Best Remunerating Banks

The top six best remunerating banks, calculated by average remuneration per employee, are all foreign owned. Top is Canadian-owned CIBC World Markets Plc paying an average £552,000 per employee. This is followed by Swiss-owned Credit Suisse International, German-owned D B UK Bank Ltd, then Japanese-owned Nomura Bank International Plc and Mizuho International Plc. Dutch-owned N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd comes in a lowly sixth, but it does come first in the Highest Paid Director league table, paying out £7.8 million to one luck employee!

1 in 5 Banks Loss Making

Of the 157 reporting (out of 159), 28 are loss-making. That's 1 bank in 5. A year ago it was 22 (out of 149). That was 1 in 6.

Table(s) Topper

The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc continues to top the Pre-Tax Profit, Asset and Capital Tables based on its results for the year to 31.12.07. How long will this continue? Not much longer we believe.

The Worst Four UK Banks

There are only four UK banks that have been loss-making for each of their last 6 accounting periods. They are The Charity Bank Ltd (total pre-tax losses of £4.1 million), Islamic Bank of Britain Plc (total pre-tax losses of £28.4 million), Wesleyan Bank Ltd (total pre-tax losses of £2.1 million), and Vanquis Bank Ltd (total pre-tax losses for the 5 accounting periods since inception a whopping £51.6 million).

Vanquis Bank Ltd is owned by Provident Financial Plc. It has yet, in its 5 year history, to make a profit. Vanquis makes its money by providing the credit-unworthy with a credit card which charges an interest rate of 39.9%. Let's call that 40%. Those that use the card to take out cash pay a 49.9% interest rate. That's to say 50%. In the last year (to 31.12.07) it had to write off over £21 million. Its Directors' Report is a lesson in avoiding the question. Under "Principal Risks and Uncertainties" its Company Secretary writes, "...the company's directors believe that a discussion of the group's risks would not be appropriate..." Under "Key Performance Indicators" he writes, "...the company's directors believe that analysis using key performance indicators for the company is not necessary or appropriate..." Vanquis' chairman is, appropriately enough, a Mr Crook.

London Scottish Bank

London Scottish Bank is ranked 100 out of the 159 UK incorporated banks in terms of asset size. Its gearing has doubled over the past 4 years!

2009 Edition out today!

The 2009 edition of Bank League Tables is published today. The number of UK banks continues to rise with 2 new banks authorised in the past 6 months and one clarification. These are Bank of the Philippine Islands (Europe) Plc (which is still listed incorrectly by the FSA in its List of Banks as Bank of Philippine Islands (Europe), PLC which is a completely different entity), Intercontinental Bank (UK) Plc and The Access Bank UK Limited. There have been three name changes. Conversbank (UK) Ltd is now Pensions Bank Ltd, Heritable Bank Ltd is now Heritable Bank Plc, and The Bank of New York Europe Ltd is now The Bank of New York (Mellon) International Ltd. There have been no deletions. There are now 159 UK incorporated banks.