Sainsburys Bank is advising those travelling abroad to get their currency arrangements sorted out in good time to avoid losing money on commission charges and lower exchange rates.
Travellers who sort their currency out at the airport, as well as those who arrange their currency abroad, will find themselves out of pocket compared with doing it all in the UK prior to trave believes Sainsburys Bank. Waiting to the last minute leaves travellers with no options but to take the poorer exchange rates on offer and ultimately receiving less in their pocket.
A Sainsburys Bank spokesman hoped that travellers would bear this advice in mind. He felt it would be a shame if, after trying to get the best deals all year round on their purchases, they let themselves down on something so important like foreign currency.
The German retail banking arm of Citibank, part of the Citigroup financial giant, saw the number of interested German parties drop to one when Commerzbank withdrew from the race.
There is interest from outside Germany still, but within the borders of the country only Deutsche Bank remains an interested party. A couple of other big European players are looking at Citibank in Germany with interest, with a move expected before the end of the month. It continues what has been a turbulent time in the German banking market as a number of organisations have changed hands recently.
With around 3.25 million customers the German Citibank is expecting offers in the region of EUR4 to EUR5 billion, especially as it runs profitably and is one of the leaders in consumer financing, generating handsome returns.
Citibank parent Citigroup is understood to be under investigation by the financial regulator of the United States with regard to some potential breaches of securities law.
The issue revolves around the marketing and selling of what are called auction rate securities. These are a type of bond, most commonly used by municipal authorities when looking to generate funds and the question being looked into is whether the actual risks were understated by Citibank.
No comments have been forthcoming from Citibank so far regarding their discussions with the regulators. Instead they have a statement that says they have worked closely with all parties to make everything go smoothly.
