The UK’s ailing car industry has received a boost today with the news that Nissan will create 350 new jobs at its plant in Sunderland, while safeguarding hundreds more in the related supply chain. The new jobs come as part of a £200 million investment, spread over five years, to produce batteries for electric cars. [...]
Halifax is recommending that “straightforward” home improvements are most likely to offer the highest return in terms of adding value to a home. According to the lender’s research, fuel efficiency and energy saving measures head the list, with the potential for more than double the amount laid out to be reflected in a property’s value. [...]
UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the body set up to manage taxpayers’ interests in rescued banks, has today admitted that returning investments to the private sector will be “challenging”. According to the body, each household in the country has over £3,000 invested in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which are 43% and [...]
Banking giant, Lloyds Banking Group, is expected to take a hit of £450 million as a result of its investment in pub chain Admiral Taverns. In order to finance a series of acquisitions, the group’s Bank of Scotland arm loaned more than £850 million to Admiral but the pub group, which owns more than 2000 [...]
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has launched two new inflation-busting savings accounts. The government-back savings provider said its Index-linked Savings Certificates offer savers the chance to invest up to £15,000 tax free per issue. Interest on the two accounts will be tied to the retail price index (RPI) rate of inflation. Certificates can be held [...]
UK carmakers, Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan, have today received £720 million worth of funding, in return for investing in cutting vehicle emissions. The funding was approved by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU’s main source of long-term lending, and is the first such package provided to any carmaker. Jaguar Land Rover was awarded [...]
The UK Government has been warned by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) over its “green new deal” as there could be billions of pounds worth of green investment lost, if there is not greater focus on environmental targets. There has been heavy criticism of the UK climate policy as it has not supported change [...]
The Co-operative Bank has increased profits by 70 percent (for the year to 10 January) as depositors fled to what has always been seen as the “boring bank” but in troubled times, many savers have warmed to its security. In a period where its competitors struggled, retail deposits increased by 17 percent whilst corporate deposits [...]
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 [...]
Insurance and pensions group LV= has launched a new pensions plan that can be tailored by customers to meet their individual needs. The Flexible Transitions Account (FTA) has a variety of investment options to suit the needs of different customers. Customers can combine and switch investment options throughout the life of the pension according to [...]
Nationwide Building Society has launched a new issue of its Legal & General Guaranteed Multi-Index Equity Bond (GEB). The six year GEB offers 70% return on any growth in the value of three of the world’s top stock market indices – the FTSE 100 Index, S&P 500 Index, and DJ EuroSTOXX 50 Index. Nationwide guarantees [...]
Asda Financial Services is offering parents-to-be an incentive to pre-register for the Asda Child Trust Fund. The supermarket’s banking division is giving away money off vouchers for 12 Asda products and a free Family Money Guide to families who pre-register online. Claiming the freebies does not obligate parents to stay with Asda for the trust [...]
A new Super Saver account was launched this week by Santander-owned Alliance & Leicester. The Super Saver account offers a 5.5% fixed rate for 12 months if customers invest an equal amount in any other Alliance & Leicester investment product, including guaranteed capital products. Customers who only place money in the Super Saver will receive [...]
A new company called UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI) is to oversee the Government’s shareholdings in the three High Street banks it rescued last month. It was announced recently that the UK Government is to pump £37 billion into three of the country’s largest banks. £20 billion is to be injected into Royal Bank of [...]
Iceland had a disastrous week last week after the nationalisation of the country’s three largest banks. On Thursday, it announced that trading had been suspended on the OMX Nordic Exchange in a bid to prevent further crises. It was expected that the stock exchange would reopen today but it remains closed due to ‘unusual market [...]
Berkshire Hathaway has bought a stake in American bank, Goldman Sachs, as part of an injection of cash which will see the group raise $7.5 billion (£4 billion). The investment vehicle, which is run by US billionaire investor Warren Buffett, came to an agreement to buy $5 billion of preferred stock in a private offering. [...]
Research by Thomson-Reuters Lipper, commissioned by the BBC, has found that savers investing their money in savings accounts have benefited rather than investing in UK stocks and shares. The research found that if £1,000 was invested at the start of the decade, it would now be worth £1,094 in an average UK unit trust compared [...]
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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