The acquisition includes £1.4bn in unsecured personal loans, £1.1bn in credit card balances, and about £2.6bn in customer deposits. Sainsbury’s will retain its ATM network, insurance, travel money and Argos Financial Services business.
“As well as a complementary customer base, the transaction is expected to add scale to our credit card and unsecured personal lending business within existing risk appetite,” NatWest CEO Paul Thwaite said in a statement.
“NatWest Group has a strong track record of successful integration and we are focused on ensuring a smooth transition for customers,” he added.
The deal is expected to close in March 2025, with NatWest receiving £125mn from Sainsbury’s upon completion. Sainsbury’s plans to return at least £250mn to shareholders and focus on its core retail operations.
This acquisition marks another step in the retreat of UK supermarkets from the financial services sector, following Barclays’ purchase of Tesco Bank’s assets for £600mn in February.
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JPMorgan will lift an EU-imposed cap on banker bonuses for its staff in the UK, making it the second major lender to do so after its rival Goldman Sachs made the same move last month.
UK employees at JPMorgan can now earn up to 10 times their base salary in bonuses, while fixed pay remains unchanged. The approach differs from Goldman Sachs’ strategy, which lowered base pay and increased bonus potential to 25 times income.
Commenting on the announcement, a JPMorgan spokesperson said: “We believe we have developed one of the most attractive and balanced pay structures in the industry. Fixed pay will remain very competitive, and we will have ample room to reward the highest performers appropriately.”
The decision follows UK financial regulators’ removal of the bonus cap in October last year. The cap, a legacy of the UK’s EU membership that limited banker bonuses to twice their base salary, was introduced by the EU in 2014 as part of efforts to curb excessive risk-taking following the 2008 financial crisis.
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Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest privately owned lender, is expanding its business in China. According to a statement released on Tuesday, the bank is planning to open full-service branches in Beijing and Shanghai, and has already launched a new Chinese language website aimed at supporting its services for Chinese businesses.
The bank is part of Alfa Group, founded by Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US and EU imposed sanctions on the group and individuals linked to it, including Fridman.
In the statement Alfa Bank said it was already working with “thousands” of Chinese companies, and has received an AA- rating from a major Chinese credit rating agency.
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Société Générale has announced the sale of Shine, a neobank focused on freelancers and small businesses, to Danish fintech firm Ageras. The French banking group acquired a majority stake in Shine in 2020 through its banking-as-a-service subsidiary, Treezor.
Over the past four years, SocGen claims to have significantly grown Shine’s customer base and revenues. However, in January of this year, it became known that the group was actively seeking a buyer for Shine amid a decline in France’s retail and online banking sectors, and as part of a new strategy to simplify its business.
Shine currently has more than 100,000 customers, while Ageras serves 300,000 customers in Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands. While the terms of the deal remain undisclosed, Ageras said it expects to close the transaction during the first quarter of 2025.
