Barclays has declined financial assistance from the UK Government and is instead looking to raise £7.3 billion, primarily from Middle East investors. The bank has secured a £5.8 billion cash injection from investors in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, and once the deal is finalised, the Middle Eastern investors will hold a 32% stake in Barclays. [...]
London’s FTSE 100 fell 5.6% to 3,665 at one point today, this represents the lowest level since April 2003 as investors continue to worry about the global economic slowdown. Investors’ fears were brought to light after last week’s news that the British economy shrank for the first time since 1992, according to figures from the [...]
Global shares have plummeted this morning on the news that some of the world’s largest economies are bracing themselves for recession. Reports that unemployment in the UK soared by 164,000 to 1.79 million in the three months to August, are adding to fears, as well as the news that retail sales in the US fell [...]
Many leading economies have now announced bailout packages for their banks but stock markets have lost ground as investors fears that the world is heading for a recession. As the FTSE 100 opened in London this morning, it lost 77.8 points to 4316.5 with mining shares leading the falls. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones index closed [...]
Following the sharp falls in Asian stock markets today, Europe has followed suit as the global financial turmoil continues. Tokyo’s Nikkei-225 index shed 9.6% and saw its biggest fall in a single session since Black Monday in October 1987. At the end of trading on Friday, Tokyo shares had plummeted 24% during the week. Meanwhile, [...]
Despite shares recovering in early trading today as investors absorbed the news of a half a point percentage cut in interest rates, stock markets this afternoon have fallen as investors fear a world recession. On Wall Street, shares dipped despite opening 1.63% higher and this resulted in its counterparts losing ground. In London, the FTSE [...]
Struggling lender Bradford & Bingley (B&B) has been rescued by a group of UK investors after US private equity firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG) pulled out of a deal, after credit rating agency, Moody’s, downgraded the lender’s debt. This now means that B&B has the lowest credit rating out of all the major British banks [...]
City analysts have been predicting interest rate falls to 4.5% by the end of 2008. However, they are now gambling that rates will have to increase from the current level of 5% to manage spiralling inflation. City economists said that at the very best, all hopes of an interest rate cut this year have now [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has confirmed that it has received acceptances for 95.11% of shares, therefore allaying fears for investors and underwriters. Investment banks Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and UBS will have to sell 300 million shares, worth over £600 million on the market today. The cash call was at 200p and shareholders who [...]
According to the Investment Management Association (IMA), the fund management trade body, this year’s Isa (Individual Savings Accounts) season has been the worst on record. As investors were threatened by the financial crisis, sales of Isas fells to a new low said the IMA. Net sales of Isas fell to £1.3 billion during the 2007/08 [...]
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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