US mortgage giant Freddie Mac, which was taken over by regulators at the height of the financial crisis, has asked for a further $10.6 billion in state aid. The company, which announced a $6.7 billion dollar loss in the first quarter, said it would need the new funding by the end of June. The latest [...]
According to The Times, the Land Registry is to axe a further 800 jobs, on top of the 1,500 job losses it announced last October. The Registry, which has 20 offices across the country and covers England and Wales and records and guarantees the ownership of domestic and commercial property, said staff would fall further [...]
A report from accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has revealed more disappointment in the jobs market despite the UK emerging from recession in the fourth quarter of 2009. The report, which is based on interviews with bosses of 70 of the country’s largest companies, found that 28% of bosses are planning redundancies over the next year. The [...]
Lloyds Banking Group has today confirmed it will axe more jobs with the closure of a contact centre in Brighton in May 2010. The bank, which is currently 43% owned by the taxpayer, said the move will affect 535 employees, of which 162 will be transferred to other roles, leaving a reduction of 373 jobs. [...]
The trade union Accord has announced this morning that 700 jobs are set to go at Lloyds Banking Group’s offices in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Since its merger with HBOS last autumn, Lloyds has axed thousands of jobs due to overlap within the megabank. Lloyds said it planned to move approximately 570 life, pensions and investments administration [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is due to release the latest UK inflation figures today with analysts expecting a decline, albeit the rapid falls seen of late are expected to ease. Last month, the ONS revealed that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, had fallen to an annual rate of [...]
Banking giant Lloyds Banking Group is shedding a further 1,200 jobs – just a fortnight after it announced 2,100 jobs would be axed. The job losses now take the total 8,200, since its hasty merger with HBOS last autumn. The bank, which is 43% state-owned, said the latest round of job cuts will be lost [...]
According to Jones Lang LaSalle, house prices in the UK could fall a further 12-14% during the remainder of the year and a further 1-3% next year. The outlook is even worse for central London with the organisation predicting falls of up to 18% by the end of 2009. James Thomas, Head of Jones Lang [...]
Lloyds Banking Group has hit the headlines again today with the news it is axing a further 210 UK full-time jobs – in addition to the 625 job losses announced on Tuesday. The 625 job losses are as a result of the bank combining its corporate and small-business lending divisions together. The 210 job losses [...]
Figures from the CBI revealed a further decline in retail sales this month albeit the rate of the decline has slowed. According to the CBI’s distributive trades survey, 27% of retailers reported that sales in the first half of the month were higher than a year ago. This is compared with the 52% of retailers [...]
Lloyds Banking Group shares have fallen further this morning after closing more than 30% down on Friday following the news of a potential £10 billion loss at HBOS. Lloyds, which is 43% owned by the taxpayer, saw its shares fall 7.4p to 54p this morning amid speculation that the Government may be forced to inject [...]
Yesterday, Barclays announced it was to shed over 2,000 jobs worldwide (a 7% reduction in its workforce) in its investment banking and wealth management businesses. The job losses announced yesterday were in addition to the 410 job losses in its IT department which it announced last week. However, today, the British bank has announced a [...]
The US Federal Reserve’s Chairman, Ben Bernanke, is suggesting that the US needs another cash boost to encourage spending and promote consumer confidence. The suggestion comes after the country recently announced a $700 billion (£380 billion) package to rescue the country’s ailing banking industry. Mr Bernanke believes further Government spending may be required after he [...]
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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