Financial Services 2001 - Company News Summary

Antfactory, the technology investment group, is to be acquired by investment bank Seymour Pierce, in a £100m deal that will enable Seymour Pierce to make further acquisitions in the fund management industry.
24-Dec-2001

Lloyds TSB is to relocate the headquarters of its Black Horse financial services business and 1,000 staff from Cardiff's Newport Road to the new St William House scheme in 2003.
20-Dec-2001

The Inland Revenue is soon to announce plans for the creation of about 500 jobs at a new call centre on Bracken Hill Business Park in Peterlee next year.
20-Dec-2001

Skandia of Sweden has agreed to acquire Lynx Group for £210m, in order to gain access to the Bankhall investment management operation, while the Lynx IT business will be sold to management for £60m.
20-Dec-2001

Altium Capital, the London-based investment bank, has undergone a management buy-out from Gold-Zack Group, in a deal that values the business at £65m.
20-Dec-2001

Liverpool Victoria is to acquire the administration and investment operations of Hearts of Oak Insurance Group, which has funds under management of £350m.
20-Dec-2001

CGNU has agreed to sell Plant Safety, its UK in-service inspection business with net assets of £3m, to Bureau Veritas.
18-Dec-2001

Yorkshire Bank is to set up a regional business centre at the former Wraggs industrial site in Sheffield, where it will employ 50 business advisors.
17-Dec-2001

HSBC is to set up a £14m call centre at the De Montfort Business Park in Leicester, and 625 staff will be relocated from the bank's existing sites on Charles Street and Wellington Street.
13-Dec-2001

Aberdeen Asset Management is to acquire Old Mutual's fund management business on the Isle of Man for £36m, in order to gain a foothold in the offshore bond market.
13-Dec-2001

Capita Group has acquired Moorgate Registrars, the Chelmsford-based registrar, for £2m, in order to expand its shareholder services business.
11-Dec-2001

Parkman has acquired Newbury King, the management and business consultancy, for £0.2m.
10-Dec-2001

Alldaypa is planning to set up a £7m secretarial services call centre at either Salford Quays or Cheetham Hill in Manchester, with the creation of 500 jobs.
10-Dec-2001

Abbey National is to create 600 new jobs over the next 18 months in order to expand its small business banking division, including 500 branch-based managers and 50 sales staff for the First National leasing operation.
10-Dec-2001

Zetters is to acquire Galliano Investments, the foreign exchange dealer, for up to £3m.
07-Dec-2001

Royal Liver, the mutual insurance firm, has bought the industrial branch business of Irish Life & Permanent for £107m.
07-Dec-2001

Withers has announced plans to merge with New York-based Bergman Horowitz & Reynolds to create a leading international law firm focused on the private client market.
05-Dec-2001

TD Waterhouse is to acquire DLJdirect from Credit Suisse First Boston, in order to expand its stockbroking business in the UK.
30-Nov-2001

Taylor Price Direct Choice is to start recruiting staff for a new three-storey insurance centre due to open at the Claydon Business Park in Ipswich next April, which could employ up to 200.
30-Nov-2001

Standard Life Investments, the asset management company, is planning to open its first US office in Boston next year.
29-Nov-2001

Tikit Group has acquired Aurra Consulting, the supplier of consultancy services to law firms, for an initial £0.6m.
28-Nov-2001

The Welsh Development Agency is supporting a £1.8m investment by Creditsafe UK in a new telesales centre at the Caerphilly Business Park, which will create 60 jobs.
28-Nov-2001

Herbert Smith, the law firm, is planning to form an alliance with Stibbe, in order to expand its business into Belgium and the Netherlands.
27-Nov-2001

Yorkshire Building Society is planning to merge with the Gainsborough Building Society, which has one branch and more than a dozen agency offices in Lincolnshire.
26-Nov-2001

Unilever is considering plans to launch a venture capital fund to develop new business initiatives not related to its core activities of food and personal care.
26-Nov-2001

Brit Insurance is planning to raise £154m in a share placing in order to double the volume of business it underwrites at Lloyd's of London next year.
26-Nov-2001

Hiscox is planning to raise £54m in a rights issue to fund the expansion of its Hiscox Insurance and Lloyd's operations.
23-Nov-2001

Lloyds TSB has acquired CashFriday, the Gloucester-based provider of funding and payroll services to the temporary recruitment sector, for £10m, in order to expand its Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance operation.
22-Nov-2001

Whitehead Mann is to acquire Baines Gwinner, the financial and professional services executive search firm with offices in London and New York, for £10m.
22-Nov-2001

Eversheds, the law firm, is to relocate its two Cardiff offices and 615 staff to a new headquarters at Bute Square next summer.
22-Nov-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland is to relocate 18 administrative offices and 3,000 Manchester-based staff to two new buildings at the £650m Spinningfields development by 2004.
22-Nov-2001

Thomsons, the Manchester-based independent financial adviser, has been acquired by AWD of Germany for £31m.
22-Nov-2001

Maclay Murray & Spens is to acquire the private client arm of legal firm McGrigor Donald, which will involve the transfer of two partners and 15 staff.
21-Nov-2001

