners and the company told the Oslo District Court in a joint letter they wanted to withdraw the case which had been due to start on Monday, a court spokeswoman said.

Kaspar Nygaard Thommessen of Oslo-based law firm Wikborg Rein, who represented the car owners, told Reuters a settlement had been reached in recent days and the case had been resolved. He declined to provide details of the settlement.

Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv (DN) said on Sunday Tesla had agreed to pay 65,000 Norwegian crowns (£6,100) to each car owner, about half of what they demanded, or allow them to choose from alternative options, including car upgrades.