Looking back at the world of finance in 2013, who enjoyed a successful year and who had one to forget?
As the clock ticks down on 2013, some people will look back on the 12 months just gone with satisfaction, while others will not remember this year so fondly. Here are some financial people and institutions who enjoyed a good year, and some for whom it can't end soon enough.
Good year
George Osborne
After three years of poor official figures and falling popularity ratings, which reached its nadir with the ‘omnishambles’ Budget of 2012 and the loss of the prized AAA credit rating, the Chancellor enjoyed a much better 2013.
Improved growth and unemployment numbers, the restoration of the triple-A, plus opinion polls showing Osborne is more trusted with the economy than his Labour counterpart Ed Balls, mean it’s a happier new year for the man that lives at 11 Downing Street.
Nationwide
While it wasn’t immune to the type of IT glitch that also plagued its larger bank rivals, Nationwide hasn’t been embroiled in mis-selling, rate manipulation or other scandals. As a result, the mutual has seen people join in large numbers – it reported over 1,000 accounts a day being opened between April and September. And with its FlexDirect current account offering 5% interest, albeit only for a year but still thrashing any instant access savings account, the figures aren't a surprise.
Compare interest-paying current accounts
Peer-to-peer companies
[SPOTLIGHT]This sector arguably came of age in 2013, with more and more people looking to it as a way of earning an inflation-beating income in a low interest world.
At the time of writing, leading site Zopa has now seen over £437 million lent out to individuals, while Funding Circle has facilitated the lending of nearly £200 million to small businesses. Regulation is now only a few months away, although there is a fear this may be heavier than strictly necessary.
Compare returns from peer-to-peer sites
Bad year
The Co-operative Bank
A truly horrific year for the former poster child of ethical banking saw it taken over by a group of bondholders, including several hedge funds, after debts threatened its collapse.
This followed on from its disastrous attempt to buy up over 600 branches of Lloyds Bank. And then there came newspaper allegations that its former chairman Paul Flowers was a user of hard drugs, following on from his disastrous appearance before the Treasury Select Committee, where his knowledge of the bank’s operations could be described as sketchy as best.
Customers have deserted the bank, although the prospective owners have pledged to retain its core values.
Financial regulators
The Financial Services Authority split out into the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in April. Regardless of the guise, there continue to be questions about the performance of the people overseeing the industry, particularly in the case of the Co-op collapse.
There is also a sense of too many consultations and too little action, and in some cases a seeming basic lack of understanding of what they're supposed to be policing; for example, the confusion of peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding in a recent consultation document.
Ed Balls and the Labour leadership
The improvement in the economy has meant Ed Balls is no longer the more trusted of the two Chancellor candidates. And his spluttering performance at the dispatch box following the Autumn Statement won’t have helped matters. Indeed, the whole Labour Party arguably has yet to convince it has a credible, or indeed any, coherent economic plan to deal with the “cost of living crisis” it continually cites.