Most European equities markets were lower Friday, with declines coming as investors were disappointed with a European Union plan to help Greece out of its economic troubles. The plan involves the International Monetary Fund, only allows loans to Greece from individual Euro zone nations as a last resort, and stipulates that all Euro zone members [...]
Has the FSA watchdog become mad and rabid just before being put down? That’s the question a lot of IFA’s will be asking after the announcement today that the FSA will ban commission sales from 2012. After sleeping through the financial crisis, and often taking token action in the event of breaches, the FSA is [...]
Struggling Japanese carmaker Toyota is to suspend production at plants in France and Britain for two weeks from Monday amid safety recall problems. The carmaker has been suffering amid major safety fears and has recalled almost 9 million vehicles over concerns about accelerator pedals and brake systems. The problems have been blamed for almost 60 [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today reported a sharp fall in business investment. According to the ONS, business investment fell by 4.3% in the fourth quarter of 2009 to £27.3 billion – the steepest annual fall since records commenced in 1967. Meanwhile, on an annual basis, business investment fell by a record 23.5%. [...]
It has been announced that the National Lottery operator, Camelot, has been sold to a Canadian teachers’ pension fund in a deal valued at £389 million. The buyer, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan – simply known as Teachers’ – has stakes in Northumbrian Water and Bristol and Birmingham airports. Teachers‘ beat off strong competition from [...]
Chancellor Alistair Darling’s plans to automatically increase ISA limits in line with inflation are merely a “token gesture”, according to one industry expert. Andrew Hagger of financial advice site Moneynet said the new measures will cost banks more money to implement than the potential benefits for savers. “This is a token gesture that is likely [...]
Money spent by UK consumers using credit and debit cards increased 7.1% in February compared to the same month last year. The figures released by Barclaycard follow a 3.6% rise in January 2010 compared to January 2009. However, the data also showed a drop in spending on cards between January and February of 2.5%. Stuart [...]
The Labor Department has announced the number of US workers filing for jobless benefits fell last week. According to the Labor Department, initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell in the week ended March 20 to 14,000 to 442,000 – boosting hopes that the recovery in the world’s largest economy is gathering momentum. Commenting on [...]
UK house sales rose in February, according to HM Revenue & Customs. The month saw 58,000 transactions completed on properties worth over £40,000, up 14% from January. The total fell well below December’s tally of 103,000, when sales activity clustered as the end of the stamp duty holiday loomed, but showed a significant improvement on [...]
The Times and Sunday Times newspapers will start charging to access their online news content in June, owner News International (NI) confirmed today. Rebekah Brooks, NI chief executive, said: “This is a crucial step towards making the business of news an economically exciting proposition. We are proud of our journalism and unashamed to say that [...]
The euro has recovered from a 10-month low today after the two-day EU summit, which commenced in Brussels yesterday, saw a deal reached to help Greece through its debt crisis. According to Brussels, the package will total €22 billion (£20 billion) and will include help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). So far the euro [...]
Official figures today revealed Japanese core consumer prices fell 1.2% in February from a year earlier – representing the 12th consecutive monthly decline that the world’s no.2 economy has been in deflation. The latest figures suggest that ongoing deflationary pressure could ultimately threaten Japan’s fragile economic recovery. The economy was one of the first to [...]
The Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of a mother under threat of repossession. Jayne Hewett was party to a remortgage of the family home to pay off her husband’s credit card debts. However, unbeknown to her, Mr Hewett was having an affair at the time the loan was arranged. He subsequently moved out, [...]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products. Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than [...]
Home rental costs down in November
The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. [...]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax. Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees [...]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on [...]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society. The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed. Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages [...]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report. The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit [...]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting. People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE [...]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes. Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months. The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings [...]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data. Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though [...]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A [...]
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