Adrian Flux Insurance is planning to create up to 50 jobs over the next year, following the recent consolidation of its three King's Lynn offices onto a single site at East Winch Hall.
21-Nov-2001

Edward Jones, the US stockbroker, is looking to open additional one-person offices in high street locations throughout the UK, expanding its existing chain from 102 to 400 within a year.
19-Nov-2001

Charles Stanley has acquired Torrie & Co, the Edinburgh-based stockbroker, for up to £7.8m.
16-Nov-2001

Investec has acquired European Capital, the London-based project finance company, in order to expand its infrastructure financing capabilities beyond its South African base.
15-Nov-2001

Brewin Dolphin, the stockbroker, has acquired Russell Newth for an initial £0.9m.
12-Nov-2001

HBOS is planning to invest £40m in the expansion of its Clerical Medical Investment Management business over the next three years, and 150 staff will be added to the current 250.
12-Nov-2001

MGt has announced 130 new jobs at its customer service call centre in Kirkcaldy, taking the workforce to nearly 600.
09-Nov-2001

Royal & Sun Alliance is planning to raise £800m through a programme of unspecified disposals over the next year, and the proceeds will be used to expand its general insurance business.
09-Nov-2001

Saga Group is to create up to 750 new jobs in Kent, including 600 at a new £15m call centre near Margate selling financial and other services to customers over 50.
08-Nov-2001

Egg is creating 110 new jobs at its internet banking call centre in Derby over the next few months.
05-Nov-2001

Prudential is to sell its general insurance business to Winterthur of Switzerland for £353m, and has also announced plans to shed up to 2,100 jobs at sites in London, Reading, Belfast and Stirling.
02-Nov-2001

Pinsent Curtis Biddle is to open an office in Manchester in January, staffed by about 20 lawyers.
01-Nov-2001

DAS, the Bristol-based insurance company, has submitted plans to build a new 68,000 sq ft office at the Locking Castle Business Park in Weston-super-Mare.
31-Oct-2001

Liffe, the London International Financial Futures & Options Exchange, is to be acquired by Paris-based Euronext for £555m.
30-Oct-2001

Berry Birch & Noble is planning a reverse takeover of the Berkeley independent financial advisory business, in a deal that values Berkeley at £70m.
30-Oct-2001

Biggart Baillie has acquired Steedman Ramage, the law firm with 44 employees and offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
26-Oct-2001

The Inland Revenue is considering plans to set up a new call centre on Merseyside with the creation of up to 500 jobs, and is said to be looking at two possible sites in Birkenhead and Bootle.
25-Oct-2001

Duke Street is setting up a new management company in Madrid called Iberduke Capital Partners, as part of a strategy to expand its private equity business in Spain and Portugal.
25-Oct-2001

Prudential is to acquire YoungPoong Life, the South Korean insurance company, from Korea Zinc for £20m.
23-Oct-2001

HBOS is planning to expand its activities in the small business banking market through the recruitment of an extra 1,500 staff over the next three years, which will involve the use of Halifax's high street branches.
22-Oct-2001

Putsmans and Willcox Lane Clutterbuck are to merge to create a combined Birmingham-based law firm with 21 partners and more than 220 staff.
22-Oct-2001

Budget Financial Services has acquired Dial Direct Insurance Marketing, the insurance intermediary with 536 Coventry-based staff.
22-Oct-2001

Weightmans is to open a law office in London next May, having acquired the litigation business of Vizard Oldham.
19-Oct-2001

Scottish Equitable is to launch a new personal investments business in Stirling next year, with the creation of at least 100 jobs.
19-Oct-2001

Tenon is expanding its financial services operation with the £67m acquisition of four businesses - two BDO Stoy Hayward offices in the east Midlands, Livingstone Guarantee, Dhand Hatchard Davies and Statham Gill Davies.
17-Oct-2001

AMP of Australia is planning to expand its door-to-door insurance salesforce in the UK from 600 to 1,000 over the next two years.
16-Oct-2001

Credit Suisse Asset Management is to acquire Sun Life of Canada's UK fund management operations for up to £130m.
16-Oct-2001

Hanco is planning to double the size of its network of 1,150 cashpoint machines over the next two years, by installing about 150 new machines a month in convenience stores.
15-Oct-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland has announced plans to expand its operations in France, Germany, Spain and Italy, which will involve the appointment of four country heads and a 30% increase in the 300-strong staff.
15-Oct-2001

MiniBusPlus, the minibus insurance wholesaler, has undergone a management buy-out from Bayliss & Cooke for several million pounds.
12-Oct-2001

Bank of Ireland has launched a new leasing and hire purchase business and expects to recruit 150 staff over the next three years.
12-Oct-2001

Massow Rainbow, the firm of financial advisers, has been bought out of receivership by its original founder for undisclosed terms.
08-Oct-2001

Hermes Pensions Management is planning to more then double the size of its corporate governance business, increasing the number of specialists from 15 to 40 by the end of 2002.
08-Oct-2001

Cavanagh Group, the firm of financial advisers, is to raise £1.5m in a share issue in order to recruit new consultants.
08-Oct-2001

