Banking giant Barclays has today announced it will pay compensation to customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI). The bank said it will reimburse those who made a complaint before 20 April the total value of all premiums plus 8% interest. It highlighted that it was the first bank to pay out PPI compensation [...]
Banking giant HSBC has today said net profits grew 58% to $4.153 billion in the three months to 31 March on lower taxes and bad debt charges. However, the bank, which is Europe’s largest, said the group’s pre-tax gains were driven down by rises in other exceptional costs – such as the £269 million it [...]
UK banks are set to lose billions following a High Court ruling over Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). The controversial insurance has been a hot topic for sometime now and the Financial Services Authority introduced a review of the insurance after millions of policies were mis-sold and thousands of complaints were received. Under a PPI policy, [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today announced that it has fined the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (N&P) £1.4 million for giving unsuitable advice on its Keydata products. The Watchdog said the group failed to properly assess the financial circumstances of many of its customers and often designated them as having a higher tolerance [...]
Shareholder group, Lloyds Action Now, is claiming former business secretary, Lord Peter Mandelson, withheld evidence in the build up to the merger of HBOS and Lloyds TSB. The group, which was established in 2009, claim their savings were wiped out following the controversial merger, which took place at the height of the financial crisis. The [...]
The Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (N&P) is to repay £57 million in compensation to customers who were sold its Keydata product. N&P sold Keydata products from 2005 but it was placed into administration in 2009, with 30,000 UK investors facing the loss of £450 million. The collapse of Keydata represents the largest investment failure [...]
Banking giant Barclays has received a fine of £7.7 million – imposed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) over poor investment advice. The City Watchdog has also ordered the bank to compensate up to £60 million to customers of two investment funds. The bank has apologised for the failures and said it will “put things [...]
An independent valuer has said former shareholders of crisis-torn Bradford & Bingley (B&B) will not receive any compensation after it was split and sold. At the height of the financial crisis, B&B’s loan book was nationalised, while Spanish banking giant Santander took ownership of its savings business and branch network. B&B’s shares closed at 20p [...]
The Treasury and Lloyds senior executives could be sued over the controversial takeover of HBOS, which took place at the height of the financial crisis. An investor group called Lloyds Action Now, which was established a year ago, claimed investors were lured into voting for the takeover, while not being provided with all the relevant [...]
British Airways is demanding Government compensation for loss of revenues resulting from the volcanic ash cloud. The closure of European air space is costing the airline between £15 million and £20 million a day, and disagreement between airlines and authorities over the extent of the flight restrictions continue. On Sunday, BA ran a test flight [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Kensington Mortgage Company Limited £1.225 million over the way in which it treated some of borrowers facing financial difficulties. The regulator identified a number of serious failings by the sub-prime lender between January 2007 and October 2008, and the firm will have to pay up to £1.066 million [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today found that poor advice is still being given to people switching pension funds. The findings come after a major review of the sector conducted by the FSA in 2008. The City Watchdog has raised concerns about the advice being given and, as a result, is to take enforcement [...]
Leeds-based independent financial advice company, Park Row Associates, has failed to give suitable advice, according to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and has therefore been ordered to pay compensation to customers. The City Watchdog has established that customers of Park Row Associates were at risk of receiving unsuitable advice about all of its financial products. [...]
Eurostar, the Cross-Channel rail service, has reported a rise in ticket sales and passenger numbers for the 2009 year. The train service that links the UK to France and Belgium said sales totalled £675.5 million – a rise of 1.7% compared with 2008. The service carried 1.2% more passengers in the year, with total traffic [...]
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 [...]
Former shareholders of Northern Rock have failed in their legal challenge to the Government’s plan to compensate them. Rock’s biggest former investor SRM Global brought the case against the Government, with RAB Capital and 150,000 private investors. The case entered the High Court in January and shareholders were contesting the way in which the bank’s [...]
A group of 222 homeowners trapped in shared appreciation mortgages (SAMS) have begun a new stage in their fight for compensation by sending out a letter before legal action to Barclays and HBOS (now part of Lloyds Banking Group). SAMS are a form of equity release sold by Barclays and HBOS during the late 1990s, [...]
Northern Rock shareholders are to enter the High Court this week demanding compensation to contest the way in which the stricken bank was nationalised in February 2007. The firm’s biggest former investor SRM Global has brought the case, with RAB Capital and 150,000 private investors. However, it is not the nationalisation itself that shareholders are [...]
British savers of internet bank Icesave, an arm of Landsbanki, have been warned that they may struggle to claim their money. Earlier today, the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority announced that the country’s Government had seized control of Landsbanki, which owns Icesave. At the moment, Icesave is not allowing customers to withdraw money out of their [...]
Research from Fairinvestment.co.uk has established that 87% of British homeowners believe they were sold an endowment policy under false pretences. During the 1980s and 1990s, endowment policies were a popular choice for homeowners and it is believed that over 10 million mortgage endowment policies were sold in the UK during the period. Endowments were primarily [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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