The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today revealed sales of new cars grew by 38.9% in December 2009 compared with the same month in 2008, boosted by the Government’s scrappage scheme. The ‘cash for bangers’ scheme pays consumers £2,000 to get rid of their old cars and replace it with a more [...]
Euroclear, which is Europe’s largest settlements group, has today announced that Tim Howell will become the group’s chief executive officer. Forty-nine-year-old Howell is currently the Global Head of HSBC Securities Services, where he is responsible for the custody, fund administration and corporate trust businesses of the HSBC Group. He has been a member of the [...]
Fears over the future of final salary pension schemes has reared its ugly head again after a report from the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) revealed that nine out of 10 such schemes are now closed to new members. The ACA, which questioned over 300 companies, found that employers continue to shy away from these [...]
Shares in troubled Japan Airlines (JAL) plummeted to a fresh low today, losing 24% to 67 yen. The stock plummeted for a second consecutive day amid reports that the carrier is heading towards bankruptcy under a state restructuring plan. The airline, which is Asia’s largest carrier, has been struggling amid the global economic downturn which [...]
There were concerns over a recovery in the US housing market today after the Commerce Department revealed a fall in sales of new homes for the month of November. According to the Commerce Department, new single-family home sales dived by 11.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 355,000 units, down from a revised 400,000 [...]
Gross mortgage lending in November showed a slight monthly rise, according to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA). The figure stood £9.2 billion but was still 12% down on a year earlier. However, banks approved £6.6 billion in house purchase loans, up from £6.1 billion in October and a 200% increase on November of last year. [...]
First direct has launched a market-leading offset tracker, which tracks at 2.08% above the Bank of England’s base rate, offering a current rate of 2.58%. The lender, which is part of the HSBC group, claims the deal is the best of its kind on the market, for a maximum loan to value ratio of 65%. [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today revealed sales of new cars grew by 57.6% in November compared with the same month in 2008, boosted by the Government’s scrappage scheme. November also represented the fifth consecutive monthly rise. July saw the first monthly rise, prior to that there were 15 successive months [...]
Bank of America is to repay the $45 billion (£27 billion) of US Government bailout funds. The banking giant received the funds at the height of the financial crisis after accepting the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The repayment of the loan will see the bank escape curbs on executive pay, which in turn, has [...]
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon brings some good news to the economy today by announcing it is to open 250 new pubs and create 10,000 jobs. The new pubs will be located in Sheffield, Livingston, Leominster, Otley, New Malden, Liverpool, Haverfordwest and Newcastle and are part of a £250 million investment over a five-year period. JD [...]
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 [...]
Britain’s High Street banks approved more new mortgages and loans for house purchases in October, with the figure nudging up from 42,073 in September, to 42,238 According to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), the improvement reflects continued growth from the low levels seen at the end of last year. BBA statistics director, David Dooks, says [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today revealed sales of new cars grew by 32% in October compared with the same month in 2008, boosted by the Government’s scrappage scheme. October also represented the fourth consecutive monthly rise. July saw the first monthly rise, prior to that there were 15 successive months [...]
With the prospect of new entrants into the UK mortgage market following the break up of RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, moneysupermarket.com has conducted a study that indicates Britons prefer to deal with established lenders when it comes to buying a property. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has already made it clear that the [...]
September’s mortgage approvals for house purchases were at their highest level since March 2008, the Bank of England has reported. During the month, lenders endorsed 56,215 loans for home buyers, a 3,000 plus improvement on August. However, remortgaging volumes continued to decline. Commenting on the data, Council of Mortgage Lenders’ economist, Paul Samter, observes: “There [...]
There were concerns over a recovery in the US housing market today after the Commerce Department revealed a fall in the annual rate of US new home sales in September. According to the Commerce Department, new single-family home sales dived by 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 homes, down from a revised [...]
The UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI), the body which was set up a year ago to oversee taxpayers’ interests in High Street banks, has announced it has a new chief executive. A senior investment banker at UBS, Robin Budenberg, is to replace John Kingman, who is set to join NM Rothschild. Mr Budenberg was heavily [...]
Government-backed National Savings & Investments (NS&I), which runs Premium Bonds and a variety of savings products, has unveiled a rise in the interest rates on some of its policies. The news will be welcomed by savers who have been suffering amid the historically low interest rate environment. NS&I said rates on its guaranteed growth bonds [...]
The number of mortgages approved for house purchases by the UK’s leading banks rose again in September. Figures from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) show 42,100 home loans sanctioned for house purchases, up from 40,100 in August and a 77% improvement on a year ago. Other mortgage approvals “remained subdued” last month and the Association [...]
The Post Office says it is rolling out a new mortgage range, following a two-year pilot in various regions of the UK. The offering includes a base rate tracker, two and three-year fixed-rate loans and a five-year fix at up to 60% loan-to-value ratio, at 5.09%. A £599 fee applies to all. The lender claims [...]
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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