Airports operator BAA has today reported a sharp rise in passenger numbers at its six British airports in May. BAA, which is majority owned by Spain’s Ferrovial, said 9.3 million passengers flew from its UK airports during the month, boosted by the late Easter holiday and the Royal Wedding, which led to an increase in [...]
As expected, ash cloud has drifted over Scotland from Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano, resulting in flight cancellations. The volcano, which erupted over the weekend, is the second in just over a year after the volcano located under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier about 100 miles east of the capital Reykjavik, led to flight cancellations last year. It forced [...]
Irish no-frills airline Ryanair has today reported a rise in annual profits despite higher jet fuel costs, which continue to rise due to the political unrest in the Middle East. The budget carrier said fuel costs grew by 37% during the 12-month period to the end of March. Meanwhile, passenger numbers were up 8% in [...]
There are further fears for air travel today after Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano erupted, which led to the shutdown of the country’s airports with 6,000 passengers affected by cancellations so far. According to forecasters, the plume from the volcano could drift to northern Scotland tomorrow and the rest of Britain by the end of the week. [...]
Official figures today from Statistics Iceland revealed the economy contracted 1.5% in the October the December period. The figures come after the economy grew for the first time in the third quarter after contracting for seven consecutive quarters. The small economy of Iceland only emerged from its deep recession in the third quarter of last [...]
Iceland has finally emerged from recession after its economy contracted for seven consecutive quarters. Official figures today from Statistics Iceland revealed the economy grew by 1.2% in the July to September period. However, on an annual basis, the economy shrank by 1.6%. The once-thriving financial sector collapsed in October 2008 which led to three of [...]
Iceland’s Central Bank (Sedlabanki Islands) has slashed its key interest from 8% to 7%. While a cut was expected, it was not as much as economists had forecast after inflation eased and the country’s currency, the krona, strengthened. The central bank has aggressively cut interest rates after they hit a record high of 18% in [...]
BAA has today reported a fall in passenger numbers at its six British airports, after the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud forced UK airspace to close. The volcano, located under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier about 100 miles east of the capital Reykjavik, erupted in the early hours of 14 April. The massive cloud of ash is a [...]
Icelandic President, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, has vetoed the repayment of a £2.3 billion loan to the UK Government. The debt relates to the collapse of Landsbanki which collapsed at the height of the banking crisis in autumn 2008 and 300,000 British savers saw their accounts frozen with the bank’s online Icesave brand. The Treasury stepped [...]
An investigation is underway at Kaupthing – the Icelandic bank which collapsed last autumn. Kaupthing, which was once Iceland’s largest bank, collapsed along with Glitnir and Landsbanki at the height of the banking crisis last year and all three banks had to be nationalised. This led the Iceland Government to seek billions of dollars worth [...]
Iceland’s economy plummeted at its fastest pace on record in the third quarter, falling by 5.7% compared to the previous quarter. However, on an annual basis the economy contracted by 7.2% – the biggest fall on record. The news comes as many economies throughout the world are now recovering as they emerge from recession. However, [...]
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has revealed a staggering £21 billion has been paid out to UK savers in the six months after the onset of the credit crisis. This compares with £1 billion in the seven years prior to the credit crisis. The FSCS, which is the body established to compensate victims of [...]
Iceland has unveiled a €1.5 billion (£1.3 billion) scheme to recapitalise its three major banks. The Government will issue bonds to the three new banks it is creating from the collapsed ones. It is hoped the plan will get the banking system on a stronger footing after its three largest banks, Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing, [...]
The Sunday Telegraph has reported that local councils are planning to withdraw billions of pounds of deposits from building societies. The move follows the decision by Moody’s last month to downgrade the credit ratings of several building societies due to concerns they will be hit by losses due to the housing market slump. The downgrade [...]
A creditors’ report from the administrators of Heritable Bank, the UK arm of failed bank Landsbanki, has revealed that British councils may be able to recoup some of their losses. The Icelandic banking crisis emerged last autumn after Landsbanki, Glitnir and Kaupthing all collapsed and had to be rescued by the country’s Government. Hundreds of [...]
The US Federal Reserve unanimously voted today to cut interest rates from 1.5% to 1% in a bid to stave off a recession. Wall Street had been expecting the half-point cut in interest rates and the Dow Jones lost 64 points to 9000 following the news. However, it recovered by 52 points to 9117 within [...]
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 [...]
Iceland’s central bank has raised its key interest rate a whopping 6% just two weeks after it cut rates from 15.5%. According to the Central Bank’s governor, David Oddsson, the rise is intended to be only for the short-term to stabilise the currency, the krona. He added it is also in line with its agreement [...]
Barnsley Building Society has been forced to merge with the Yorkshire Building Society after it revealed its high exposure to collapsed Iceland banks. Barnsley said the deal will safeguard it against the possible loss of up to £10 million deposited with banks in Iceland. In a joint statement, the two societies said the proposal follows [...]
Iceland’s central bank, Sedlabanki, slashed interest rates today, earlier than scheduled, from 15.5% to 12% following a disastrous couple of weeks for the country. The country faced a near-collapse of its banking system after the country’s three largest banks, Glitnir, Kaupthing and Landsbanki, were nationalised recently. Meanwhile, the stock exchange was closed following a three-day [...]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products. Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than [...]
Home rental costs down in November
The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. [...]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax. Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees [...]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on [...]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society. The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed. Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages [...]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report. The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit [...]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting. People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE [...]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes. Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months. The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings [...]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data. Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though [...]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A [...]
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