Paypal is now more popular than credit cards as the preferred method of payment for online shopping according to a global survey by financial advisory firm KPMG. According to KPMG’s “The Converged Lifestyle” report, consumers worldwide are rapidly adopting new technologies and Paypal is reaping much of the benefit. The study looked at the online [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today announced retail sales saw a slight improvement in September According to the BRC/KPMG retail sales monitor, like-for-like sales (which exclude the impact of sales at new stores) rose 0.3% on an annual basis. However, clothing sales suffered while demand for big-ticket items remained weak due to fragile consumer [...]
A survey from BDO, published today, has revealed a fall in business confidence, while a separate survey has revealed employers plan to axe jobs in the third quarter. According to the Business Trends optimism index from accountants BDO, business confidence fell to 95.1 in July from 95.6 the previous month – the lowest level for [...]
Retail sales fell in June as households continue to be squeezed by higher inflation and rising unemployment. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)/KPMG retail sales monitor, sales fell by 0.6% on an underlying basis last month, while total sales (including VAT) rose 1.5%. Food sales growth eased a little last month but a strong [...]
Retail sales fell sharply last month – providing further evidence of a fragile economic recovery. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)/KPMG retail sales monitor, total sales fell by 1.9% on an annual basis - the worst fall since the series started in 1995. The trade body attributed the fall to the ongoing squeeze on [...]
A report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has revealed employment for both temporary and permanent workers rose during February. The survey of 400 recruitment consultancies showed permanent staff vacancies rising at their fastest level in 10 months, while demand for temporary staff saw its biggest rise since May 2007. The permanent [...]
Retail sales fell last month - providing further evidence of a fragile economic recovery. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)/KPMG retail sales monitor, like-for-like sales fell 0.4% in February on an annual basis after a 2.3% rise in January. The trade body attributed the fall to the ongoing squeeze on household incomes as fears [...]
Retail sales recovered in January after the heavy snowfall in December knocked sales. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)/KPMG retail sales monitor, like-for-like retail sales grew by 2.3% in January on an annual basis - the best showing since March 2010. Total sales increased 4.2%, up from 1.5% in December. However, the BRC highlights [...]
A report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has revealed employment for both temporary and permanent workers rose during December. The survey of 400 recruitment consultancies showed permanent staff vacancies rising at their fastest level in four months, while demand for temporary staff saw its biggest rise in six months. However, the [...]
The heavy snowfall which gripped most of the country last month was expected to impact negatively on retail sales. However, retail sales fell just 0.3% on a like-for-like basis, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)/KPMG retail sales monitor. However, total sales rose 1.5% against 6% growth the previous year - a sharp drop but [...]
A report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has revealed employment for both temporary and permanent workers rose during November. The survey of 400 recruitment consultancies showed job appointments grew at their fastest pace in three months. The permanent staff placements index surged to 55.2 in November, from to 52.6 the previous [...]
A report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has raised further fears over the strength of the UK job market. The survey of 400 recruitment consultancies showed job appointments grew at their slowest rate in 14 months in October. The permanent staff placements index dipped to 52.6 in October from 54.6 the [...]
There is worrying news for the economy today after the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said retail sales growth eased in September. The BRC said consumers are holding off purchasing big-ticket items as they prepare themselves for massive spending cuts, introduced by the Government to slash the budget deficit. Many reports have suggested economic growth will [...]
The latest report from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has suggested that the UK jobs market is continuing to weaken as Government spending cuts are having a major impact on employment. The permanent placement index dipped to 54.6 in September, down from 56.3 the previous month. Meanwhile, the temporary and contract staff [...]
A report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has raised fears over the strength of the UK job market. The survey of 400 recruitment consultancies showed job appointments grew at their slowest rate since October 2009 last month. Kevin Green, chief executive of the REC, comments: “We are concerned about the UK [...]
