News Tag: Company News
March 15, 2010
The Government-led crackdown on credit card companies is expected to save consumers around £300 million a year.
The crackdown comes after the Government warned credit and store card firms to “clean up their act” after it launched a review of the industry in a consumer White Paper in July 2009.
According to Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, the cost of borrowing ...
Consumers to save millions under new credit card protection
by Kay Murchie
February 21, 2010
Dr Ros Altmann, a former Downing Street pensions adviser, believes there should be an inquiry into the profit margins of credit card companies.
Dr Altmann, who is a former academic and independent expert on pensions policy and retirement, believes there might be a case for a regulator to oversee the rates they charge.
Last week, research by financial advice ...
Former Government adviser calls for credit card investigation
by Kay Murchie
February 9, 2010
Having studied the latest figures from the Insolvency Service, Grant Thornton is predicting a glut of company failures in England and Wales during 2010.
Last year saw a record 4,161 companies placed in administration (up 1.7% on 2008) and the accountancy firm warns: "There is no light at the end of the tunnel for troubled companies that are relying on ...
Growth too slow to halt record company administrations
by Gill Montia
February 5, 2010
Figures from the Insolvency Service today highlighted the impact that the recession has had on many individuals.
According to the organisation, the number of people declared insolvent in England and Wales reached a record high in the last three months of 2009.
There were 35,574 people declared insolvent in the last three months of the year - a rise of 24.9% on ...
Personal insolvency figures soar in fourth quarter
by Kay Murchie
January 19, 2010
The UK credit card industry has agreed to Government proposals to help credit card holders manage their debt.
As part of a crackdown on credit card companies, the Government recently warned credit and store card firms to “clean up their act.”
One of the main issues was for credit card companies to stop increasing interest rates when a customer fell behind ...
Credit card industry responds to Government proposals
by Kay Murchie
January 4, 2010
Fears over the future of final salary pension schemes has reared its ugly head again after a report from the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) revealed that nine out of 10 such schemes are now closed to new members.
The ACA, which questioned over 300 companies, found that employers continue to shy away from these high cost schemes with 87% of workplace final ...
Report reveals more pension woes
by Kay Murchie
Finance chiefs upbeat according to survey
by Kay Murchie
November 27, 2009
A report by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has found that just 23% of final salary pension schemes in the private sector are open to new members, compared with 28% a year earlier.
As a result of the findings, the NAPF has issued a warning to the Government to introduce measures to help reduce deficits and the size of pension ...
NAPF issues pensions warning to Government
by Kay Murchie
September 15, 2009
Despite major losses among FTSE 100 companies, directors at these companies saw their basic salaries soar 10% last year.
In the midst of the worst global recession in decades, these companies lost nearly a third of their value but their salary continued to rise.
The Guardian's annual survey of boardroom pay discovered that full-and part-time directors of the FTSE 100 shared more than ...
Survey finds executive pay up 10%
by Kay Murchie
August 13, 2009
Britain's turnaround and recovery professionals, TMA (UK) is warning that recent house price gains and rises in share prices should not be taken as an end to the economic downturn.
According to the group, there is still a severe lack of bank lending to businesses, which in turn has an impact on the capacity of consumers to demand ...
TMA warns not to be fooled by signs of recovery
by Kay Murchie
August 7, 2009
The Insolvency Service has today revealed the impact of the recession after the number of people being declared insolvent in England and Wales hit a record high.
According to the figures, a record 33,073 people in England and Wales were declared insolvent in the second quarter of 2009.
This represents a rise of 9% compared with the first quarter of 2009 and 27.4% ...
Personal insolvencies soar to record high
by Kay Murchie
April 1, 2009
A last minute U-turn has meant that the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has not pressed ahead with the planned increase of business rates on 1.6 million properties, which were expected to increase by 5 percent today.
The surprise announcement came after sustained lobbying from small businesses who revealed that such a hike would mean that many thousands of companies would ...
Increase in business tax rate abandoned at last minute
by Peter Charalambous
February 6, 2009
Figures from the Insolvency Service have published some alarming news after it reported that company failures and personal bankruptcy has reached a record high for England and Wales.
In the last three months of 2008, there were 2,428 corporate insolvencies such as administrations and receiverships, according to the Insolvency Service. This represented an increase of 220% compared with the same ...
Downturn hits home as bankruptcies hit new high
by Kay Murchie
December 21, 2008
Insolvency expert Begbies Traynor are warning that more retail chains will go bust before the middle of January.
Begbies said it would not be surprised if between 10 and 15 well-known chains did not make it beyond the festive period.
Should its warning ring true, then more retail workers will face 2009 jobless.
It was announced last week that Woolworths, which has ...
Begbies warns of more firms going bust
by Kay Murchie
October 3, 2008
The Bank of England’s quarterly credit conditions report, published today, has added to the doom and gloom surrounding the British economy, after it revealed that Britain's banks and building societies are set to make even more cutbacks in their lending.
The report, which surveys lenders about the previous quarter and their predictions for the next quarter, confirmed that lending by ...
BoE report reveals lending to reduce even further
by Kay Murchie
