All articles by Douglas Blakey

Douglas Blakey

Signal: Kirkland & Ellis top M&A legal adviser in financial services sector in H1 2023, reveals GlobalData

Kirkland & Ellis outpaces its peers by a large margin in both volume and value terms

De-risking banking in the metaverse

Jay Nair discusses the top challenges for meta-banks and sets out a possible way forward

How industry standards enable smart banking 

Hans Tesselaar, executive director at BIAN explains how introducing industry standards and taking a coreless banking approach is the key to enabling smart banking 

illimity H1 2023 net profit +66% y-o-y to €52.2m

Revenue rises 28% to €204.2m boosted by improved margins and a 17% increase in fees and commissions

Banks should be responsible when acquiring new customers during this inflationary period

Credit card issuers must ensure that they offer riskier customers money management tools, argues Yasha Kuruvilla

Deal focus: Upgrade snaps up BNPL outfit Uplift in $100m deal

In the end, Uplift investors wanted to cut their losses-they injected almost $700m in equity and debt into the BNPL outfit and exit with a whopping loss

Uncertainty and financial challenges driving down homeowner satisfaction with US mortgage providers

Rocket Mortgage ranks highest among mortgage servicers ahead of Guild Mortgage, Chase and Bank of America, according to JD Power’s Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study

RBC expands Avion Rewards access to all Canadians

RBC opens loyalty programme to all Canadians without need to be a client

National Bank of Canada to acquire Silicon Valley Bank’s Canadian portfolio

NBC says that the acquisition aligns with the bank’s commitment to the Canadian Tech industry

Metro Bank to open 11 new stores, posts third straight quarter of profits

Metro Bank reports a first half pre-tax profit of £15.4m compared with a loss of £10.5m in the year ago period