Spanish bank giant Santander has today confirmed it has submitted an offer to buy Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) Williams & Glyn’s network of branches. The deal will give Santander approximately 1,645 branches, or 12% of the market, and cement its status as the second largest mortgage loan provider. The Spanish bank already has a [...]
The European Commission has predicted that the 16-member euro zone will see growth of 0.9% this year – slightly better than the 0.7% forecast earlier this year. However, Greece‘s economy, which has been in recession since the second quarter of 2009, is expected to contract by 3% this year, as the country in in the [...]
A survey by GfK NOP for the European Commission revealed a fall in consumer confidence for April. It was the second consecutive month that morale was low – as uncertainty surrounds the economy ahead of next week’s general election. The consumer confidence index gave an overall score of -16, a fall of one point from [...]
According to reports, US buyout firm Blackstone and UK medical research charity, the Wellcome Trust, have dropped their joint bid for Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) 318 Williams & Glyn’s branch network. The branch network is being sold under the orders of the European Commission as a punishment of the billions of pounds in state [...]
The European Commission has warned that additional measures may need to be taken by Portugal in order to cut its budget deficit. Like Greece, Portugal’s public finances are in a dire state and last month, international credit rating agency, Fitch, cut the country’s credit rating to ‘AA-’ with a negative outlook. According to Fitch, Portugal’s [...]
A report due to be released later this week by the European Commission is expected reveal the Government’s plans for reducing the budget deficit are not ambitious enough. A draft document, which has been seen by the Reuters news agency, warns Britain is not on target to trim its deficit in accordance with EU rules [...]
Greece clashed with the European Commission in Brussels today over its tough austerity measures, which will see the debt-stricken economy tackle its spiralling debts. Prior to a meeting with euro zone finance ministers in Brussels today, Greece’s Finance Minister, George Papaconstantinou, said the EU needed to show more support to Greece instead of questioning its [...]
The European Commission has met today to discuss Greece’s tough austerity measures which will see the weakest economy of the euro zone tackle its spiralling debt. The Commission confirmed it will support the country’s plans which include a public sector pay freeze and a hike in fuel taxes. However, the European Commission will closely monitor [...]
A survey by GfK NOP for the European Commission has revealed a fall in consumer confidence for December. It was the second consecutive month that morale was low – the last time confidence fell for two consecutive months was in July 2008. The consumer confidence index fell from -17 in November to -19 in December [...]
Banker bonuses are an “ethical problem” on which Europe should place limits even if America does not, Jose-Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, claimed this week. “It would be interesting, important, useful to have if possible the same rules [across] the world [and] to have the Americans at our side,” Barroso said in an [...]
According to a forecast from the European Commission, the euro zone will return to positive growth by the end of 2009, lifting the 16 countries that use the euro out of recession. The commission is forecasting growth of 0.2% for the July to September period but warns that the recovery might not be sustainable in [...]
Spain’s economy has suffered another blow today after preliminary estimates have revealed the economy has suffered its steepest fall since 1959. According to the National Statistics Institute, which is set to release final statistics next week, GDP fell 1.8% compared with the previous quarter and is down 2.9% on an annualised basis. The Spanish Government [...]
Official figures from the Labour Ministry have revealed that Spanish unemployment soared by 154,058 in February, taking the jobless total to 3.48 million – the highest in over 12 years. While the rise is smaller than that reported in January, there are fears that more people in the country could soon be out of work. [...]
The Labour Ministry said the number of people out of work in Spain soared by almost 200,000 in January, taking the total jobless number to 3.3 million. The organisation, based in Madrid, said it is the largest monthly rise on record. Spanish unemployment is the highest than any other nation in the EU at a [...]
According to the European Commission, the eurozone is faced with a deep and prolonged recession and forecasted that the economy will contract by 1.9% this year and expand by just 0.4% next year. Official figures show that the 16-member nation has been in recession since September 2008. However, recovery will be seen in the second [...]
Unemployment in the eurozone has risen to 7.7%, according to figures published by the EU’s statistics office. The rise represents the highest level for two years and highlights the severity of the economic slowdown. The lowest unemployment level among the 15 European nations was reported in Spain, where the rate increased from 12.1% to 12.8%. [...]
Official figures have revealed that confidence in the eurozone has fallen to its lowest level since August 1993. An indicator of executive and consumer sentiment fell from 80.0 in October to 74.9 in November, according to the European Commission in Brussels. This month’s fall was much higher than economists had predicted and takes the index [...]
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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BoE Governor: Growth to resume in Q3
The Bank of England’s Governor, Mervyn King, has said today that there are signs that the UK economy is expanding again. The announcement will provide hope that the UK will follow France and Germany and exit recession by experiencing positive growth. However, in comments made to the Treasury Select Committee, Mr King expressed caution and [...]