Towergate Underwriting Group is to acquire Folgate Insurance for £20m, and is now looking to spend a further £40m on acquisitions.
05-Oct-2001

Tenon is to acquire Techlocate, the Manchester-based inward investment consultancy, for £0.6m.
04-Oct-2001

Manchester United is to expand its financial services division in partnership with Bank of Scotland, Britannia and Zurich Financial Services, and will set up an advice centre at Old Trafford.
02-Oct-2001

Moneybox is raising £11m in second-round funding to install an additional 2,400 cash machines in the UK, and will also open networks in Germany and the Netherlands.
02-Oct-2001

WH Ireland is to acquire Stockholm Investments for an initial £0.4m, in order to increase the funds under management at its London office.
01-Oct-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to create 6,000 jobs in order to improve customer service by replacing NatWest's automated telephone service.
28-Sep-2001

Sportscard, the provider of credit cards to sports fans, is being acquired by UKbetting for £4.4m.
26-Sep-2001

Barclays has announced plans to invest £50m in the roll out of Woolwich's Open Plan account, which enables customers to offset their current account balance against their mortgage.
25-Sep-2001

Providian National Bank is planning to relocate its London headquarters to a 20,000 sq ft office on Monument Street.
24-Sep-2001

Abbey National has set up four new companies to manage its branch networks in Belfast, Cardiff, Newcastle and Ealing, in an extension of its franchising experiment that will give more control to local bank managers.
24-Sep-2001

PricewaterhouseCoopers is to close its office in Middlesbrough town centre and relocate the 20 staff to Newcastle by next January.
21-Sep-2001

Lab Medico Legal Services, the supplier of medical reports to solicitors, is planning to move to a larger office at Bracken Hill in Peterlee, where it will employ up to 120 staff.
20-Sep-2001

Charles Taylor Consulting has acquired the general aviation loss adjusting business of HCC Insurance Holdings of the US for £5.3m.
18-Sep-2001

IFG Group has acquired Saunderson Ventures, the London-based supplier of financial advisory services, for £7m.
17-Sep-2001

CGNU is creating 100 jobs at its Norwich Union car insurance call centres in Norwich and Worthing.
17-Sep-2001

Portman Building Society is to acquire Sun Bank, the Stevenage-based mortgage specialist with 180 staff, from Sun Life of Canada for £95m.
17-Sep-2001

Millfield has acquired Heritage for £10m, in order to double its network of independent financial advisers to 270.
11-Sep-2001

MBNA is seeking permission to double the size of its credit card headquarters on Chester Business Park, which could lead to the creation of up to 3,000 jobs.
10-Sep-2001

HBOS is planning to expand in the small business banking market, which will involve the creation of hundreds of jobs at Halifax branches and Bank of Scotland call centres.
10-Sep-2001

Axa Assistance is moving to a new head office in Redhill later this month, with 240 staff relocating from Leatherhead and 140 from Reigate.
07-Sep-2001

Barclays is to relocate its head office functions from a number of offices throughout London to a new 1m sq ft building at Canary Wharf.
06-Sep-2001

Savills is planning to spend £17m on the expansion of its upmarket estate agency business, through bolt-on acquisitions and the formation of partnerships.
06-Sep-2001

Britannic is to expand its insurance distribution network through two new deals with Irish Life & Permanent and Isle of Man-based Hansard Group.
05-Sep-2001

Virgin Incentives, the voucher-giving service, is opening a call centre in Thornaby on Teesside, with the creation of up to 20 jobs.
04-Sep-2001

Collins Stewart is planning to expand its hedge fund business into Italy and other European countries, and is also continuing to grow its investment trust operations.
04-Sep-2001

Tep Exchange has raised about £1m in a flotation on Aim, in order to fund the development of its electronic trading platform for dealing in endowment policies.
03-Sep-2001

First Trust has announced plans to invest £10m in its banking network in Northern Ireland, including the creation of a £3m flagship branch in Belfast city centre.
31-Aug-2001

Britannic Assurance is to acquire Blairlogie Capital Management of Edinburgh for undisclosed terms, in order to expand its Britannic Asset Management subsidiary.
30-Aug-2001

Centrica is to invest £12m in the launch of a new smartcard for golfers, in partnership with the English Golf Union and AdvancedWare.
30-Aug-2001

Cox Insurance is to recruit 100 additional staff at its insurance call centre in Bradford over the next few months.
27-Aug-2001

NewMedia Spark is planning to acquire Sputz, the German broking and venture capital group, for £30m.
27-Aug-2001

Cattles is planning to open up to 100 consumer credit branches over the next 18 months, taking the total to 550.
24-Aug-2001

Legal & General is to recruit 100 extra staff in Birmingham over the next nine months, partly due to a partnership deal that involves L&G's products being sold by the Woolwich.
23-Aug-2001

Bank of Scotland is opening the country's first convenience store bank at a Spar outlet in Inverkeithing, and the idea could be expanded to other areas.
23-Aug-2001

Icollector, the online auction business, is to be acquired by Ableauctions of the US for up to £9.6m, on the condition that a £2.4m share placing goes ahead.
23-Aug-2001

