Foreign news: Kiwi in running for HSBC finance director role, overhaul of high-cost credit in the UK
HSBC has added Royal Bank of Scotland CFO Ewen Stevenson to the shortlist of candidates to replace its departing CFO Iain Mackay, reports the FT. Stevenson, a New Zealander who previously spent 25 years with Credit Suisse, announced earlier this week that he was leaving RBS. He was passed over for promotion to RBS chief executive last year. UK banks have been told they will have to develop apps and systems to alert customers before they slip into overdraft, as well as "a range of prompts and PFM tools" to help customers, Finextra reports. The proposals follow a review by the Financial Conduct Authority into better protections for people who use overdrafts and other high-cost credit. FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey said it was about "rebalancing in favour of the customer". In 2016, UK lenders made £2.3 billion in revenue from overdrafts, of which 30 per cent was from unarranged overdrafts. Greece is easing up the capital controls which have prevented people easily accessing their own funds. The FT reports that the monthly limit on cash withdrawals from local bank accounts will rise to €5,000 from €2,300 and customers will be able to transfer €4,000 bi-monthly to accounts abroad and take up to €3,000 cash on holidays and trips outside Greece. The controls were imposed in June 2015 when fears Greece might crash out of the eurozone promoted a run on banks. Greece is expected to exit from its current bailout programme in August. A US subsidiary of Deutsche Bank has been placed on a federal 'problem bank' list, reports the FT. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the regulator responsible for promoting confidence in the US financial system, added Deutsche to the list of troubled banks with financial, managerial or operational weaknesses serious enough to threaten their survival. Deutsche Bank shares dropped sharply after the announcement, closing 7.15 per cent down, adding to a total fall of 42 per cent since the start of the year.