LONDON (Reuters) – British bank Lloyds (LLOY.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said there had been no political pressure on it to sell hundreds of branches to the Co-operative Group CWSGR.UL, but a rival bidder said he thought there was political influence.

“What the board looked at was financial and the ability to execute (the sale). Those were the only two things we looked at, no political (pressure),” Lloyds Chairman Win Bischoff told a committee of lawmakers on Tuesday.

LONDON (Reuters) – Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is aiming to recruit up to 700 technology staff in the next 18 months at a new center in the United States that will develop applications for investment banking and consumer banking.

The London-based bank opened its technology hub in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday. It said it expects to have up to 700 staff there by the end of 2014, mostly new recruits but possibly including staff moved from other parts of the bank.

LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland
faces an uphill task in finding a new chief executive from a
tiny pool of candidates to steer it through privatisation,
following the ousting of Stephen Hester which sent its shares
tumbling on Thursday.

Hester’s departure, engineered by chairman Philip Hampton
with the backing of Britain’s finance ministry, means RBS needs
an experienced banker untainted by the industry’s scandals
who is also used to dealing with its biggest shareholder, the
government, as well as lawmakers and regulators.

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shares fell seven percent on Thursday after the surprise ousting of CEO Stephen Hester left investors questioning who would steer the part-nationalized bank through to an eventual privatization.

RBS said late on Wednesday Hester would step down by the end of this year. Its board decided it wanted new leadership to oversee the sale of Britain’s majority stake in the bank, which could take years.

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc
boss Stephen Hester will step down later this year,
after the bank’s board decided it wanted new leadership to
oversee the sale of Britain’s majority stake in the bank, which
could take years.

Hester said on Wednesday he would have liked to carry on at
the helm for the start of the sale of the government’s 81
percent stake, which could happen before the next election in
2015.

LONDON (Reuters) – Splitting up part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will be put forward as an option by a parliamentary panel examining standards in British banking, political and industry sources said on Tuesday.

The bank’s division would allow its toxic assets to be grouped into a “bad bank” separate from its profitable business, freeing it to make the increased lending that the economy needs, but has been rejected so far since it could be complicated and expensive for the government to administer.

LONDON (Reuters) – Splitting up part-nationalized Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will be put forward as an option by lawmakers examining standards in British banking, political and industry sources said on Tuesday.

The bank’s division would allow its toxic assets to be grouped into a “bad bank” separate from its profitable business, freeing it to make the increased lending that the economy needs, but has been rejected so far since it could be complicated and expensive for the government to administer.

LONDON (Reuters) – HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) called on regulators to speed up industry reform as its shareholders urged Europe’s biggest bank to take a lead in cutting pay and criticised it for compliance failings and aiding tax avoidance.

HSBC Chairman Douglas Flint told around 400 shareholders at the bank’s annual meeting that the fallout from recent scandals had created a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to reform banking and the broader financial industry.

LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) – HSBC’s
Chairman Douglas Flint called for an acceleration in the speed
of reform within the industry as the bank was criticised by
shareholders for compliance failings and accusations it aided
tax avoidance.

Flint told around 400 shareholders at the bank’s annual
meeting that the fallout from recent scandals had created a
“once-in-a-generation” opportunity to reform banking and the
broader financial industry.