Icelandic President, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, has vetoed the repayment of a £2.3 billion loan to the UK Government. The debt relates to the collapse of Landsbanki which collapsed at the height of the banking crisis in autumn 2008 and 300,000 British savers saw their accounts frozen with the bank’s online Icesave brand. The Treasury stepped [...]
An investigation is underway at Kaupthing – the Icelandic bank which collapsed last autumn. Kaupthing, which was once Iceland’s largest bank, collapsed along with Glitnir and Landsbanki at the height of the banking crisis last year and all three banks had to be nationalised. This led the Iceland Government to seek billions of dollars worth [...]
The second wave of postal strikes started at 0400 BST today. Almost 80,000 delivery and collection staff will walk out for a 24-hour period and follows the walkout yesterday of 42,000 mail centre staff and drivers. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said it had no choice but to announce the series of strikes after it [...]
Irish airline Aer Lingus, which like many others is struggling amid the global recession, has today announced plans to reduce headcount by 676 in a bid to save €97 million (£90 million) over the next two years. Furthermore, the airline is also calling on staff earning more than €35,000 (£32,400) a year to take a [...]
Creditors of struggling DIY and gardening chain, Focus DIY, are expected to back a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) in a bid to prevent the company from collapse and protect 4,572 jobs. Under the proposed deal, Focus will pay its creditors (the majority of which are landlords) a proportion of what it owes them, while leases [...]
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has revealed a staggering £21 billion has been paid out to UK savers in the six months after the onset of the credit crisis. This compares with £1 billion in the seven years prior to the credit crisis. The FSCS, which is the body established to compensate victims of [...]
HMV, the music and games retailer, has benefited from the demise of rivals and posted an 18% increase in full-year profits. The group said pre-tax profits for the 12 months to April 25 were 11.5% ahead at £63 million. Furthermore, annual group-wide pre-tax profit totalled £61.3 million, compared with the £52 million reported a year [...]
It has been confirmed this morning that West Bromwich Building Society has agreed a deal that will see the 160-year-old institution saved from collapse. The deal will see £182.5 million of subordinated debt converted into capital to strengthen the mutual’s balance sheet. The society said the new deal will “materially strengthen the society’s core tier [...]
Irish pay-TV sports broadcaster Setanta is on the brink of administration after BSkyB refused to provide a £50 million lifeline. BSkyB’s chief executive, Jeremy Darroch, said that they had been “talking to Setanta, and trying to work with them and help them”, however, an agreement was not reached. BSkyB was also reported to say it [...]
Thousands of UK jobs are at risk today after van maker, LDV, has been forced into administration after a deal with Weststar (the Malaysian vehicle importer and contract manufacturer) collapsed. LDV has been struggling of late and sought financial assistance from the Government earlier this year after it said it was “literally running out of [...]
Struggling van maker LDV, owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, has been thrown a lifeline by the UK Government after the company has been provided with a £5 million bridging loan, in order to avoid administration and save hundreds of jobs. The bridging loan paves the way for Malaysian vehicle importer and contract manufacturer, Weststar, [...]
Dunfermline Building Society, established in 1869, has collapsed after last-minute rescue attempts failed. The British financial institution, which has a workforce of around 500 across more than 30 branches, is to be auctioned off to the highest bidder with The Sunday Times reporting that Santander, National Australia Bank and Bank of Ireland are potential bidders. [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has announced fears that yesterday was the toughest quarterly rents payments day for over 18 years. This is because the start of the year is usually the period where consumer spending is lowest and, coupled with the increased uncertainty caused by the credit crunch, the BRC has lead a campaign [...]
One of Gordon Brown’s Ministers has revealed that the British banking system was just hours from collapse, just before the Government’s £500 billion bailout of the British bank system last October. In an interview with the Times, Lord Myners, who was appointed Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury in October to help rescue the banking [...]
Over one million Equitable Life policyholders have received a formal apology from the Government today following a series of problems which saw life savings wiped out after it almost collapsed in 2000. An estimated £4 billion was lost between the one million-plus policyholders. However, the Government has promised only limited compensation for those who were [...]
According to the BBC’s Panorama programme, The Year Britain’s Bubble Burst, screened last night, HBOS and RBS were on the brink of collapse in early October. The programme unveiled that the banks were finding it difficult obtaining short-term funding. It is believed that the banks would have collapsed without the funding and were forced to [...]
Iceland’s central bank, Sedlabanki, slashed interest rates today, earlier than scheduled, from 15.5% to 12% following a disastrous couple of weeks for the country. The country faced a near-collapse of its banking system after the country’s three largest banks, Glitnir, Kaupthing and Landsbanki, were nationalised recently. Meanwhile, the stock exchange was closed following a three-day [...]
Latest figures from the Bank of England show that mortgage lending in the UK effectively collapsed in August. Mortgage advances were at their lowest level for six years totalling just £19.19 billion. However, net lending, which takes into account repayments and redemptions, fell 98% year-on-year to £143 million, the lowest level since the Bank’s records [...]
Thousands of customers have been lining up to withdraw their savings from the Bank of East Asia after rumours spread that the bank is facing financial collapse, an allegation which the bank has fiercely denied. The police have been informed and are investigating after the bank said the rumours were malicious and untruthful and were [...]
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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