Weekly Global News Wrap Up: UK banks to justify consumer credit; Decline in correspondent banking not slowing

Find out why Frankfurt is dubbed as Brexit winner, and how mobile trumps branch visits.

From Bloomberg: The Bank of England told U.K. banks to prove that their policies on credit cards, personal loans and other types of consumer lending won’t leave them weaker in a downturn. The BOE’s Prudential Regulation Authority said on Tuesday that firms need to show that they’re not underestimating the risks of consumer credit given the current “benign economic environment.”

From Reuters: The decline in correspondent banking, a crucial channel for moving cash from one country to another, shows no sign of slowing despite measures agreed in 2015 to stem the slide, global regulators said on Tuesday. Banks have been pulling out of the business for a variety of reasons from not making enough money to industry consolidation to the fear of falling foul of tougher new rules designed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. The Financial Stability Board (FSB), which coordinates financial regulations for the Group of 20 countries (G20), said the places most affected tended to be small economies or those finding it difficult to apply the new rules.

From Bloomberg: And the Brexit winner is … Frankfurt? Could it really be? The city on the banks of the river Main had ambitions for decades to establish itself on a global map. It wanted to become West Germany’s new capital after World War II, only to lose out to provincial Bonn. After the introduction of the euro, it tried to rival London as Europe’s financial center, but never made it into the same league. With Britain turning its back on the continent and banks scrambling to ensure continued access to the single market, this town of about 700,000 is getting another shot at climbing the ranks.

From BBC: Typical consumers will visit a bank branch four times a year by 2022, turning instead to their mobile phones for services, according to forecasts. At present, people visit seven times a year on average, industry analysts CACI have said. It forecasts that contact with banks will rise - but primarily through apps, with desktop banking also shrinking.