At The Stock Market Show in September we asked the audience how many people in the room held shares in Lloyds Banking (LLOY) before the global financial crisis in 2008, and how many still hold the stock today. More than half the room put their hands up, with people admitting they still held the stock in the hope that it would eventually go back to the glory days of paying 7%+ dividend...

Cross-border payments platform operator Earthport (EPO:AIM) plans to draw together key City movers and shakers next month at an investor day that could put an end to a longer period of share price doldrums.The stock has largely tracked sideways since hitting five-year peaks of 49p in April 2014. Shares flagged the stock five months earlier on 5 December 2013 at 24p.Despite unveiling a...

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' surprise decision to break off negotiations with creditors and put proposals to a referendum (5 July) is shaking markets.Triggering declines in global stock markets, the biggest losses were concentrated in large, European banks: Santander (BNC), BNP Paribas (BNP:EPA) and Deutsche Bank (DBK:ETR), were among the hardest hit.The possibility of a 'Grexit' has...

Everyone loves a freebie, but it's very frustrating when a company teases you with an offer which you can't actually get your hands on. Welcome to the world of shareholder perks, a reward that many investors struggle to obtain, either because their broker is unhelpful or the system requires extra expense to prove ownership of certain stocks. Fear not, as we have found a way for many...

European equity outperformance? Pigs might fly.Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain (the PIIGS) are confounding commentators' 2015 predictions with improving economic and stock market performance early in the year.Shares correctly called a rally on European stocks ahead of the European Central Bank's quantitative easing (QE) announcement (22 Jan, ECBonanza). European stock indices in...

Reinvesting your dividends is a powerful way of increasing the return on your investment, but the range of charges, restrictions and fine print set by companies and stockbrokers can make the process seem mind-boggling.To make things easier for you we have contacted the major UK stockbrokers to find out where and how you can apply for automatic dividend reinvestment, what terms and conditions...

The active versus passive investment management debate has raged on for many years, with proponents of the former highlighting their strategic stock selection principles and supporters of the latter pointing to their low cost, transparent nature. Some believe smart beta exchange traded funds (ETFs) combine the best features of both and could end the argument once and for all.Hybrid...

Spain's economic recovery is tentatively taking hold which could benefit several UK-quoted companies. A year ago the country was still mired in a double-dip recession but household spending is now starting to pick up which suggests investors should look at Imperial Tobacco (IMT), Northgate (NTG) and Banco Santander (BNC), all of whom stand to benefit from a Spanish revival.Despite last week's...

The rich pipeline of companies preparing to join the stock market is great for investors seeking new ideas. But as many flotations over the few past years have seen their share price rocket, many investors now assume that all initial public offerings (IPOs) will be a success. This is unlikely as the euphoria surrounding floats means we may soon start to get lower-quality companies joining the...

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) slips 1.6% to 331.2p as Nathan Bostock resignsas finance director after only 10 weeks in the job. His successor is yet to be named. Bostock is to join rival bank Santander (BNC) as deputy chief executive of its UK operations.FirstGroup (FGP) is under attack from activist investor Sandell. Proposals to break up the transport operator excite the market as the share...

The lesson we are still all learning from the financial crisis, subsequent downturn and flaccid recovery is banks are crucial to a country's economic health. Whatever you think of the mantra 'too big to fail', and the answer is probably not much, the nation's politicians, lawmakers and regulators are all working hard to try and ensure banks are not able to jeopardise their own futures, or...

The banking sector is living through interesting times. In the past week the industry has witnessed Stephen Hester?s resignation as Royal Bank of Scotland?s (RBS) boss, the Co-op working to fill a £1.5 billion hole in its finances and the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards advising that reckless bankers should be jailed.Bankers awoke today to find themselves in the headlines once...

The government?s plan to make the UK?s banking industry more competitive has been dealt a blow after one of the country?s smallest players pulled out of a deal to expand its network.The Co-op is no longer interested in buying 632 branches from Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY), due to an uncertain economic outlook and increased regulation in the financial services industry.The £800 million deal,...

For a bank surrounded by bad news, investors may ask why shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has risen by nearly 75% since summer 2012. There's plenty of 'sell' ratings by analysts and the £20.8 billion cap continues to be lambasted by the press. So what's the real story?There have been several signs that it is recovering from the financial crisis, which led to the government injecting...

BUY 543p TARGET 850p STOP LOSS 490pAS THE SAYING goes, 'the night is always darkest before the dawn' and as such now may be a good time to investigate the investment attractions of Spain's Banco Santander (BNC), which has a London listing.Evident resistance close to £10.80 proved too much to overcome in 2009 and that ushered in a protracted bear move that twice took the shares below the 365p...

In one of his celebrated Low life columns, racing journalist Jeffrey Bernard quipped that in the space of one ten-minute sojourn in a Berkshire pub he had been offered a fight, a large unsolicited loan, a whole poached salmon, marriage and ten tips for a ten-horse race taking place that afternoon. As one year rolls over in the next, it is easy for investors to feel equally bewildered as they...

It all started in September 2007 and for many it would be the beginning of the end for banking as they knew it. When retail lender Northern Rock approached the Bank of England for emergency funding five years ago it became the start of one of the worst periods in the banking sector's history.Northern Rock's model of lending long-term mortgages while borrowing short-term through securitising...