Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced that an inquiry is to take place into the operations of banks after it was reported last week that banks are planning exorbitant bonuses for its staff. The review will examine how banks are managed and Mr Darling expects the review to make recommendations about the effectiveness of risk-management by [...]
Chancellor Alistair Darling has admitted that a second package of tax and spending measures may be required to prevent the UK from entering a deep and profound recession. Measures include help for the ailing car industry, which is suffering as consumers continue to cut back on non-essential items. Proposals under consideration include an expansion of [...]
Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has admitted that 2009 will be a difficult year because the UK is far from through the recession. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Darling updated an earlier prediction that the downturn would run its course by the middle of the year. He said the forecast was [...]
Inflation in the UK fell again in November to 4.1%, according to official figures. The decline follows that in October from its 16-year high of 5.2% to 4.5%. Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation is now at its lowest since June but is still less of a decline than expected by many analysts, with some predicting [...]
After today’s Pre-Budget Report was delivered by Chancellor Alistair Darling, the FTSE 100 soared nearly 10% (the biggest ever one-day gain), as plans to boost the UK’s economy were unveiled. The measures announced by the Chancellor are hoped to prevent the economy from a ‘very deep recession’. However, the measures come at a high price [...]
Chancellor Alistair Darling’s plans to boost the economy were unveiled over the weekend after it was announced that he plans to cut VAT by 2.5% in a bid to stimulate the economy and prevent a ‘very deep recession’. However, the plans to boost the economy are to come at a high price after the Government [...]
Chancellor Alistair Darling is to announce plans to boost the economy in his Pre-Budget report this week. The plans are expected to include spending rises and a cut in VAT by 2.5% in a bid to stimulate the economy and prevent a ‘very deep recession’. However, the plans will come at a huge price as [...]
Chancellor Alistair Darling is bracing himself to battle with the banks after the £37 billion bailout package for three UK banks has failed to kick-start lending. Mr Darling is considering tough new laws to force banks to lend to small businesses, in particular those who are still feeling the effects of the banking crisis and [...]
Shareholders in Lloyds TSB are to vote today on the proposed takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS). Lloyds’ shareholders are expected to vote in favour of the takeover, which will create a new UK banking giant called Lloyds Banking Group, which will comprise almost 150,000 staff and 3,000 branches. However, not everyone has been [...]
Following yesterday’s interest rate cut from 4.5% to 3%, there were concerns that lenders would not pass on the rate cut to customers. However, earlier today the chief executives of Britain’s top banks were summoned to Downing Street to meet with Chancellor Alistair Darling, where he demanded that they pass on the rate cut to [...]
Professor David Blanchflower, a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), is calling for aggressive interest rate cuts in order to boost Britain’s economy and stave off the prospect of a deep and prolonged recession. In response, Chancellor Alistair Darling appeared to be supporting Prof Blanchflower’s call after he stressed that while [...]
Yesterday, several central banks including the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the US Federal Reserve announced they were to cut interest rates by half a percentage point in an attempt to boost the economy. However, the markets failed to respond to the news after London’s FTSE 100 closed down 5.18%, France’s [...]
As yesterday morning’s speaker on BBC Radio 4′s “Thought for the Day” urged a bleary-eyed nation to consider in its prayers the plight of bankers, whose lives may be torn apart by the credit crisis, and bear in mind their efforts in support of charity, a new day of financial turmoil was about to break. [...]
Yesterday, it was warned that British savers of internet bank Icesave, an arm of Landsbanki, may struggle to claim their money. Earlier this week, the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority announced that the country’s Government had seized control of Landsbanki, which owns Icesave. However, today Chancellor Alistair Darling has guaranteed that UK savers will get their [...]
The FTSE 100 plummeted today to close at 4,589.2, after falling 391.1 points – or 7.85%. The fall marks the biggest one-day points fall ever and was the third-worst percentage fall since the FTSE 100 was launched in 1984. The fall comes despite Chancellor Alistair Darling announcing that the Government will do whatever it takes [...]
In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Chancellor Alistair Darling said the UK is facing the worst economic downturn in 60 years and it will be ‘profound and long lasting’. Mr Darling’s stark warning comes as the Nationwide revealed that the average house price has fallen by 10.5% over the last year – this represents [...]
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has been heavily criticised by opposition MPs, housebuilders, estate agents and others, for comments made earlier this week about stamp duty. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday, Mr Darling said a suspension of the tax would be included among a range of measures he is considering to [...]
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has announced new measures to protect savers who lose money as a result of a bank getting into financial difficulty. The Government has also asked the Financial Services Authority to consult on increasing the current threshold for compensation from £35,000 to £50,000. Any changes will come into effect in [...]
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has warned the UK’s mortgage providers that they must put their house in order over arrangement fees. The average fee paid is now over £800, up from £441 in 2005. Charges of around £1,000 are commonplace for a fixed-rate loan and some products, which carry arrangement fees based on [...]
After consumer inflation soared to its highest level in a decade, Chancellor Alistair Darling has warned that there is no doubt the UK economy is slowing down and said this year will be difficult. Mr Darling added that if the UK allowed inflation to take hold, it could be disastrous. The government has predicted that [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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