Crisis-torn Northern Rock, which is due to be split after receiving approval from the European Union, provided an upbeat statement after it said that in the three months to the end of September, losses from bad loans being written off had lowered, its costs remained under control and net income had risen. Northern Rock collapsed [...]
Last week, it was announced that nationalised Northern Rock is to be split into two, after receiving the necessary approval from the European Union (EU). Meanwhile this weekend, it has been confirmed by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, that Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are to broken up. The new banks [...]
Tesco Bank has announced today it is to create 1,000 new jobs in Newcastle next year. The news follows Tesco Bank’s insurance partnership with Fortis UK, with the joint venture forming a new motor and household insurance company. The move is part of the supermarket giant’s plan to step up its presence in the banking [...]
Crisis-torn Northern Rock is to be split into two, after receiving the necessary approval from the European Union (EU). Northern Rock collapsed at the onset of the credit crunch in autumn 2007 after savers staged a nationwide run on the bank. It was then nationalised in February 2008. The plan is for bank to be [...]
Nationalised Bradford & Bingley (B&B) is reportedly considering splitting itself into two in order to raise money to repay its £18.4 billion loan from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The troubled buy-to-let lender was nationalised over a year ago to prevent it from collapse which led to Spanish bank, Santander, acquiring B&B’s £20 billion [...]
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Money has applied to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for a banking licence, which would enable the consumer credit arm of the Virgin Group to offer deposit accounts. The move comes at a time when consumers have lost confidence in existing High Street banks following the financial crisis and Sir Richard [...]
The Building Societies Association (BSA) is urging the Government to return Northern Rock to the mutual sector, arguing that mutuals take less risk than banks owned by shareholders. Mutual building societies are owned by their members, not by shareholders, and are run for the benefit of those members. The BSA said a new report points [...]
The Government announced earlier this year it was planning to split nationalised Northern Rock into two divisions – a deposit bank and a mortgage platform. However, the proposals have met with criticism from the Building Societies Association (BSA) saying that the split would put building societies at a big disadvantage. Northern Rock collapsed at the [...]
Nationalised Northern Rock is to be split into two divisions – a deposit bank and a mortgage platform. The crisis-torn bank collapsed at the onset of the credit crunch in autumn 2007 after savers staged a nationwide run on the bank. It was then nationalised in February 2008. However, following European Union (EU) approval, it [...]
It has been reported by The Sunday Times that the Government is planning to sell crisis-torn Northern Rock by the end of the year. Under a plan to retrieve some the hundreds of billions of pounds injected into the banking sector, the Government is preparing to divide the nationalised lender into two: one good and [...]
Following on from Monday’s announcement that Northern Rock is set to return to the mortgage market by lending £14 billion over the next two years, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group are set to increase loans to homeowners and SMEs in exchange for £500 billion of taxpayers’ assistance. Discussions are currently taking [...]
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics today have revealed that national debt could be pushed up by as much as £1.5 trillion, following the bailouts of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds TSB. Billions of pounds were injected into the two banks last autumn to prevent them from collapse. Furthermore, both Northern [...]
Former shareholders of Northern Rock have failed in their legal challenge to the Government’s plan to compensate them. Rock’s biggest former investor SRM Global brought the case against the Government, with RAB Capital and 150,000 private investors. The case entered the High Court in January and shareholders were contesting the way in which the bank’s [...]
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has warned the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) about its intention of offering “exorbitant” bonuses to staff. According to a report in The Times today, RBS plans to pay staff tens of millions of pounds in bonuses. In 2007, the investment banking arm of RBS, a division known as global banking [...]
Northern Rock, which was nationalised in February of last year, has paid almost all of its 4,500 employees a 10% bonus – an average of £2,000 each. The bonus fund, which amounts to £8.8 million, has sparked outrage among politicians with Lib-Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable, describing the action as extraordinary since millions of people [...]
Northern Rock shareholders are to enter the High Court this week demanding compensation to contest the way in which the stricken bank was nationalised in February 2007. The firm’s biggest former investor SRM Global has brought the case, with RAB Capital and 150,000 private investors. However, it is not the nationalisation itself that shareholders are [...]
Nationalised Northern Rock recently came under scrutiny after claims that it was being ‘aggressive’ in its repossessions policy. The lender is expecting to be responsible for 10% of all repossessions this year as its 125% mortgages are driving its repossession rate. The 125% mortgage from Northern Rock, known as ‘Together’ loans, represent around 30% of [...]
Nationalised bank Northern Rock has had to withdraw some of its savings deals after a flurry of deposits has put it close to breaching state ownership rules. Since it was nationalised in February, Newcastle-based Northern Rock has been offering some of the best savings rates, making it highly attractive for concerned savers to put their [...]
Northern Rock, which was nationalised earlier this year after the Government rejected takeover bids from the board of Northern Rock and a consortium led by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, has posted bigger than expected losses of £585.4 million for the first half of 2008. The crisis-torn lender said the majority of the losses arose [...]
Northern Rock has announced that it is to cut fewer jobs than originally anticipated as part of its ongoing cost-cutting measures. The nationalised bank has said it now plans to make 1,300 people redundant compared with original plans to axe 2,000 jobs. The lender said 500 staff will leave voluntarily. The crisis-torn bank was hit [...]
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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