German firms targeted for investment

Bank of England optimistic for economic growth

Sir Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, expects the UK economy to return to growth in the next quarter, marking an end to the double-dip recession. Speaking on Channel 4 News, Sir Mervyn warned that recovery would be slow and said that the continuing crisis in the eurozone creates uncertainty for British [...]

Shelter calls for greater security for tenants

Housing charity Shelter is calling for landlords to offer Stable Rent Contracts, which would give families the confidence to turn a rented property into a home. Stable Rent Contracts, which would offer five-year tenancies, would also give landlords the security of a steady income, the charity said. Rents would increase in line with inflation each [...]

Doctors call for action on bogus whiplash claims

Around nine out of ten doctors want the government to clamp down on bogus whiplash claims made by motorists, according to research by insurance group AXA. Seven per cent of the doctors polled by AXA had been offered money to refer patients with whiplash injuries. Twenty-two per cent of the doctors said the number of [...]

EU gender rules bring mixed blessings for women

New EU rules, due to take effect on 21 December, are expected to lead to a substantial increase in the cost of car insurance for female drivers, but could benefit female pensioners. In 2011, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that setting insurance premiums or pensions based on gender was discriminatory and breached [...]

Allow launches social media insurance

Allow Ltd, a London-based company focused on helping people protect the privacy of their personal data, has launched the UK’s first social media insurance for consumers. The firm offers services to deal with social media account hacking, reputational damage and other types of ID theft. With Facebook accounts being hacked at a rate of 600,000 [...]

Which? calls for Big Change to bank culture

Consumer watchdog Which? has launched a new campaign calling for banks to put customers first. The ‘Big Change’ campaign will put pressure on the banking sector to focus less on profits and more on the services they offer. Its launch precedes a meeting of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in December, which will consider [...]

House prices soar in London

UK house prices grew at their fastest rate in London in the year to the end of July, according to the latest House Price Index from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). While house prices increased by 5.7 per cent in the capital, they increased by just 2 per cent in the rest of the [...]

Inflation falls to 2.5 per cent

Inflation fell to 2.5 per cent in August, from 2.6 per cent in the previous month, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). The latest official figures from the Office of National Statistics also show that inflation also fell on the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure, from 3.2 per cent in July to 2.9 [...]

Co-op stops offering bank accounts to bankrupt customers

Despite its commitment to ethical business practices the Co-op has stopped offering bank accounts to people who are undischarged bankrupts. Bankrupts are usually automatically discharged from bankruptcy after 12 months and are then freed from bankruptcy restrictions and from the debts owed. People who are undischarged bankrupts will have access only to Barclays’ Cash Card [...]

Banks refusing to cancel pay-day loan payments

The BBC has reported that some banks are refusing to cancel payments to payday loan companies when asked to do so by their customers. Bank customers have a legal right to cancel payments from their accounts under the 2009 Payment Services Directive. However some banks believe that they do not have to cancel certain types [...]