Broadcastle is to acquire Cash Express, the invoice discounting company, for £0.8m.
21-Aug-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland has announced plans to create 100 jobs at a new £3m call centre in Norwich for its Virgin One all-in-one current account and mortgage.
20-Aug-2001

CGNU is to create 250 jobs at its Norwich Union life and pensions business in York, having decided to relocate some administration processing investment from Croydon.
20-Aug-2001

William M Mercer is to acquire SCA Consulting, the supplier of advice on performance-related pay packages, for undisclosed terms.
20-Aug-2001

Yorkshire Building Society is creating 72 jobs at call centres in Bradford over the next six months.
17-Aug-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland is to acquire Euro Sales Finance, the invoice discounting company, for £68m.
15-Aug-2001

Claims Direct, the personal injury claims specialist, has recommended a £19m takeover bid from its two founders.
13-Aug-2001

Beeson Gregory has raised £4.5m in a share placing to expand its IP2IPO intellectual property division.
06-Aug-2001

TD Waterhouse is to close its share dealing office in Bradford with the loss of up to 80 jobs, although some staff will relocate to Leeds and Manchester.
01-Aug-2001

Lloyds TSB Insurance has bought the brand name of Screentrade.co.uk, the online insurance broker, from Misys for undisclosed terms.
31-Jul-2001

Bank of Scotland is to recruit an additional 15 managers at its new business bank in Inverness.
30-Jul-2001

Insinger de Beaufort of the Netherlands is to acquire United Trust Bank for £8.7m, in order to gain a UK banking licence to expand its wealth management business.
30-Jul-2001

Halifax Cetelem is to set up a national operations centre in Coventry to supply finance and credit services to retailers, with the creation of more than 100 jobs.
27-Jul-2001

CGNU is to acquire the Insurance Corporation of Singapore from DBS Group for £152m, which will more than double its presence in Asia.
24-Jul-2001

American Express is to open Sharepeople investment centres in four of its London travel centres, and the trial will be extended to other sites if successful.
24-Jul-2001

Alliance & Leicester is looking to spend up to £500m on acquisitions to expand its retail and small business banking operations.
23-Jul-2001

The Scottish Executive has announced plans to move the Scottish Public Pensions Agency from Edinburgh to Galashiels at the end of next year, which is expected to lead to the relocation of 50 jobs and the creation of 175 new jobs.
19-Jul-2001

Royal & Sun Alliance is to acquire Seguros BBV Probursa, the Mexican insurance company, for £29m.
19-Jul-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland is to buy the US retail banking business of Pittsburgh-based Mellon Financial for £1.5bn, funded by a £2bn share placing.
18-Jul-2001

Gartmore is to sell its passive equity fund management business to State Street Global Advisors for undisclosed terms, in order to focus on its high margin active business.
18-Jul-2001

Levy Gee, the accountancy firm, has been acquired by a new company called Numerica for undisclosed terms, and Numerica is now looking to acquire further small professional services firms.
17-Jul-2001

Aberdeen Asset Management is to acquire Ivory & Sime Asset Management from Friends Ivory & Sime for £9.6m.
17-Jul-2001

Liverpool Victoria is expected to create more than 100 jobs in Poole through the acquisition of Essex-based Bishopscourt Financial Holdings and some of its subsidiaries.
16-Jul-2001

NewMedia Spark is to shed some of the 30 jobs at its London office and postpone plans to set up an office in India, in order to reduce costs in its technology investment business by £3m a year.
16-Jul-2001

Bonhams & Brooks is planning to merge with Phillips to create a combined fine art auction group that will include Phillips' Bond Street saleroom and regional auction houses.
13-Jul-2001

Hercules Property Services is to acquire Mainguild, the franchised residential auction house of the Winkworth estate agency, for up to £0.5m.
12-Jul-2001

Liverpool Victoria has acquired the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses in a £248m deal.
11-Jul-2001

Enterprise has acquired First Claims Response, the supplier of maintenance services to local authorities and hospital trusts in the North of England, for up to £5.8m.
10-Jul-2001

Royal & Sun Alliance has agreed to buy the property and casualty services arm of collapsed Independent Insurance for almost £3m, securing 300 jobs.
10-Jul-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland is considering plans to expand its US presence by acquiring Mellon Financial of Pittsburgh for more than £1.3bn.
09-Jul-2001

CPP Holdings has acquired Homecare Holdings, the mobile phone insurance subsidiary of Miller Fisher, for undisclosed terms.
06-Jul-2001

Labour is planning to relocate its headquarters and 80 jobs from London's Millbank to North Shields, while a further 60 staff will be moved to new offices in central London.
06-Jul-2001

The government has announced plans to set up 20 pension administration centres around the country, including one in Swansea that will create 500 new jobs.
05-Jul-2001

Eversheds, the law firm, is to relocate 310 staff from two offices in Newcastle-upon-Tyne to a new office at the Central Square development early next year.
05-Jul-2001

Edinburgh Fund Managers has acquired Portfolio Fund Management from Liberty International for up to £20m.
05-Jul-2001

Bank of Ireland is to acquire Willis Financial, the independent financial adviser, for £40m, which will provide its Bristol & West division with a network of 18 offices and 100 consultants.
04-Jul-2001

