Eleven industry leading sustainable banks have pledged to deliver banking services to the world’s poorest people. The banks made the promise at the second summit of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, earlier this month. “Fighting poverty will remain the first priority for the banking sector in the [...]
There was further evidence of Asia leading the global recovery today after Taiwan’s economy grew at an annualised rate of 18% in the final quarter of 2009. The strong performance was fuelled by demand for hi-tech products from top buyer China and other key export markets in the region. Last month, Taiwan exports experienced their [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its forecast for the global economy in its latest World Economic Outlook report. The IMF believes the global economy will grow by 3.9% in 2010, up from the 3.1% forecast it published late last year. The increase in its projection comes as it emerged that the UK exited [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has today warned that the global recovery “remains very fragile“. Dominique Strauss-Kahn of the IMF said the global economy has been stronger than expected and China and developing Asian economies are leading the way in the global economic recovery but warned all major economies of an early withdrawal from stimulus [...]
Global markets rallied this morning as fears over the Dubai debt crisis started to ease. As the facts of Dubai’s debt crisis unravelled at the end of last week, shares across the world plunged but have today recovered as confidence returns. It emerged last week that state-owned company Dubai World wanted a six-month holiday from [...]
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has provided a positive outlook for major economies saying “a recovery is clearly visible in the US, Japan and all other OECD economies and major non-OECD economies.” The report will give a boost to the UK which did not emerge from recession in the third quarter as [...]
One of the world’s largest telecommunications equipment suppliers, Nokia Siemens Networks, is to lay off almost 6,000 workers globally in a bid to cut annual costs by €1 billion. The company, which is a joint venture between Finland’s Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG of Germany, is struggling amid tough competition and the global recession which [...]
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Global Financial Stability Report has provided a positive assessment of the global economy. It has cut its amount likely to be written off globally in bad loans and investments by $600 billion to $3.4 trillion (£2.1 trillion). According to the IMF, co-ordinated efforts by Governments and Central Banks have helped [...]
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned today that in spite of signs of recovery in major economies, the global recession could mean 25 million people will lose their jobs. The news comes after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today revealed that unemployment in the UK grew by 210,000 to 2.47 million [...]
The price of gold, which is seen as an attractive investment in times of inflation, has briefly hit the $1,000 mark – it’s highest level in six months – before slipping back to $999.0 per ounce. Gold has been growing in value for the last 8 years and peaked at $1,032 an ounce in March [...]
Australia, which is one of the few developed economies not to have fallen into recession like its counterparts throughout the world, has seen its currency hit the highest level in 12 months after investors are more confident about a global economic recovery. The Australian dollar rose 0.5% to AU$0.86 against the US dollar. Already this [...]
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said the global recession is ending faster than originally thought and expects the US and the euro zone to exit recession in the third quarter. However, the news was not so positive for the UK with the organisation predicting that the economy will contract by 4.7% this [...]
US light crude hit $74.49 (£45) a barrel by afternoon in Europe today – after reaching $74.81, its highest intra-day price in ten months, on the back of increasing demand. Meanwhile, London’s Brent crude was 16 cents higher to $74.35 a barrel. This resulted in stock rising in BP, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group and [...]
Positive economic news and hopes of a global recovery boosted the FTSE 100 again today after the index soared to a ten-month high and smashed through the 4,900 mark. The gains followed those seen in Asia earlier today, which were spurred on by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments last Friday. Mr Bernanke’s comments came [...]
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the economic outlook for the world’s major economies is looking brighter after indications revealed the downturn may have finally bottomed out. The composite leading indicators (CLI) index for the 30 countries in the OECD gained 0.5 points in April to 93.2, up from 92.7 in [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has dealt a blow today by announcing that the global economy is set to decline by 1.3% in 2009. Back in January, the IMF predicted that world output would increase by 0.5% in 2009. In the UK, the IMF is forecasting a “quite severe recession” and that the economy will [...]
As the leaders of the world’s largest economies get ready for next week’s IMF meeting in Washington, it warns that the current global recession is likely to be “unusually long and severe, and the recovery sluggish.” The latest statement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will shock many commentators who have seen glimmers of hope [...]
Nokia has made a huge investment in a California-based start-up with the focus on making the mobile phone a viable alternative to the credit card. Nokia have invested in Obopay Inc, although there was no disclosure of the amount of the investment or whether Nokia’s head of corporate business development, Teppo Paavolo, will get a [...]
Global shares have risen today on the back of Government intervention after South Korea has become the latest country to announce a stimulus package to boost its economy. The package, worth around 14 trillion won (£6.6 billion, $10.9 billion), has been announced by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance in a bid to stave off [...]
It is believed that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this week, which has boosted shares worldwide following a severe decline earlier this week on fears of a global recession. The Fed is widely expected to cut rates by half a percentage point to 1%. This resulted in a sharp rise on Wall [...]
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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