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December 20, 2007
by Gill Montia
The fact that the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to cut the base rate to 5.5% in December is good news for house buyers.
The move signalled the first fall in the base rate since August 2005 and the fact that all nine members of the MPC were in favour of the cut indicates that ...
by Kay Murchie
The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the City's watchdog, is calling on banks to take a 'belt and braces approach' to ensure they have enough cash to cover all demands and assets that can be transferred into cash quickly.
The FSA wants to prevent a repeat of the money market turmoil that crippled Northern Rock and therefore, the regulator ...
by Gill Montia
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has published data for November showing an 8% drop in mortgage lending.
During the month, gross lending fell to £30.7 billion, down from £33.5 billion in October and £33.2 billion in November of last year.
Figures from the CML are in line with other recent surveys that show a downturn in the property market and it is ...
by Kay Murchie
The European Commission has criticised MasterCard for charging cross-border fees on credit and debit card transactions. It warned that if MasterCard did not remove the fees within 6 months, it will charge fines on a daily basis of up to 3.5% of worldwide turnover.
The fees, known as multilateral interchange fees, apply to both MasterCard credit cards and Maestro debit cards and ...
by Kay Murchie
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has denied suggestions that he ignored warnings that Northern Rock was in trouble and said the Government is doing everything in its power to secure the future of the crisis-torn bank. Mr Brown, along with the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, also denied any rift with the Bank of England's Governor, Mervyn King.
Mr Brown added that the Government ...
by Kay Murchie
Savers are being told to be wary as banks slash savings rates on some leading accounts.
In just one month, rates could be slashed by up to 0.5% as banks inflict a double blow on savers. It started with surprise cuts prior to the Bank of England reducing interest rates by 0.25% to 5.5% earlier this month. A second round of cuts is ...
December 19, 2007
by Kay Murchie
Bradford & Bingley (B&B), the buy-to-let specialist, is rumoured to be interested in buying assets from crisis-torn Northern Rock. B&B is interested in taking on some of Northern Rock's mortgage assets and could possibly do a deal with either of the consortia seeking to rescue the firm.
Following the news, shares in Northern Rock rose 4.5% while shares in ...
by Gill Montia
Molae Properties, the property purchase company, has published a report that has been commissioned from David Stubbs, Senior Economist with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
The work is an independent analysis of the impact of the fast-growing “Quick Property Buying” sector on the UK housing market.
It highlights recent changes in the buy-to-let property investment ...
by Kay Murchie
Norwich Union Life has been fined £1.26 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for neglecting to have adequate checks and systems in place to prevent a £3.3 million fraud that occurred in its life assurance division in 2005.
The FSA said the fine would have been £1.8 million but due to Norwich Union's full co-operation with its enquiries and agreeing to settle ...
by Kay Murchie
Since the start of the global credit squeeze, banks and lenders are tightening their lending criteria meaning borrowers are struggling to get credit.
These borrowers are turning to sub-prime lender, Provident Financial, who specialise in short-term, unsecured cash loans, generally between £50 and £500. Local agents deliver the money to their customers’ homes and call on a weekly basis to collect ...
by Kay Murchie
Bradford & Bingley is advising homeowners to review their insurance policies to ensure they are covered for expensive Christmas presents they have purchased.
Homes are prone to burglaries at this time of year with thieves hoping to get hold of games, mobile phones and other expensive electrical goods.
Bradford & Bingley say checking insurance policies carefully could prevent misery later.
Dave ...
December 18, 2007
by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Tuesday. Gainers on the session included the Straits Times index, which added 0.47 percent to 3,369.31 in Singapore. The Hang Seng index was up 0.51 percent to 26,732.87 while South Korea’s Kospi index added 1.18 percent to 1,861.47. On the other hand, the Taiex index was down 0.3 percent to ...
by Kay Murchie
The Royal Bank of Scotland has launched a new service to customers who have lost their debit or are the victim of theft.
These customers will be entitled to an 'emergency cash' service which provides a cardless method of obtaining funds from any Royal Bank of Scotland group ATM. (The group comprises The Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Ulster Bank ...
by Kay Murchie
UBS, the Swiss investment bank, is denying rumours that it was preparing to take a further write-down of 4.5 billion Swiss Francs in early 2008, indicating that to do so would breach accounting policies and there were currently no indications of any further problems for their investment holdings.
However, the bank added that market movements are volatile and there may be further write-downs in ...
by Kay Murchie
According to a survey from the Bank of England, almost one million families are struggling to pay off their mortgages with another 1.8 million people saying they have hit problems 'at least occasionally'.
The situation is expected to deteriorate as the global credit squeeze prompts banks to tighten their lending criteria. Rocketing interest rates has increased homeowners' yearly mortgage payments ...
by Kay Murchie
The Bank of England is trying to lessen the impact of a global credit squeeze and high borrowing costs with an offer of an extra £10 billion in funds.
If borrowing costs remain high, there is a possibility that this could result in being passed on to consumers, slowing economic growth. The target is to reduce the cost of lending ...
by Gill Montia
Latest figures from the Bank of England confirm fears that homeowners who have come to the end of their fixed-rate mortgage terms are finding it difficult to meet the higher repayments they now face.
In a survey of 2,000 people, the Bank found that 22% have been experiencing financial difficulties since their fixed-rate mortgages expired.
The figure compares with 6% for those ...
December 17, 2007
by Elaine Frei
European equities markets saw declines Monday. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.52 percent to 1,493.32. The Paris CAC-40 was 1.61 percent lower to 5,514.88 while the Dax lost over 120 points, or 1.55 percent, to 7,825.44 and Madrid’s IBEX fell over 1.65 percent, more than 250 points, to 15,318.5. London’s markets saw declines as the FTSE ...
by Gill Montia
Latest figures from Rightmove show a 3.2% decrease in the asking price for a UK home, in the past month.
The fall leaves the average asking price for a house at £232,396, a drop of £7,590 on the previous month.
The property website attributes the shift to the traditional slowdown for the time of year and the full roll-out ...
by Gill Montia
Many homebuyers with variable-rate loans will have been disappointed that the Bank of England's recent cut in the base rate, from 5.75% to 5.5%, will not be lessening their mortgage repayments in the near future.
Lenders including Alliance & Leicester, Bristol & West, Standard Life and Northern Rock have failed to respond by cutting their standard variable rates ...
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The fact that the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to cut the base rate to 5.5% in December is good news for house buyers.
The move signalled the first fall in the base rate since August 2005 and the fact that all nine members of the MPC were in favour of the cut indicates that ...
Bradford & Bingley (B&B), the buy-to-let specialist, is rumoured to be interested in buying assets from crisis-torn Northern Rock. B&B is interested in taking on some of Northern Rock's mortgage assets and could possibly do a deal with either of the consortia seeking to rescue the firm.
Following the news, shares in Northern Rock rose 4.5% while shares in ...
Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Tuesday. Gainers on the session included the Straits Times index, which added 0.47 percent to 3,369.31 in Singapore. The Hang Seng index was up 0.51 percent to 26,732.87 while South Korea’s Kospi index added 1.18 percent to 1,861.47. On the other hand, the Taiex index was down 0.3 percent to ...
European equities markets saw declines Monday. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.52 percent to 1,493.32. The Paris CAC-40 was 1.61 percent lower to 5,514.88 while the Dax lost over 120 points, or 1.55 percent, to 7,825.44 and Madrid’s IBEX fell over 1.65 percent, more than 250 points, to 15,318.5. London’s markets saw declines as the FTSE ...