Union has sold its margin share trading and foreign exchange operations to Man Financial for £1.8m.
03-Jul-2001

Lovells is to merge with Paris and Brussels-based Simeon & Associes, creating a combined law firm with more than 130 partners in continental Europe.
03-Jul-2001

Hammond Suddards Edge is to merge with Rossotto e Associati, the Italian law firm with 44 lawyers.
03-Jul-2001

Penna Consulting has acquired James Black Partnership, the Belfast-based human resources consultancy, for up to £5.2m.
29-Jun-2001

Newmarket Underwriting, the Lloyd's managing agency with 35 staff, has been acquired by Danish Re and has also decided to close its marine underwriting operation.
29-Jun-2001

Halifax has opened its new £45m banking call centre in Belfast, and has also announced plans to create a further 100 jobs at an e-commerce centre on the site.
27-Jun-2001

Abbey National is creating 15 new jobs in Chelmsford, as the town has been chosen as one of nine locations nationwide to act as an advice centre for its new Inscape investment management service.
27-Jun-2001

Towry Law is being acquired by AMP of Australia for £76m, and AMP is planning to expand the business into the UK's largest financial adviser.
27-Jun-2001

Legal & General is to sell its Fairmont financial services business to Brown Shipley for £35m.
25-Jun-2001

BWD Securities is to acquire Dennis Murphy Campbell for £10m, in order to expand its stockbroking business into the City of London.
25-Jun-2001

National Mutual, the pensions company with 690 staff, has agreed to a £370m takeover offer from GE Capital, and will now seek approval from its members.
25-Jun-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland has acquired the Italian and German motor insurance operations of Allstate of the US for undisclosed terms, as part of a strategy to expand its Direct Line subsidiary into continental Europe.
21-Jun-2001

Charterhouse Development Capital, the venture capital group, has undergone a management buy-out from HSBC for undisclosed terms.
21-Jun-2001

Royal & Sun Alliance is to sell its Canadian life insurance business to the Maritime Life Assurance Company for £110m.
20-Jun-2001

Millfield is planning to expand its network of financial advisers from 100 to about 300 by April 2002.
19-Jun-2001

Handelsbanken of Sweden is to open a branch in Leeds to act as the centre for its operations in Yorkshire and the north east.
18-Jun-2001

The Meteorological Office is to invest £0.5m in a new online trading exchange for weather risk derivatives called WeatherXchange.com.
18-Jun-2001

NewMedia Spark is to acquire GlobalNetFinancial, the online financial services company, for about £9m.
18-Jun-2001

Churchill Insurance is to acquire AMP's general insurance operations in the UK for £80m, which will involve the transfer of about 420 Peterborough-based staff.
18-Jun-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland is to create 80 new jobs at the NatWest Bank call centre at Theale near Reading.
18-Jun-2001

CGNU is to acquire Fortis Australia from Fortis Group for £111m, in order to expand its general insurance business in Australia.
15-Jun-2001

PricewaterhouseCoopers is to close its Derby office next month, and 50 staff will relocate to Nottingham.
15-Jun-2001

Active is to expand its financial services business process outsourcing centre near Rotherham with the creation of 250 jobs, while a further 100 jobs will be created in Halesowen.
15-Jun-2001

PricewaterhouseCoopers is to create a further 50 jobs at its new Business Process Outsourcing centre in Potters Bar, having won a contract to provide human resource services for Nortel Networks.
14-Jun-2001

Kingsbridge Holdings is to acquire Benson McGarvey, the Nottingham-based financial adviser, for £13m.
14-Jun-2001

Legal & General is planning to create a further 300 jobs at its two financial services sites in Cardiff this year.
13-Jun-2001

The London Stock Exchange is to relocate to larger premises at Paternoster Square in the City of London, having signed a 25-year lease on an eight-storey building at King Edward's Court.
13-Jun-2001

Green Flag has announced plans to recruit a further 194 staff at its insurance call centres in Leeds and Pudsey, with vacancies in motoring assistance, customer service, telesales and claims departments.
11-Jun-2001

Card Protection Plan has announced plans to create a further 400 jobs at its Holgate Park headquarters in York.
11-Jun-2001

Longacre Partners is to acquire Lommen, the Swedish corporate finance house, as part of its European expansion programme.
07-Jun-2001

Ward Evans is to create about 12 new jobs in its York-based insurance and financial services business over the next two months, to add to the existing 185.
06-Jun-2001

Kwik-Fit Insurance is to create a further 100 jobs at its insurance call centre in Tannochside, to add to the existing 800.
05-Jun-2001

Halifax is considering plans to set up a third operations centre for its Intelligent Finance internet and telephone banking business in Fife, which could lead to the creation of up to 400 jobs.
05-Jun-2001

Davies Wallis Foyster is to set up a national centre of excellence for high-volume legal transactions in Warrington, which will trade under the name of DWF Maxima and create about 150 jobs.
04-Jun-2001

CGNU is investing £250m in its new Norwich Union internet business, which will involve online banking and wealth management and the creation of 300 jobs in Norwich.
30-May-2001

Capita is to acquire McLarens from McLarens Toplis for £33m, in order to provide claims management outsourcing services to the insurance industry.
30-May-2001

