In a speech to the City today, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne is expected to announce that retail banks should be stopped from paying cash bonuses of more than £2,000. Many experts have been arguing that big bonuses prompted excessive risk-taking at banks which contributed to the financial crisis. In his speech, Mr Osborne is expected [...]
At last week’s G20 summit, the world’s leading nations agreed to “tough new regulations”. Following the summit, which took place in Pittsburgh on Thursday and Friday, US President Barack Obama announced that in order to prevent another financial crisis: “We have agreed tough new financial regulations to ensure that the reckless few can no longer [...]
US President Barack Obama has confirmed that Ben Bernanke has been nominated for a second term as chairman of the US central bank – the Federal Reserve. Mr Obama took a break from his summer vacation to make the announcement and said “Mr Bernanke had helped prevent a repeat of the Great Depression.” “Ben approached [...]
US President Barack Obama is expected to take a break from his summer vacation to announce that Ben Bernanke will be nominated for a second four-year term as Chairman of the US central bank – the Federal Reserve. If his appointment is confirmed, Mr Bernanke will commence his term when his current tenure ends in [...]
The US Government’s Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), branded the “cash for clunkers” scheme has received an additional $2 billion (£1.19 billion) – approved by the US Senate, after an initial $1 billion ran out in just 10 days. The “cash for clunkers” scheme has been designed to help bring the US economy out of [...]
Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, is calling for major regulatory reform, but Chancellor Alistair Darling said there are no plans to change the current financial regulatory system. The news comes as US President Barack Obama is proposing a major reform of banking regulation in order to prevent future meltdowns of the [...]
US President Barack Obama is proposing a major reform of banking regulation in order to prevent future meltdowns of the US banking system. Mr Obama described the reforms as biggest overhaul of the system since the 1930s, which will see major banks put more money aside against future losses to prevent excessive risk taking. The [...]
US President Barack Obama is pledging to create over 600,000 jobs this summer in the US economy after announcing he will increase his multi-billion dollar stimulus package. The news comes a few days after the US Labor Department revealed that the US economy shed 345,000 jobs in May, taking the unemployment rate up to a [...]
US car giant General Motors (GM) has today declared itself bankrupt, symbolising the largest collapse of an industrial company in US history. The move, which has the support of the US Government, was widely expected in the wake of plummeting car sales. According to the Obama Administration, the US Government will take a 60% stake [...]
The US Commerce Department has today revealed that new housebuilding fell sharply last month, dashing hopes of a recovery in the housing market. The fall follows a surprise increase the previous month but official figures show that March’s figures were the second lowest level since the Commerce Department began keeping records in 1959, with construction [...]
US President Barack Obama suggested earlier this week that the US economy is seeing signs of progress. However, his optimism may have been quashed after figures show that the number of US citizens losing their homes soared by 44% in March. Furthermore, a survey carried out by Foreclosures.com established that 175,199 homes were repossessed by [...]
Barack Obama has suggested that the US economy is seeing signs of progress but has stressed that times are still challenging. The President, who was delivering his latest economic speech at Georgetown University, said that this year will still be tough for the US economy with rising unemployment and more repossessions. Last month alone, the [...]
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the world’s largest carmaker General Motors (GM) is preparing for bankruptcy. While the company is hoping to win concessions from its creditors, the threat of going bust puts 5,000 jobs at risk at Vauxhall in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire and Luton as well as 60,000 supply jobs. GM [...]
Official figures from the US Labor Department revealed today that 651,000 jobs were lost in February in the US, taking the jobless rate 8.1% – the highest level since December 1983. Meanwhile, the organisation adjusted its January figures upwards to 655,000, while December’s losses were revised to 681,000 – the biggest single monthly decline since [...]
Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, is calling for aggressive action to stimulate the US economy. Speaking in front of the Senate Budget Committee in Washington, Mr Bernanke said that stabilising financial markets is vital for economic recovery. Mr Bernanke said progress has been made on the financial side since last autumn but more bold action [...]
There is more bad news for the US economy today as the Commerce Department revealed that new home sales fell by 14.7% last month. Meanwhile, for the full 2008 year, sales fell by 37.8% to 482,000 homes – the fewest since 1982, when 412,000 homes were sold. However, on a positive note, while sales of [...]
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 [...]
Over half a million jobs were lost in the US in December, taking the jobless rate to 7.2%, up from 6.8% in November – the highest since January 1993. The figures have sparked concern that the world’s largest economy will be in recession for a long time to come. Figures from the US labour department [...]
President-elect Barack Obama, who takes over at the White House on January 20, is urging Congress to approve his $800 billion (£526 billion) stimulus package to avoid a prolonged recession. In his first major policy speech at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, Mr Obama said he believes the recession could last for years unless [...]
Not only does President-elect Barack Obama face a deteriorating economy, a housing collapse and rising foreclosures but a further challenge presents itself after figures today from the US Labor Department revealed that 240,000 jobs were lost in October. The Labor Department said that the jobless rates in the world‘s largest economy increased to a higher [...]
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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