Moody’s Investors Service has today announced it is reviewing 14 UK banks and building societies for downgrade due to the withdrawal of Government support. Elisabeth Rudman, a Moody’s Senior Credit Officer, said: “It has been initiated in response to ongoing guidance from the UK authorities (the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority and the [...]
Ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded its rating of Irish banks by two notches to junk status. The downgrade comes just a week after Moody’s downgraded Ireland’s sovereign debt rating. Today’s downgrade means Bank of Ireland is now rated Ba1 while AIB, EBS and Irish Life & Permanent are rated Ba2. Moody’s said there is a [...]
Following the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami on 11 March, the Japanese Government has today downgraded its growth forecast for the economy. The twin disasters have caused billions of pounds worth of damage and is set to impact on the country’s economic growth. As a result, the Japanese Government has downgraded its assessment of the [...]
Moody’s rating agency has revealed it is investigating how the UK’s biggest banks would manage business without Government support. The agency said it may downgrade the debt of its ratings of up to 18 UK banks to reflect the lower chance of a future Government bail-out. According to the agency, those at risk are the [...]
Portugal is looking to sell as much as €1 billion in short-term Government debt today – in a bid to help service its debts. The Government is expected to be able to issue 6 and 12-month treasury bills but the debt auction comes after Moody’s downgraded the credit ratings of seven Portuguese banks citing weakened [...]
Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded Portugal’s debt rating, for the second time in less than a month, by one notch to Baa1 from A3. Moody’s also warned that a further downgrade is possible as a bailout becomes increasingly likely for the debt-laden country. It said the downgrade was “driven primarily by increased political, budgetary [...]
Standard & Poor’s has cut Ireland’s credit rating by one notch to BBB+ from A- citing debt concerns but said further downgrades were now unlikely following recent stress tests. The ratings agency also said the outlook is stable and believes that the Irish economy is “set to gradually recover”. S&P credit analyst Frank Gill comments: [...]
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) today downgraded its rating on Greece’s long-term debt by two notches to BB- from BB+, taking the nation’s debt deeper into junk status. The downgrade comes shortly after Moody’s cut Greece’s rating to B1, one notch below S&P’s new rating. The downgrade is a further blow to the euro zone as [...]
Portugal has had its sovereign debt rating downgraded by Moody’s by two notches to A3 from A1 and kept the rating on a negative outlook – suggesting further downgrades are possible. According to the ratings agency, it might have to downgrade again as a result of high borrowing costs and the difficulty of meeting fiscal [...]
Spain has been dealt a further blow today after Moody’s ratings agency cut the country’s debt by one notch to Aa2 from Aa1. In a statement, the agency said: “(Moody’s) believes there is a meaningful risk that the eventual cost of the recapitalisation effort could considerably exceed the government’s current projections.” The downgrade comes just [...]
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has today cut Japan’s credit rating from AA to AA-, the first time in nine years such measures have been taken. The credit rating agency cited the country’s mounting debt worries for the downgrade. Japan’s debt currently stands at almost twice the country’s annual economic output – this compares with 136.8% [...]
Moody’s Investor Service has today put Portugal under review, warning that it may cut its rating by one or two notches. Investors have been nervous over recent weeks as Portugal’s borrowing costs surge and there have been suggestions that it might be forced to seek an emergency bailout, like Greece and Ireland. However, the country’s [...]
Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded the ratings on five Irish banks – Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, EBS Building Society, Irish Life and Permanent and Irish Nationwide Building Society. The downgrade came after Moody’s last week slashed Ireland’s credit rating by five notches to Baa1, from Aa2 – citing ongoing uncertainties over the [...]
Spain has featured heavily in the news recently after speculation mounts that the country will need to seek an emergency bailout from the EU. However, the country’s Government continues to deny the claims. Earlier this month, Spain’s finance minister, Elena Salgado, said: “Our fiscal adjustment is on track… we have done all the things that [...]
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 [...]
Ireland’s central bank has warned that a potential rescue for troubled lender, Anglo Irish Bank, will cost up to €34.3 billion (£29 billion). The figure is much higher than last month’s estimation of between €22-€25 billion and the revised figure is the equivalent of Ireland’s annual taxation revenues. The central bank said that the nationalisation [...]
Credit rating agency Moody’s has downgraded Spain’s credit rating today – just a day after unions held a general strike to protest against tough austerity measures. Like many other euro zone nations, Spain has introduced austerity measures, aimed at cutting its budget deficit, which is currently 11% of GDP. Spain aims to reduce the deficit [...]
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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