The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has today revealed gross mortgage lending fell 6% in August compared with the same month last year to £11.4 billion. The figure was also 14% lower compared with July and represented the lowest August monthly total since 2000, highlighting the ongoing sluggishness of the UK housing market. Commenting on [...]
A survey by the EEF engineering group has discovered that British companies are still struggling to obtain credit. According to the manufacturers’ organisation, credit is more expensive today than two months ago. The claim comes despite calls from the Government and business leaders to increase lending to businesses. Commenting on its report, Lee Hopley, the [...]
According to a report in the Financial Times, British banking giant Barclays has refused to sign up to Government lending targets, suggesting they could encourage irresponsible lending. Steve Cooper, head of Barclays’ small business division, told the FT: “I’m not going to sign up to a target. I don’t want to create an expectation that [...]
Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the housing market currently, there is some positive news from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). According to the CML, 52,000 new loans were granted to home buyers in June – 19% higher than in May and up 14% on June 2009. CML economist Paul Samter points out that [...]
The bosses of Britain’s top six banks are to establish a taskforce to address the shortage of lending to businesses. In a letter to Chancellor George Osborne, British Bankers’ Association (BBA) chairman, Stephen Green, said there was a “need to make sure that viable businesses are able to obtain the finance they need to support [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 83% owned by the taxpayer, today announced a profit for the six months ended June, boosted by falling charges for bad debt. The bank posted a net profit of £9 million ($14.3 million) compared with a £1.04 billion net loss in the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, [...]
British banks will unveil their first-half profits this week with the five biggest banks expected to reveal they are back in the black. Banking giant HSBC will kick off the reporting season tomorrow, with Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered announcing their results on Wednesday, Barclays on Thursday and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) on [...]
The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has today revealed a marginal rise in the number of new mortgages approved by the major banks in April. According to the BBA, mortgage approvals for the month stood at 35,729 – up by just 685 on March. The BBA said there is little evidence of the traditional “spring bounce” [...]
In yesterday’s Budget, Chancellor Alistair Darling unveiled plans for rescued banks, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group, to lend more to businesses. In a legally binding agreement, RBS and Lloyds, which are 84% and 41% owned by the taxpayer respectively, were rescued at the height of the financial crisis but there have [...]
Bailed out banks Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group are to increase the amount they lend to businesses. RBS and Lloyds, which are 84% and 41% owned by the taxpayer, respectively, were rescued at the height of the financial crisis but there have been concerns that the bailed out banks have not [...]
The latest Bank of England quarterly lending survey has revealed lending to British businesses slumped in January. According to the report, net lending fell by 9.3% during the month – the sharpest decline since records began in 1999. Banks and building societies lent £6.5 billion in January and followed a drop of £3.4 billion in [...]
In a round-up of January mortgage lending, Bank of England figures show approvals for house purchases falling 17%, compared to a month earlier. However, the month-on-month decline takes into account the end of the stamp duty holiday, which resulted in transactions being pushed through in time for December completions, and winter weather conditions that would [...]
Lenders are backing the proposed regulation of the second-charge mortgage market. Responding to a Treasury consultation, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has also said it wants to ensure borrowers are sufficiently protected when mortgage books are sold on. On second-charge lending, the body has restated its longstanding position that all residential mortgage lending should [...]
A survey by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) revealed that many business managers are concerned that Britain is heading towards a double-dip recession (whereby the economy goes into recession twice without having undergone a full recovery in between.) Last week, official figures revealed that the UK economy grew by 0.1% between the October and December period, suggesting [...]
Ethical bank Triodos reported a record year for its UK operations in 2009, with lending and commitments growing by 73%. During 2009 the bank loaned nearly £250 million to organisations in the UK delivering social, environmental or cultural benefits. Bevis Watts, the bank’s head of business banking, said the surge in lending for 2009 was [...]
Interest rates on personal loans are finally starting to fall. The average interest rate on the top ten loan deals has fallen to 8.35%, the lowest level since the Bank of England reduced the base rate to 0.5% last March. When the Bank of England first lowered the base rate, mortgage and current account providers [...]
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is calling on banks to return to their “normal lending criteria” next year. The FSB, which represents 215,000 small firms across the UK, said Britain’s five million small businesses will be at the heart of the UK’s move out of recession, but need more help. FSB chairman John Wright [...]
After the $700 billion (£430 billion) bailout of the banking industry, US President Barack Obama has now asked banks to do their part and increase lending to small and medium-size businesses. A meeting yesterday with executives from Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, among others, came a day after Mr Obama said he had [...]
Figures from the Bank of England show the value of mortgages approved for house purchases rising for the 11th consecutive month in October, to £8 billion. The total is up from £7.6 billion a month earlier and compares with a previous six month average of £6.7 billion. Volumes increased to 57,345, up from 56,205 in [...]
Abbey has captured 20.5% of the UK mortgage market. The share is up from 16.3% of gross mortgage lending during the six months to the end of June 2009. Impressively, the bank’s prudent approach to lending meant that arrears of three months or more stood at 1.34% in the third quarter of the year, 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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