Bitesize Blighty: September 28, 2018
- Savers in the UK now have an opportunity to Bank with one of Wall Street’s investment juggernaut as Goldman Sachs launched a savings account for members of the UK public. The new savings, called Marcus, offers savers a competitive rate of 1.5% which is the highest return seen in the UK savers market in well over two years. This offer is expected to shake up the market for challenger banks, who will have to confront the competition from a banking heavy weight like Goldman Sachs and will likely see savers moving their savings pot from high street banks like HSBC to the shiny new Marcus.
- This week, the Competition and Markets Authourity (CMA) published its findings on the proposed merger of two of UK’s largest grocery retailers, Sainsburys and ASDA.Following the referral of the merger proposal to the competition watch dog in August and a finding that the deal raises sufficient concerns to be referred for a more in-depth review as "at a local level, the parties' stores overlap in several hundred local areas across the UK.”. This means that the merger could substantially lessen competition. The merger proposal has now been referred for full market review through a Phase 2 inquiry which will take into account changed market dynamics.
- It has been another Friday of locked customer accounts for UK banks as TSB and HSBC bank users had difficulties with their mobile banking app. Spokespeople for both banks have issues an apology, promising to continue investigating.
