The government’s purchase of Northern Rock in February 2008 and its recent sale of the bank to Virgin Money, is expected to result in a net profit of up to £11bn for UK taxpayers. According to UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI) which manages the Government’s stakes in banks bailed out by the state during the [...]
New bank NBNK is believed to be considering a bid for Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks after it was announced that the two banks will undergo a strategic review. The review, by parent company National Australia Bank, could lead to Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks being sold or floated on the stock market. NBNK has not confirmed [...]
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 [...]
The government has announced the sale of Northern Rock to Virgin Money for £747m, representing a loss of £650m on the £1.4bn of public money it injected into the Newcastle-based bank. The chancellor, George Osborne said that the deal was “an important first step in getting the taxpayer out of the business of owning banks”. [...]
Nationalised lender Northern Rock Plc has today unveiled its results for the half-year. The crisis-torn bank, which was the first victim of the credit crunch, said pre-tax profits for the six months to 30 June totalled £68.5 million, against a loss of £142.6 million in the same period a year ago. However, lending was lower [...]
In his Mansion House speech this evening, Chancellor George Osborne is expected to confirm that banks will have to ring-fence their retail operations so they are protected from losses from investment banking. The Chancellor is also expected to suggest that banks will have to hold more capital – a recommendation of the Independent Commission on [...]
Crisis-torn Northern Rock has today announced it will reduce headcount by a further 680 as part of another restructure. According to the lender, which was nationalised in February 2008, the job losses are necessary as part of a cost-cutting exercise and would affect employees “at all grades across the company”. Less than 2,000 people will [...]
Crisis-torn Northern Rock has today unveiled an underlying loss of £232.4 million for the 2010 year for its so-called “good“ bank. Despite the loss, the Newcastle-based bank will pay more than £13 million in bonuses to its 4,000-strong workforce. The bonus comes despite executive chairman Ron Sandler describing the losses as “disappointing”. He comments: “2010 [...]
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the body established to compensate victims of banking failures, will now reimburse up to £85,000 per saver if a bank collapses, up from the £50,000 limit previously agreed. It is hoped the new limit, which is paid for by the UK financial services industry, will avert customer panic if [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined David Jones, Northern Rock’s former finance director, for the misreporting of mortgage arrears at the bank. The Watchdog has fined Mr Jones £320,000 and banned him from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity. The fine comes after former deputy chief executive, David Baker, and former [...]
Nationalised Northern Rock has announced it will axe a further 650 jobs by the end of the year as it prepares to return to the private sector. The reduction in headcount is part of the bank’s radical turnaround plan and comes just one week after it said it is to close its banking operation in [...]
Nationalised Northern Rock has today announced it is to close its banking operation in Guernsey on 2 September. The closure of Guernsey‘s activities, which come after a review of offshore operations, is the latest step in the bank’s turnaround plan. Its Guernsey operation was launched in February 1996 and it currently has some 6,000 customers, [...]
Savers with Northern Rock have today lost the 100% guarantee on their cash. The move, which was announced back in February, means the crisis-torn bank is back in line with its rivals but savers will still benefit from the £50,000 guarantee to all savers under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The 100% guarantee was [...]
Mortgage customers with two of the UK’s rescued banks are less than happy with the service they receive, according to new research from Which? Money. The 41% state-owned Lloyds Banking Group has the furthest to go: only 41% of Bank of Scotland borrowers surveyed expressed satisfaction, while the group’s Halifax unit impressed 44% of home [...]
Two former directors of crisis-torn Northern Rock have been fined and banned by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Former deputy chief executive, David Baker, has been fined more than half a million pounds by the FSA for misreporting mortgage arrears data and banned from working for an FSA-regulated firm. Furthermore, ex-credit director, Richard Barclay, has [...]
It has been announced today the ‘bad banks‘ of Northern Rock (NRAM) and Bradford and Bingley (B&B) are set to merge. The move is designed to cut costs and bring greater returns for the taxpayer. The UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the body which was set up at the height of the financial crisis to oversee [...]
