Lloyds Banking Takeover Rumours (LLOY)

After nearly two decades of trying to stamp out risks in the financial system, the tide is turning in the City of London.Bankers and ministers alike are crying foul over ballooning compliance costs and red tape that, rather than make the world a safer place, is increasingly strangling growth by turning the City into the “safest graveyard”.Britain’s largest lender Lloyds Bank last week unveiled plans to cut dozens of risk management jobs after an internal review found its risk structures were acting as a “blocker” to change.Barclays also cut thousands of jobs from its Execution Services division last year, a support unit which includes compliance and risk roles. To top it off, deal making is back: Nationwide’s proposed £2.9bn takeover of Virgin Money marks the largest bank merger since the 2008 financial crisis....Daily Telegraph

Https://news.sky.com/story/nationwide-agrees-terms-for-2-9bn-takeover-of-virgin-money-13088922 Regulators spent years advocating new banks to disrupt big banks. How many of the disruptor banks have survived, bought by the big banks? As for Nationwide takeover of Virgin Money, shows two things to me, firstly how slow big boys are to respond to the market and secondly big banks end up mopping up small boys.

Nationwide makes £2.9bn takeover offer for Virgin Money Kalyeena Makortoff Kalyeena Makortoff There’s a flurry of takeover action in the City this morning, as Nationwide Building Society strikes a deal to buy rival Virgin Money. The deal values Virgin Money at nearly £3bn and would create the second-largest provider of mortgages and savings in the UK. The two lenders have reached a preliminary agreement on the key terms of a deal, which would create a new competitor with £366bn in total assets, according to a joint statement released on Thursday morning. The proposed £2.9bn deal offers Virgin Money shareholders 220p a share and represents a 38% premium on the lender’s share price on Wednesday.

The Abu Dhabi fund pursuing a takeover of The Telegraph has been accused of “last-minute smoke and mirrors” after it revised the deal prompting further delays and uncertainty.Writing in The Telegraph, the former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the changes were “undoubtedly an attempt to convince the regulators and responsible ministers that their proposed deal is something that it clearly isn’t.”Sir Iain, who has argued that allowing a foreign state to acquire The Telegraph would be dangerous for democracy, said: “Notwithstanding the last minute smoke and mirrors, the fundamentals remain the same.”... Daily Telegraph

Insider knowledge isnt really an opinion - its a fact. I have had personal experience of it twice. First was a friend of mine whose father is a Premier league football manager. A few of us were informed a few days before it was announced that he would be appointed new manager of XX FC. Second was a very wealthy friend of mine was informed of a takeover that would take place. He bought - in his words- rather more than I could afford which is an indicator of how many he bought. I dont know how much he made but it merited a visit from the FCA and his broker phoned him to say we dont know where you obtained the information but you bought that many we bought some too. Thats not opinion

cobourg - I use InteractiveBrokers via a small UK broker. As covered calls they are written against my holding to enhance yield. I also write puts and have often written substantial naked calls. The latter could have large losses on the wrong side of a takeover but never unlimited. I have also written forex options, nearly always covered on time deposits. Low activity at present as my market view is very cloudy!!!

Lloyds could be a takeover target by USA bank in 2024.