An agreement has been reached on the German consumer banking arm of Citibank, with the operation being sold to Credit Mutuel of France.
The deal will see the cash reserves of Citibank around GBP3.9 billion richer and help the bank on its way to the larger target of selling around GBP200 billion worth of assets over the coming three years. The bank was badly hit by the sub prime mortgage collapse in the United States and is now working to realign the business.
As well as selling assets Citibank is also looking to shed over 16,000 jobs in the same three year period. This is again to re-structure the organisation and will go hand in hand with the selling of businesses such as their German banking operation.
According to a recent study on current account holders in the UK, it has been revealed that people who have switched to a new bank account have had problems.It was found that a large majority of bank account holders had difficulties when switching and that the bank also did not offer any help with the issue.This recent study backs up the main reason why many people do not switch current accounts for many years or perhaps years, as the process is seen to be too difficult or more trouble than its worth. The problem lies for consumers that by not switching bank accounts, consumers are then missing out on cheaper banking with another bank.See our current accounts comparison table for the latest offers. Plus, reading our guides and tips pages can offer consumers more detailed information and money saving hints.
82 percent of households in Britain are changing their behaviour in response to rising costs and future economic concerns say Legal and General.
With Summer holidays topical right now it is revealing to see that over a quarter of households have changed their holiday plans because of their uncertainty about the future. Lots of people have also cut down on how often they go out, with nearly 40 percent of people saying they now spend more time at home.
One of the biggest concerns from the Legal and General survey was the fact that about half the households spoken to are cutting back on food in order to manage their finances, with over a quarter of them also looking at selling possessions in order to manage. Lets hope the government sees the survey and does something about it, starting with fuel taxation, something that affects the cost of everything in the UK.