The Treasury has today announced savers with Northern Rock will lose the Government’s 100% guarantee on 24 May. The move means the crisis-torn bank is back in line with its rivals but savers will still benefit from the £50,000 guarantee to all savers under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The 100% guarantee was put [...]
Northern Rock, which was recently split into two divisions, is to continue its sponsorship of Newcastle United Football Club after signing a new four-year deal valued at between £1.5 million and £10 million. Rock has been the football club’s shirt sponsor since 2004 and the new deal will run from season 2010/11 to 2014. However, [...]
Richard Pym, the chairman who was appointed to stabilise Bradford & Bingley last year, is to oversee Northern Rock’s ‘bad bank’ operations. It was announced earlier this month that nationalised Northern Rock would be split into two, after receiving the necessary approval from the European Union (EU). New Years Day is the date that has [...]
It was recently confirmed that crisis-torn Northern Rock would be split into two, after receiving the necessary approval from the European Union (EU). 1 January 2010 is the date that has been agreed for the Rock to be split into two divisions - a “good bank” of profitable assets and “bad bank” of toxic debts. The [...]
Strikes threatened as public sector pension talks conclude
Talks over public sector pensions have now ended with the government producing a final set of proposals. While the Treasury said the talks were constructive, unions claim that ‘serious matters’ have been left unresolved, leading to the threat of further industrial action. The proposed changes to health, education and civil service pensions are designed to [...]
Payday loan company’s licence revoked
Credit broker Yes Loans has had its licence revoked by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) over concern that its business practices ‘deceitful and oppressive’. Two associated businesses, Blue Sky Personal Finance and Money Worries Limited, have also been found to be unfit to hold a consumer credit licence. Following a long-term investigation, the OFT [...]
Card fraud falls to 11-year low
The amount of money lost due to credit and debit card fraud fell to £341m in 2011. This was 7 per cent less than the amount lost in 2010 and 44 per cent lower than in 2008, when £610m was lost through card fraud. Since 2010 the number of fraudsters impersonating people to use or [...]
Pensioners hammered by QE and rising living costs
The value of final salary pension schemes has been slashed by £90 billion due to the government’s latest round of quantitative easing (QE), the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) warns, while pensioners’ incomes have also been hit by soaring living costs. A new study by LV= suggest that pensioners’ day-to-day living costs have increased [...]
Second salvo of QE knocks £90bn off pensions funds
Falling gilt yields have pushed final salary pension funds £90bn deeper into the red since the second wave of quantitative easing (QE) started last October, pension experts said today. The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said the Bank of England’s printing of £125bn within the past six months had hit pension funds harder than [...]
Bank of Ireland raises cost of mortgages
The Bank of Ireland has become the latest lender to increase the standard variable rate (SVR) on its mortgages. Around 100,000 UK customers will be affected when the bank increases the SVR from 2.99 per cent, to 3.99 per cent in June There will be a further increase in September, when the SVR will rise [...]
House prices down 1.1% in February
House prices fell 1.1 per cent in February according to The Halifax, contradicting earlier figures from Nationwide suggesting that property prices have increased. According to the Halifax’s three monthly index, house prices were 1.1 per cent lower in February than in the previous three months. The mortgage lender’s annual index showed that property prices fell [...]
Debit card transactions declined by Yorkshire and Clydesdale
Customers of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank have been experiencing problems with debit cards being declined due to computer changes. The problem initially occurred while the banks, which are both part of the National Australia Bank (NAB), were transferring their systems operations to an external contractor on Sunday morning. Problems with some Mastercard debit transactions persisted [...]
Banks write to customers over PPI mis-selling
Banks are writing to millions of customers advising them that they may have been mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), following the release of new guidelines by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The FSA estimates that between four million and 12 million letters will be sent out, but not everyone who has been mis-sold PPI will [...]
Confidence in pensions plummets ahead of auto-enrolement
Public confidence in pensions has fallen to an all-time low just months before the Government starts automatically putting every worker into one, new research showed today (Weds). A survey for the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) found 54% of all employees are not confident in pensions compared to other ways of saving. 37% said [...]
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