A German newspaper has today reported that Portugal is under pressure to seek emergency aid from the EU rescue fund – something which the country strongly denies. Today, the Financial Times Deutschland reported that a number of euro zone nations and the European Central Bank were urging Portugal to follow Ireland and Greece and seek [...]
Once again, fears for Portugal and Spain are raised as borrowing costs surge to high levels as Ireland’s debt crisis looks set to spread. Yields on 10-year Portuguese bonds rose to 6.9% – mimicking what happened in Greece and Ireland – just before they were forced to seek emergency aid. Meanwhile, 10-year Spanish bonds surged [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has today announced that Greece has met the conditions of its loan and will therefore receive the third instalment of its bailout loan. In May, the EU and the IMF agreed to loan €110 billion. The three-year rescue deal comprises €80 billion from the EU, with the rest coming from [...]
Ireland’s Prime Minister, Brian Cowen, announced last night that his Government has made a formal request for an emergency bailout. In the euro zone’s second emergency rescue this year, Ireland will receive between €80 and €90 billion but the country’s finance minister, Brian Lenihan, said a precise figure has not been determined. The loan will [...]
Irish finance minister, Brian Lenihan, has today said the country is preparing to make a formal request for an emergency bailout. The exact amount of the loan, which will come from the EU rescue fund, which was established by European Governments and the International Monetary Fund after the Greek debt crisis earlier this year, was [...]
The European Union’s statistics office, Eurostat, has today said Greece’s budget deficit reached a revised 15.4% of annual economic output last year – higher than the 13.6% reported in April. The revised figure, which is almost two percentage points more than originally forecast, now makes it the largest deficit in the euro zone – even [...]
Professor David Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), has once again said massive spending cuts introduced to deal with the budget deficit could push the UK back into a recession. In June, and again last month, Mr Blanchflower warned the coalition Government that tough spending cuts could pose [...]
Chancellor George Osborne has today announced that UK banks will have until next month to sign up to a code of practice, in a bid to get them to pay more tax. Speaking to BBC television today, Mr Osborne said: “We are going to be looking at the code of practice that the banks were [...]
US central bank, the Federal Reserve, has hinted it will take measures to stimulate the economy by way of buying up US Government bonds in order to lower borrowing costs. The fresh round of stimulus comes as the world’s largest economy is struggling with a sluggish recovery, low inflation and high unemployment. Furthermore, growth in [...]
The Commerce Department today announced the US trade deficit widened in August by 8.8% to $46.6 billion (£29 billion), from $42.58 billion in August. Economists had expected a $44.5 billion gap. According to the Commerce Department, the widening in the trade deficit was primarily due to record imports from China. Imports from China rose 6.1% [...]
A report by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) today revealed around one million jobs could be lost in the UK, as a result of the massive spending cuts introduced by the Government. PwC said around half a million jobs will be lost in the private sector due to the impact on firms supplying the public sector. [...]
As part of the coalition Government’s welfare crackdown, Iain Duncan Smith, Work and Pensions secretary, has today announced that those on incapacity benefit will be forced to undergo medical tests. The tests, which will be trialled in Burnley and Aberdeen from today, will be rolled out throughout the country from next April. The move, which [...]
Supermarket giant Asda has announced it is to close its final salary pension scheme – a decision which will affect almost 4,000 employees. The supermarket, which is the UK’s second largest, is the latest in a series of companies to adopt these measures as final salary schemes have become significantly more expensive to operate. A [...]
Ireland received yet another blow today after credit agency Fitch cut the country’s debt rating to A+ from AA- with a negative outlook. Fitch said the downgrade was due to massive banking bailouts, which have drained the economy, as well as uncertainty surrounding the fragile recovery. Fitch also cut the short-term foreign currency issuer default [...]
Credit rating agency, Moody’s, today warned it may downgrade Ireland’s credit rating again, due to its ailing banking system. In addition, the agency said weak economic growth and rising borrowing costs could lead to the further cut. In July, Moody’s cut Ireland’s sovereign bond rating to Aa2 from Aa1. Other agencies, Standard & Poor’s and [...]
The central bank of Ireland has today predicted the economy will expand by just 0.2% – lower than its previous forecast of 0.8%. In comparison, the Government expects growth of 1% for 2010 as a whole, however, a further forecast is due later this month. The revised projection from the central bank comes as the [...]
Ahead of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham today, Chancellor George Osborne has revealed that child benefit is to be scrapped for higher rate taxpayers from 2013. Currently, child benefit is paid at £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 a week for any other children. For example, a mother of three would [...]
Official figures have today revealed the Greek economy contracted more than originally anticipated in the April to June period. The economy, which is still in a deep recession, contracted by 1.8% in the second quarter – rather than the first estimate of 1.5%. The contraction was worse than expected and follows the 0.8% fall in [...]
The euro zone’s second largest economy has lowered its economic growth forecast following a meeting between the President Sarkozy and senior finance ministers. The French President requested that ministers interrupt their summer holidays to discuss how France is going to tackle its deficit. Following the meeting, a statement said the economy will expand by 2% [...]
The European Union has today announced that Greece has met the conditions of its loan and will therefore receive the second instalment of its bailout loan on 13 September. In May, the EU and the IMF agreed to loan €110 billion. The three-year rescue deal comprises €80 billion from the EU, with the rest coming [...]
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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