Iceland’s economy plummeted at its fastest pace on record in the third quarter, falling by 5.7% compared to the previous quarter. However, on an annual basis the economy contracted by 7.2% – the biggest fall on record. The news comes as many economies throughout the world are now recovering as they emerge from recession. However, [...]
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), UK car production fell 16% in September compared with the same month last year. However, the SMMT said it was the smallest fall for 12 months and was considerably less than the annual rate of fall of 31.5% reported in August. The SMMT attributed the [...]
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, has fallen from 1.6% to an annual 1.1% in August – the lowest level since September 2004, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today. While the decline in inflation was higher than analysts had expected, it was primarily due to lower food and energy [...]
The annual Top 50 World’s Safest Banks list for 2009 has been published with the HSBC and the Nationwide Building Society rated 18th and 46th respectively. The two banks are the only two UK financial institutions to make it into New York-based Global Finance Magazine’s annual Top 50 list, which is in its 18th year. [...]
A scarcity of housing is propping up house prices in England and Wales, with growth in demand strongest in southern England. So says housing intelligence firm, Hometrack, as it reports that prices remained stable in June, for the second consecutive month. The market is now showing an annual decline of 8.7%, having eased from 9.6% [...]
Latest figures from the Land Registry show house prices in England and Wales declining by 0.2% in May, with the average property worth £152,497. While the monthly change remained negative, the rate of fall eased from 0.3% in April and the annual rate of decline fell back to 15.9% compared with 16.2% in April. In [...]
Europe’s largest no-frills airline, Ryanair, has posted its first annual loss, which it attribute to rising fuel costs, lower fares and the write-down on the value of its stake in Irish rival Aer Lingus. The airline made a net loss for the 12 months to the end of March of €169 million, compared with a [...]
The US Labor Department has announced today that US consumer prices remained unchanged in April – in line with expectations. However, on an annualised basis, inflation fell 0.7% on April last year – the steepest decline in 54 years. Core prices, excluding energy and food, rose by 0.3% in April compared with March, which was [...]
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has released its UK house price statistics for January, based on mortgage completions during the month. The figures show the average cost of a home falling 11.5% since January 2008, to £195,724. However, the decline in prices eased during the three months to the end of January [...]
Nationwide has reported a 1.8% fall in UK house prices, in February. The lender’s monthly index puts the average cost of home at £147,746, or 17.6% less than a year ago (£179,358). The building society’s chief economist, Fionnuala Earley, suggests that a combination of falling prices and interest rates could mean that when confidence returns [...]
Credit Suisse, which is Switzerland’s second-largest bank, has reported its biggest annual loss ever of SwFr8.2 billion (£5 billion) – the majority of which (SwFr6 billion) came during the October to December period in 2008. Chief Executive, Brady Dougan, described the results as ‘clearly disappointing’ but added that they had started 2009 with a very [...]
Swiss banking giant, UBS, has reported a full-year loss of SwFr19.7 billion (£11.3 billion) following a turbulent year in the banking industry. Furthermore, the bank, which is Switzerland’s largest, reported a fourth quarter loss of SwFr8.1 billion. UBS said it plans to refocus on its domestic market after a turbulent year overseas and is to [...]
Germany’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank, has highlighted the severity of the global financial crisis by announcing its first ever annual loss. The bank made a net loss of €3.9 billion (£3.5 billion) in 2008 following a €6.5 billion profit the previous year. Meanwhile, the last quarter of 2008 saw the biggest deficit, with the bank [...]
The Land Registry has reported that house prices in England and Wales fell by 13.5% in 2008, with the average value of a home dipping a further 2% in December, to £158,846. By way of comparison, yesterday Nationwide reported an annual decline of 15.9% in December. According to the Registry, Wales was the only region [...]
Housing intelligence firm, Hometrack, has reported a 1% fall in UK property prices during January. The sixteenth consecutive month of decline takes the annual drop to 9.4%. The company expects values to fall a further 10% during 2009, with the decline continuing in 2010 but slowing to 3% over the year. According to the survey, [...]
The official record of the collapse of the housing market in England and Wales has been updated by latest figures from the Land Registry. In November, the Registry noted a 1.9% fall in the average cost of a home, taking the annual decline to 12.2%. The pace of decline accelerated in October when prices fell [...]
Official figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) show that in October, the average cost of a UK home had fallen 7.4% from a year earlier. The monthly fall stood at 2.5% taking the average cost of a property to £203,539; London remained the UK’s most expensive city with an average house [...]
Halifax has reported a further 2.6% fall in the average price of a UK home, in November. The annual rate of decline now stands at 14.9% (compared with 13.7% in October), with the average cost of a property at £163,605, roughly the same as in July 2005 and down £31,485 over the past 12 months. [...]
Latest figures from the Land Registry show house prices in England and Wales falling by an annual 10.1%, in October. The average value of a home declined 1.5% during the month, to £165,529, a figure last seen in mid-2006. The Registry compiles its data from completed transactions and therefore lags behind other monitors of the [...]
The Land Registry has published house price data for September, showing the cost of the average home down 2.2% (£5,700) during the month, to £168,814. The decline means that house prices in England and Wales have fallen 8% over the year, although the rate of decline accelerated last month, from 4.6% in August. Wales saw [...]
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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