IFG Group is to acquire Fair Isle Investments, the Fareham-based corporate pensions company, for £3m.
30-May-2001

GE Capital is to acquire iGroup, the mortgage lender, for £200m, as part of a strategy to expand its European financial services business.
30-May-2001

Bank of Ireland is looking to acquire firms of independent financial advisers to expand its moneyeXtra financial website in the UK.
28-May-2001

Halifax is linking up with Nationwide and Alliance & Leicester to acquire a 51% stake in Mortgage Brain of Croydon for £5m, in order to develop a trading platform for financial advisers.
24-May-2001

Jones Lang LaSalle is opening a new office in Norwich this month to provide property management services to CGNU, and staff numbers are expected to double to 100 over the next 12 months.
23-May-2001

CGNU is to sell its Belgian non-life insurance business to Winterthur of Switzerland for £72m.
23-May-2001

Charles Taylor Consulting is to acquire Resolve International, the supplier of insurance underwriting services with offices in London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Brussels and Miami.
23-May-2001

Collins Stewart is to acquire the private client advisory business of NatWest Stockbrokers for up to £17m.
21-May-2001

Capita is to buy the corporate trustee business of Royal & Sun Alliance for £24m, and will also acquire the remaining 68.5% of the Myshares software business for £2m.
18-May-2001

Esure is to set up a customer support call centre in Glasgow for its motor insurance business, with the creation of up to 400 jobs over the next three years.
17-May-2001

Abbey National is to acquire Fleming Premier Banking from JP Morgan Chase for £106m, and the business will be integrated with Cater Allen.
15-May-2001

Ulster Bank is to set up a £8.3m internet-enabled account management centre at Danesfort in Belfast, with the creation of 210 jobs over the next five years.
11-May-2001

Asquith Court Holdings, the Berkhamstead-based operator of nursery and independent day schools, has been acquired by West Private Equity for £66m.
11-May-2001

The Funding Corporation is setting up a new financial services business in Chester to provide hire-purchase finance, and expects to create more than 100 jobs.
10-May-2001

Shepherd & Wedderburn is planning to create 50 jobs at its law offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, including 40 lawyers and 10 support staff.
09-May-2001

Insinger de Beaufort has acquired English Trust in order to expand its stockbroking and corporate finance business.
08-May-2001

Wolters Kluwer of the Netherlands has sold its London-based Financial Training business to management for about £50m.
08-May-2001

Royal & Sun Alliance has sold its Swinton insurance broking business to MMA of France for £54m.
04-May-2001

Abbey National has bought International Equipment Management, the Dutch aircraft leasing company, from ING for £26m.
04-May-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland is to sell the institutional custody operations of NatWest bank to the Bank of New York for undisclosed terms.
03-May-2001

Quinn-Direct is planning to set up a new call centre for its insurance business in Enniskillen with the creation of an unspecified number of jobs, but has not yet disclosed the location of the facility.
30-Apr-2001

Amvescap is to acquire Pell Rudman, the Boston-based asset management company, for £139m, in order to expand its wealth management business in the US.
30-Apr-2001

Hiscox is planning to double the size of its retail insurance business over the next five years, in order to reduce its dependence on the Lloyd's market.
27-Apr-2001

Barclays is planning to extend the opening hours at most of its 1,719 branches over the next two years, with the creation of 2,000 jobs.
27-Apr-2001

Begbies Traynor has acquired Huntingdon Moore of Liverpool, in order to move into the Merseyside insolvency and corporate rescue market.
26-Apr-2001

CPP is looking to recruit a further 250 staff at its financial services call centre in York by September, taking the total workforce to 1,000.
26-Apr-2001

Halifax is negotiating a £27bn merger with Bank of Scotland, which will create the fifth largest bank in the UK and enable Halifax to expand further into current accounts and business banking.
26-Apr-2001

HSBC is to expand its call centre operations in Leicester with the creation of 250 jobs, and will move its commercial contact operations to the city over the next 18 months.
25-Apr-2001

Old Mutual is planning to acquire Fleming Offshore Banking, the JP Morgan Chase private banking business that operates from Guernsey and the Isle of Man, for £51m.
20-Apr-2001

Consignia is investing £50m on computer equipment designed to make its system compatible with the Link network of cash machines, which will enable customers to use debit cards at 40,000 post office terminals around the country.
19-Apr-2001

Tenon Group has announced the £59m acquisition of five accountancy businesses in Manchester, London, Edinburgh and the north-east of England.
18-Apr-2001

Aberdeen Asset Management has acquired Celexa, the Swedish property fund management company, for £16m.
18-Apr-2001

PricewaterhouseCoopers has acquired Coba, the specialist due diligence company, for about £7m, in order to create a new strategy group with more than 50 consultants.
17-Apr-2001

Benfield Greig is to acquire EW Blanch of the US for £126m, in order to create an international reinsurance brokerage with about 30 offices and 1,700 staff.
17-Apr-2001

Dunedin Capital Partners has acquired Group Trust, the investment business of Legal & General, for £32m.
11-Apr-2001

