Profitshop

Even billionaire Richard Branson may need a partner to stand a chance of taking on Britain’s largest banks. Lawmakers are encouraging the growth of lenders such as Branson-backed  Virgin Money Holdings (U.K.) Plc (VM/)  to challenge the dominance of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc,  HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) , Lloyds Banking Group Plc and  Barclays Plc. (BARC) The smaller “challenger” banks may have no choice other than to merge with each other if they hope to compete against these four, which control as much as 80 percent of the market. “Consolidation in the medium term is inevitable,” Warren Mead, head of challenger banking and alternative finance at KPMG LLP, said in a phone interview. “They don’t have sufficient scale on their own to be effective challengers.” The need to gain scale could drive Virgin Money together with  TSB Banking Group Plc (TSB) , the consumer lender carved out of Lloyds in June, according to Gary Greenwood, an analyst at Shore Capital Group Ltd. The tw

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS)  is closing most of its European debt restructuring business outside the U.K. as the nation’s largest publicly owned lender winds down its  global restructuring group , according to two people familiar with the matter. RBS began shutting down units in Amsterdam, Madrid, Milan and Paris in September, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan is private. James Abbott, a spokesman for RBS in  London , declined to comment on the closures and the number of employees affected. RBS is disbanding its restructuring operations as it disposes of unwanted assets and focuses on its U.K. business after receiving the world’s biggest bank bailout during the financial crisis. The global restructuring group came under the scrutiny of U.K. lawmakers last year after a government-commissioned report accused the bank of deliberately pushing viable companies into bankruptcy to boost profits. RBS identified small businesses as distressed

Oil’s decline is proving to be the worst since the collapse of the financial system in 2008 and threatening to have the same global impact of falling prices three decades ago that led to the Mexican debt crisis and the end of the Soviet Union. Russia, the world’s largest producer, can no longer rely on the same oil revenues to rescue an economy suffering from European and U.S. sanctions. Iran, also reeling from similar sanctions, will need to reduce subsidies that have partly insulated its growing population. Nigeria, fighting an Islamic insurgency, and Venezuela, crippled by failing political and economic policies, also rank among the biggest losers from the decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries last week to let the force of the market determine what some experts say will be the first free-fall in decades. “This is a big shock in Caracas, it’s a shock in Tehran, it’s a shock in Abuja,”  Daniel Yergin , vice chairman of Englewood, Colorado-based consultant

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