Sir George Mathewson, former chief executives of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Sir Peter Burt, former chief executive of Bank of Scotland (BoS), are trying to convince HBOS shareholders they will not benefit from the current Lloyds TSB deal on the table. The merger of the two banking giants, which will create Lloyds Banking [...]
Lloyds TSB has confirmed that it will pass on today’s 1.5% cut in the base rate in full, to mortgage borrowers on its standard variable rate (SVR). The bank had previously pledged that its SVR will never be pitched more than 2% above the Bank of England’s base rate. Today’s reduction takes Lloyds TSB’s SVR [...]
Leading lenders withdrew tracker mortgages just hours before the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee agreed an historic 1.5% cut in the base rate, to 3%. Lloyds TSB and its Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) unit, Northern Rock and Woolwich have all withdrawn tracker products today. Yesterday, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) warned that lenders [...]
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 [...]
It was confirmed this morning that the Lloyds TSB and HBOS merger is proceeding and the new name for the company was unveiled as Lloyds Banking Group. According to Lloyds, its acquisition of HBOS would save it at least £1.5 billion a year, far more than originally anticipated. There have been concerns that the cost [...]
The Lloyds TSB/HBOS merger looks set to proceed after both banks have announced plans to raise up to £17 billion through the Government’s rescue scheme. Today, Lloyds said it plans to raise £4.5 billion from investors with the support of the Government and will offer the Government preference shares worth £1 billion. Meanwhile, HBOS said [...]
The Lloyds TSB / HBOS merger was approved by the Government at the end of last week but over the weekend, an unnamed bidder has emerged and has been in discussions with the Government with regard to acquiring Halifax Bank of Scotland. According to reports, the low stock market valuation of HBOS has appealed to [...]
Two High Street mortgage lenders have increased their tracker rates, despite last week’s 0.5% cut in the base rate. Lloyds TSB is hiking its mainstream tracker rates by between 0.3% and 0.5% and Woolwich, the mortgage lending unit of Barclays, is increasing rates on its lifetime and offset tracker deals by 0.2%. Woolwich actually reduced [...]
The terms of Lloyds TSB’s takeover for Halifax owner, HBOS, have been revised. HBOS shareholders will now receive 0.605 shares for each HBOS share they own, revised from the original offer last month of 0.833. The news comes as the Government announces a £37 billion rescue plan, which will see £20 billion injected into Royal [...]
Shares on the FTSE 100 index have risen this morning on the news that the UK Government is to pump £37 billion into three of the country’s largest banks. Under the terms of the deal, banks have agreed to scrap executive bonuses for the current year and future bonuses will be paid in the form [...]
Banking shares have been the sharpest fallers on the FTSE 100 today in London as it was announced late last night that the US $700 billion (£380 billion) bailout scheme was rejected after it failed to gain support from Congress who voted against the proposed scheme. One of the biggest fallers today was HBOS who [...]
Lloyds TSB and its Cheltenham & Gloucester subsidiary have increased rates on two and three-year fixed-rate loans by up to 0.26%. The bank’s two-year fixed-rate deal for those with a 75% deposit has risen to 6.44%; borrowers with only 10% of equity will pay 6.75%. Last week, Halifax, the UK’s biggest mortgage lender and part [...]
According to a report in a Sunday newspaper, Lloyds TSB’s takeover of HBOS could result in the closure of up to 700 high-street branches. The £12.2 billion purchase was announced on Thursday amid the turmoil in the stock markets following the collapse of US Wall Street giant, Lehman Brothers. According to the Independent on Sunday, [...]
Lloyds TSB has revealed the terms of its £12.2 billion takeover of HBOS which could result in thousands of job losses. However, Lloyds has described the deal as a unique opportunity and values HBOS shares at 232p each. HBOS shareholders will receive 0.83 Lloyds shares for every HBOS share. There is speculation that the deal [...]
According to reports from Robert Peston at the BBC, both Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) and Lloyds TSB (LLOY) are in advanced talks on a merger. The news comes as HBOS shares show extraordinary volatility in London trading, so far trading anywhere between 88 pence and 214 pence per share according to Google Finance. HBOS [...]
A survey by the CBI and Experian has revealed that confidence among UK manufacturers has taken a dive throughout the UK, as companies are facing steep rising cost pressures with output expected to fall over the next few months. The index of business optimism fell to -40 in the three months to July, this represented [...]
The credit crisis and weakening economy has led to HBOS posting a huge slump in profits. HBOS said pre-tax profit fell from £2.99 billion in the first half of 2007 to £848 million compared with the same period a year ago. Bad debts increased 36% to £1.31 billion as customers defaulted on loans. Furthermore, HBOS [...]
Lloyds TSB and its mortgage subsidiary, Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G), are cutting interest rates on two-year fixed-rate and tracker loans. The lenders’ full-term tracker mortgages will see the maximum benefit, with rates reducing by 0.38%, to 5.95%. The maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio on these deals is 20%. Interest on two-year fixed-rate loans with a maximum [...]
Mortgage customers of Northern Rock who are seeing their fixed-rate mortgages run out are facing huge increases because they are trapped on expensive rates with the crisis-torn lender. The business plan for the nationalised bank saw attractive rates scrapped in an attempt to put-off new customers and encourage existing ones to re-mortgage with another lender. [...]
Lloyds TSB is giving children, as young as 11, debit cards without their parents consent. The news raises fears that the cards could being used to buy cigarettes, alcohol and pornography over the internet. In the past, children aged 11 to 15 who hold current accounts were limited to debit cards that could only be [...]
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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