The US Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission has concluded that the financial crisis of 2008 could have been prevented. The investigation into the crisis, which was overseen by Alan Greenspan – former chairman of US central bank, the Federal Reserve, saw over 700 witnesses interviewed. The 10-member Commission, established in May 2009, said Government officials and [...]
With a rise in the Bank of England’s (BoE) base rate inevitable at some point in the future, accountancy firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has been assessing the potential effect on UK homeowners of average mortgage interest rates moving back up to 2008 levels. According to BoE data, the average rate across three common types of mortgages [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has named Lloyds Banking Group as the top mortgage lender for 2008, by market share. The body explains that its data assumes the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS took place earlier than it did in fact, to allow for a sound comparison. On this basis, the group increased its [...]
Two of the UK’s best known house builders have reported signs of improvement in the property market. Barratt Developments experienced an 11.9% rise in visitor numbers during the six months to the end of June (compared to the previous six months) and private sales reservations rose an encouraging 18.6%, on a weekly basis. Meanwhile, Redrow [...]
Home repossessions by the Co-operative Bank halved during the last 16 months, the lender revealed this week. The ethical financial provider said since the start of 2008, it has only carried out 8 home repossessions, compared to 16 home repossessions in the 16 months leading up to 2008. The announcement comes as the Council of [...]
It has emerged that insurance giant, AIG, paid out some $454 million (£300 million) in performance bonuses for 2008. The figure is almost four times than the company disclosed back in March with payments ranging from an average of $5,403 to employees of its property-casualty group, to over $50,000 on average for staff in its [...]
The Co-operative Bank yesterday announced updates to two of its mortgage products. Interest charged on Co-operative’s 3 Year Discount Mortgage was reduced to 3.24%, whilst the bank’s 3 Year Fixed Rate Guarantor Mortgage was reissued at a rate of 5.99%. The Discount mortgage has a maximum loan-to-value (LTV) of 75%, and a £995 application fee. [...]
Households are now paying £353 more per year for gas, electricity, and water compared to the beginning of 2008, research by uSwitch.com has revealed. The price comparison site found that households are now paying an average of £1,595 per year for water, heating, and light, 28% more than the £1,242 per year at the start [...]
Fortis Insurance has reported its 2008 results with a full year net profit of €6 million, which came despite €639 million of investment losses. All of the insurance unit’s profit was made in its Belgium branch, with the international insurance business only breaking even. The insurance unit’s profit was dwarfed, however, by the Fortis banking [...]
Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has posted its 2008 results with an increase in profit despite the credit crunch. Pre-tax operating profit increased 17% to £172 million, up from £147 million in 2007. Gross new business inflows for the year were £30.9 billion, although year-end total funds under management dropped to £264.2 billion, down [...]
Legal & General has cut its final dividend for the first time in living memory following a £1.5 billion pre-tax loss, compared to an £848 million profit in 2007. The UK’s fourth largest insurer slashed its dividend in half to 2.05p per share in a bid to preserve capital strength. The cut will save the [...]
UK payment services organisation, APACS, has published a round-up of fraud losses during 2008. Card fraud losses total £609.9 million, online banking fraud £52.5 million and cheque fraud losses amounted to £41.9 million. In the case of card fraud, the two main areas of criminal activity involved transactions not protected by chip and PIN (specifically [...]
The Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA) has reported that last year’s decline in house sales was not reflected in his caseload. According to Christopher Hamer, sales activity plummeted by up to 60% in 2008, however, the volume of sales disputes dealt with by his office fell by just 3%. By way of explanation, Mr Hamer [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has reported a sharp rise in home repossessions and mortgage arrears. During 2008, lenders repossessed a total of 46,750 properties, up from 27,900 in 2007. Cases of mortgage arrears of three months and more rose 31% over the year, to 377,000. The increase accelerated during the final quarter with around [...]
Bupa has reported significant growth in sales of its individual protection policy. Sales increased across Bupa’s critical illness, income protection, and life assurance products during 2008. The insurer posted a 38% increase in new business annual premiums for the year. This is compared to growth of 25% in 2007, and comes alongside news that the [...]
Northern Rock has reported that its home repossessions rose by 63% last year to 3,620. Arrears also soared with 17,264 borrowers three months or more behind with their repayments at the end of 2008, up from 3,492 at the close of 2007. The rise takes the percentage of the bank’s total mortgage book in arrears [...]
Skipton Building Society has reported a staggering 86% drop in yearly pre-tax profit, down to £22.5 million in 2008 compared to £163.9 million in 2007. The steep drop was blamed on a ‘whirlwind year’ that saw the worst housing crisis in a generation coupled with the cost of compensating savers at failed banks. The UK’s [...]
HSBC, which is set to announce full-year profits this week, is expected to reveal plans for a £12 billion rights issue – the largest ever held in Britain. The bank, which is Europe’s largest, is expected to disclose a 22% fall in 2008 profits. Last August, it revealed a 28% fall in half-year profits despite [...]
Leeds Building Society yesterday posted its 2008 results, with profits remaining strong despite the global financial downturn. Assets of the UK’s seventh largest building society grew by over £900 million to £10.1 billion. End of year operating profit was £68.6 million, compared to £69.4 million in 2007. Savings balance increased by more than £500 million [...]
Property developer Barratt Homes has followed rival Redrow in reporting a substantial loss for 2008. The company blames falling property prices, a shortage of mortgage funding and writedowns on the value of its land bank for a pre-tax loss of £592.4 million, compared with a profit of £192.4 million in 2007. The group’s average selling [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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