UK mortgage fraud rose sharply in the first half of 2010, according to KPMG. The accountancy firm’s “fraud barometer” registered 21 cases in the six months to the end of June, compared with 18 in the same period of 2009. More alarmingly, the value of the fraud rose to £96 million, up from £24 million [...]
A report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has revealed staff appointments in the private sector grew in June, albeit at the slowest rate for five months. The survey, which questions 400 recruitment firms, showed a strong rise in permanent staff placements, with engineering and construction growing. Commenting on the data, Rec’s [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today reported a rise in UK retail sales for the month of May. The Consortium said sales were boosted by the warm weather, as well a high demand for clothing. Furthermore, the forthcoming World Cup tournament boosted television sales, while non-food non-store sales surged 21.9% - the strongest performance [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today reported a sharp fall in UK retail sales for the month of April. According to the BRC, the total value of sales fell by 0.2% in April on an annual basis, while the like-for-like drop was 2.3% - the steepest fall since December 2008. However, the figures suggest [...]
Unrealistic house prices hamper market
Although more new houses were put up for sale in December, transactions were hampered by sellers asking too high a price for their properties, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). December saw the number of houses put up for sale increase for the third month in a row, especially in London where [...]
Post Office launches reward saver account
The Post Office has strengthened its range of savings products with a reward saver account offering 3 per cent interest and a notice period of only 30 days. If savers make a withdrawal without giving 30 days notice, they will lose 30 days interest on the amount withdrawn. The interest rate includes a 1.25% bonus [...]
Doorstep lenders lose 1.4 million customer records
Financial Services Limited and Shopacheck, which are both part of the Cattles Group, are writing to 1.4 million customers, warning them that back-up storage tapes containing their personal details have been lost. The storage tapes contained the names, addresses and payment histories of 600,000 customers and the names and addresses of another 800,000. They also [...]
New rules allow credit unions to expand
Credit unions which have previously had to restrict their services to a common group of members, such as residents of certain geographical area, will be able to expand under new legislation. While they were only allowed to offer services to individuals, changes to the Credit Unions Act means that they are now allowed to provide [...]
Banks and insurers failing victims of PPI mis-selling
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has criticised banks and insurance companies for their slow response to payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation claims. The huge numbers of PPI claims are overwhelming UK banks, with the result that customers are becoming tired of waiting and are taking their cases to the FOS. The FOS says that number [...]
House prices down 1.3% in 2011
Mortgage lender the Halifax claims that house prices fell by 1.3 per cent last year to an average of £160,063, their lowest level since July 2009. According to the Halifax House Price Index, house prices fell 0.9 per cent in December, compared with the previous month. Although prices rose in the third quarter of 2010, [...]
Virgin Money introduces charge for current accounts
Virgin Money, the new owner of Northern Rock, is to begin charging all new customers for current accounts, even if the account remains in credit. Virgin Money’s chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia “Most people know there is no such thing as free banking. “Banks have to cover the cost of free current accounts with hidden charges [...]
Public sector pension reforms ineffective
An independent pensions consultant claims that the government’s proposed reforms to public sector pensions will result in no cost savings whatsoever. John Ralfe says that the savings which will be made by increasing the public sector pension age to 67 will be cancelled out by the faster build up of pensions in the new schemes. [...]
Personal loan rates on downward trend
Marks & Spencer Money is offering borrowers a personal loan at a rate of just 6 per cent. This represents the lowest rate since 2008 when Moneyback Bank was offering 5.8 per cent, while just one year ago Tesco Bank offered the lowest loan rate, of 8.4 per cent. Marks & Spencer Money’s 6% deal [...]
Housebuyers using payday loans to pay mortgages
In the last year around seven million UK house buyers have been forced to use payday loans or unauthorised overdrafts to meet their mortgage repayments, according to housing charity Shelter. With both of these sources of finance potentially carrying extremely high interest rates, this represents one in seven Britons who could be at risk of [...]
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