Manchester City Council has approved plans for the development of a £30m court complex in the Spinningfield area, which will include 18 court rooms and facilities for 180 staff.
05-Apr-2001

Jupiter Unit Trust Managers is to relocate its administration department from London to Kings Hill in Kent with the creation of about 25 jobs.
05-Apr-2001

Manchester United is planning to extend its range of financial services, and possibilities include pensions, insurance, bank accounts, mortgages and savings.
04-Apr-2001

Kingsbridge is to acquire Stafford Group and The Independent Financial Partnership for £12m, funded by a £19m share placing.
03-Apr-2001

The London Stock Exchange is considering the possibility of relocating to Canary Wharf or a number of other sites in London.
02-Apr-2001

Springboard has acquired Private Capital Exchange, the online corporate finance company, for undisclosed terms.
28-Mar-2001

Credit Suisse First Boston is to sell off DLJ European Private Equity to a new business called Phoenix Equity Partners.
28-Mar-2001

Britannia Building Society is to relocate its mortgage processing centre and up to 70 staff from Hanley to its headquarters in Leek this summer.
27-Mar-2001

Alliance & Leicester is to set up a chain of stores to provide information to people planning to buy or improve homes, with the first two outlets opening in Banbury and Leamington Spa.
27-Mar-2001

Bradford & Bingley is investing £10m in the launch of mortgage broking and independent financial advice centres in its network of more than 500 branches.
26-Mar-2001

CGNU has acquired Mebit, the Hungarian life insurance company, from ABN Amro for £64m.
21-Mar-2001

Collins Stewart is planning to expand its asset management business through acquisitions and organic growth this year, and will invest £1.3m in its Quest online research operation.
20-Mar-2001

Abbey National is to sell its credit card division to MBNA for £289m, but the cards will continue to carry the Abbey National logo and the bank will receive a commission for every account opened.
20-Mar-2001

Financial Training Company, the provider of accountancy training, is to undergo a £50m management buy-out backed by Royal Bank of Scotland.
19-Mar-2001

Goldman Sachs is planning to relocate its J Aron precious metals trading business from New York to London.
19-Mar-2001

Foreign Currency Services, the foreign exchange bureau, is to create 60 new jobs in Stirling following a £2.3m cash injection, and is also setting up an operation in New York.
19-Mar-2001

Donns is to relocate its Manchester-based law firm to larger premises at The Observatory on Cross Street later this month, and is also setting up a £0.25m accident management call centre.
14-Mar-2001

Lloyds TSB is planning to create 500 more jobs at its call centre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
14-Mar-2001

Prudential is to acquire American General of the US in a £15bn all-share deal, as part of a strategy to create a global financial services group.
13-Mar-2001

Cattles has raised £39m in a share placing and is planning to open a further 40-50 consumer credit branches this year.
09-Mar-2001

Portman Building Society is to start relocating 500 staff to a new £27m headquarters in Bournemouth in May, while a further 50 new jobs will be created.
07-Mar-2001

Bank of Ireland is to open a new business centre in Edinburgh next month, employing five staff, and is now considering other locations around the UK.
06-Mar-2001

De La Rue is acquiring ATS Money Systems, the US supplier of currency management systems to the retail sector, for £9.7m.
05-Mar-2001

Royal Bank of Scotland is looking to expand its US business by acquiring retail banks in New England, and has also announced that negotiations are taking place for the sale of the former NatWest headquarters in Lothbury.
02-Mar-2001

Amvescap is to acquire National Asset Management of Kentucky for £208m, as part of a strategy to expand its fund management operations in the US.
01-Mar-2001

Hermes Investment Management is to invest £2.5m in Equity.i, the independent research and advice service for quoted companies.
28-Feb-2001

Bank of Scotland is planning to open Scotland's first drive-by bank at a Texaco station near Dunfermline, and is now seeking additional sites.
28-Feb-2001

Millfield is to raise £18m in a flotation on Aim in order to fund the expansion of its independent financial advisory business.
27-Feb-2001

Lloyds TSB has started recruiting more than 250 new staff for its call centre at Tredegar Park in Newport.
26-Feb-2001

Maclay Murray & Spens is planning to merge with Mackay Simon to create a combined Scottish law firm with 57 partners.
23-Feb-2001

Standard Chartered is looking to expand its retail banking and consumer debt operations in the Far East, and has confirmed plans to centralise its back-office processing and customer support functions at two hubs in India and Malaysia.
22-Feb-2001

City Invoice Finance is looking to expand its factoring and invoice discount services into Yorkshire, the East Midlands, London and the south east, and may float the business to raise cash for expansion.
21-Feb-2001

Citigroup has announced plans to expand its European operations from its new London headquarters, and will focus on investment banking, wealth management and credit cards.
21-Feb-2001

Bfinance, the financial services internet company, has raised £22m of second-round funding to develop its technology and strengthen its salesforce.
20-Feb-2001

Lehman Brothers is to relocate the European headquarters of its investment banking business from the City of London to Canary Wharf, having decided against a move to Hackney.
16-Feb-2001

Alliance & Leicester is planning to expand its chain of 309 branches this year, and will also install 1,500 new cash machines.
16-Feb-2001

