Oxford News
UK banking group Close Brothers to axe 600 jobs to cut costs
The news comes as it looks to reduce annual costs by about £85 million after posting further losses in the face of a mounting compensation bill for the motor finance scandal.
Nearly a quarter of its 2,600 workforce will be cut as part of its efforts to slash costs by about £25 million in its current year to the end of September.
This is up from a previous target of £20 million, and it aims to cut it by around another £60 million in the next financial year, which is a year earlier than planned.
To cut the costs, Close Brothers will look to include moves to outsource and offshore work, cut back its office network and roll out the use of artificial intelligence (AI) “at pace”.
Chief executive, Mike Morgan, said: “While the impact on affected colleagues is regrettable, these actions are necessary to structurally lower our cost base, while increasing our agility and ability to serve our customers.”
Close Brothers also reported pre-tax operating losses of £65.5 million for the six months to March 31 after setting aside another £135 million for the car loans mis-selling saga.
But this marked an improvement on the £102.2 million in losses reported a year earlier.
The extra provision made last October saw it nearly double the amount of cash set aside for the car finance compensation scheme, adding to its existing £165 million provision.
It expects to face a bill of about £300 million to cover costs relating to the issue and it comes after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the details of its proposed compensation scheme for drivers who sold car loans with hidden or unfair commission payments.
The FCA will set out its final plans for the redress scheme by the end of this month, but has faced pushback from lenders including Close Brothers, Santander and Lloyds Banking Group over the regulator’s calculations for how much consumers lost out and should be compensated.
Close Brothers saw shares slump 14% on Monday (March 16) after a short seller, Viceroy Research, claimed Close Brothers would have to at least double its £300 million provision for car finance.
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Viceroy said Close Brothers had “substantially misrepresented” its exposure to the FCA’s redress scheme.
Close Brothers said it “strongly disagrees with the report” in a statement after market close on Monday.
The firm has been trimming costs and boosting its capital strength ahead of the compensation bill, agreeing sales of its Winterflood arm and asset management businesses.
The garden has been developed at Folly View Primary School and is designed to support pupil wellbeing, creativity, and personal growth by providing a calming and engaging outdoor space.
Funding for the project was secured through a £1,500 grant from the Tesco Community Grants scheme, made possible by votes from shoppers using blue tokens at the Faringdon store.
Muddy Spades, a local gardening business led by Royston Oxendale, also played a key role in bringing the garden to life by donating plants and building bespoke planters for the space.
Richard Evans, chief executive of Cambrian Learning Trust, said: “This wonderful sensory garden is a testament to what can be achieved when a community comes together with a shared purpose.
“At Cambrian Learning Trust, we are proud to see Folly View Primary School bringing its core values of belonging, kindness, and aspiration to life in such a meaningful way.
“This space will not only enhance pupils’ wellbeing but also inspire curiosity, resilience, and a lifelong love of learning.”
The garden will also support the school’s gardening club, offering pupils hands-on opportunities to care for plants and learn about the environment.
The school has thanked Tesco Faringdon, Muddy Spades, the PTA, and everyone involved in turning the garden into a reality.
UNESCO first adopted March 21 as World Poetry Day during its 30th General Conference in Paris, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.
The heritage organisation said: “World Poetry Day is the occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry, foster the convergence between poetry and other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and raise the visibility of poetry in the media.”
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This time on Looking Back, we’ve found a selection of fantastic poetry celebrations in Oxfordshire from the year 2014, now 12 years ago.
Language lovers converged for the day of celebration on bookshops, schools, at recitals and conferences.
Take a look back through this Oxford Mail archive gallery to find pictures from a decade ago of World Poetry Day celebrations in Oxfordshire.
We’ve made a gallery of pictures showing all the Oxfordshire spots which have been used for TV and film sets over the years.
Some of the biggest productions filmed here in Oxfordshire include Spectre in the James Bond franchise, which transformed Blenheim Palace in Woodstock into the Palazzo Cardenza in Rome.
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Many period dramas were also created in the county, like the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, which was partly filmed at Chastleton House in the Cotswolds.
Cotswolds villages have been repeatedly transformed and used as filming locations for their historical appeal, like the villages of Brill, Broadwell and Castle Combe.
Find all the pictures in this archive gallery of historic Oxfordshire filming locations here.
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