The Post Office has reached agreement with VIP.com for the installation of vending machines in up to 1,000 branches over the next three years, in order to sell telephone and online payment cards.
13-Feb-2001

Britannia Building Society has acquired Platform Home Loans for £55m, in order to move into the market for non-conforming mortgages.
13-Feb-2001

Baillie Gifford is looking to expand its investment business into continental Europe, and is seeking alliances in Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
09-Feb-2001

EVC Christows is planning to acquire Evolution Capital of London for £12m, in order to establish a corporate advisory business.
09-Feb-2001

CGNU has sold State Insurance, the New Zealand supplier of personal and commercial insurance, to NRMA of Australia for £125m.
09-Feb-2001

BWD Securities is planning to expand its financial services business into the south of England by forming alliances with independent financial advisers.
08-Feb-2001

Bank of Ireland is to invest £8m in a customer contact centre in Newry, which will begin operations in July 2002 and create 300 jobs.
08-Feb-2001

Bell Lawrie White is to expand its stockbroking business into independent financial planning, and will double the space at its Courthouse Square office in Dundee to cope with the additional workload.
08-Feb-2001

Swinton Insurance has acquired Deansgate Insurance Group of Manchester for undisclosed terms, and 25 of the 35 branches will be closed with the staff transferring to Swinton.
08-Feb-2001

Halifax has announced plans to create a further 400 jobs at its Card Services business in Cardiff this year.
07-Feb-2001

Lloyds TSB has announced plans to set up a new wealth management division called Create, which will enable affluent investors to consolidate all their financial products into a single account.
07-Feb-2001

McClure Naismith has announced plans to move to larger offices in Edinburgh later this year, recruit 40 lawyers and launch new legal services in banking and corporate finance.
06-Feb-2001

Pointon York, the pensions management company, has sold its advisory business to Thomson's Group for undisclosed terms.
06-Feb-2001

Charles Schwab is considering plans to install stockbroking counters in the 314 bank branches of Alliance & Leicester.
05-Feb-2001

Halifax has agreed to acquire the assets of Equitable Life, the mutual life insurer, in a £1bn deal.
05-Feb-2001

Friends Provident has sold its individual savings accounts and unit trust business to Friends Ivory & Sime for £129m, and is now planning to demutualise and seek a listing on the London Stock Exchange later this year.
05-Feb-2001

Arthur Andersen is to acquire the UK division of Xpedior, the US web consultancy, for undisclosed terms, and the business will be renamed Arthur Andersen Digital Solutions.
02-Feb-2001

Northern Rock is to create 250 jobs at new administration headquarters in Gosforth and Sunderland this year.
01-Feb-2001

TD Waterhouse is linking up with Charles Schwab to acquire Aitken Campbell, the Glasgow-based marketmaker, from Abbey National for £60m.
01-Feb-2001

Skandia Life is to create up to 450 jobs in Southampton this year, as it prepares to move into a new office at Liberty House in Commercial Road.
31-Jan-2001

Next has sold Clydesdale Financial Services, its consumer credit business, to a management buy-in backed by Barclays Private Equity for £108m.
29-Jan-2001

JP Morgan, the investment bank, is planning to recruit 100 software engineers at its technology centre in Glasgow this year, and a further 120 jobs are planned at its accounting subsidiary in Edinburgh.
24-Jan-2001

WILink.com is expanding its financial information business by acquiring Andersson & Nilsson of Sweden and Informed Investors of the US for a total £7m, while its David Conrad garments business is being sold to management for £1.4m.
22-Jan-2001

Abbey National is to relocate a customer service centre from Milton Keynes to Bradford, where it will create about 200 jobs.
18-Jan-2001

Axa Insurance is to create 60 new jobs at a call centre in Morecambe over the next few months.
16-Jan-2001

Pinsent Curtis is planning to merge with Biddle to create a combined law firm with 518 lawyers.
16-Jan-2001

Lehman Brothers, the investment bank, is considering plans to build a new £80m corporate headquarters at Northgate in Hackney.
15-Jan-2001

Cox Insurance has expanded its network of Argent retail branches with the acquisition of Doncaster-based Bourne Swann for undisclosed terms.
12-Jan-2001

Marsh is planning to create a further 100 jobs at its insurance office in Norwich.
10-Jan-2001

Axa Insurance is to create up to 200 new jobs at its Severalls Lane Industrial Estate call centre in Colchester.
08-Jan-2001

CGNU is to set up a new Norwich Union regional sales office in Aberdeen, after restructuring its existing regions in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
05-Jan-2001

Tenon Group is planning to raise up to £75m in a rights issue in order to expand its accountancy business into support services and human resources.
02-Jan-2001

CGNU has sold two Canadian operations for a total £133m, with Manulife Financial acquiring Commercial Union Life Holdings and American International Group acquiring Norwich Union Holdings (Canada).
02-Jan-2001

Foreign & Colonial, the fund manager, has been acquired by Eureko following the sale of Hypovereinsbank's 90% stake for £414m, and Eureko is planning to create a leading pan-European asset management business under the F&C brand.
02-Jan-2001

Equitable Life has sold its Permanent Insurance division to Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society for £150m.
02-Jan-2001