It has been confirmed that British Airways (BA) and Spanish airline Iberia have reached a preliminary merger agreement. Merger talks took place between both companies yesterday and the deal is understood to give Iberia 45% and BA 55% of a newly merged company. The combined firm would create Europe’s third largest airline and have 419 [...]
Research from Prudential has found that the number of people working past the state retirement age is expected to double over the next decade. A study by Prudential of UK businesses established that almost 25% of companies expect staff to continue working beyond the retirement age over the next 10 years. The proportion of the [...]
If the Conservatives win the next election, they will raise the state pension age for men from 65 to 66 from 2016. Furthermore, the Conservatives have not ruled out an increase in the pension age for women towards 66. Under Conservative policy, the state retirement age for both men and women is set to be [...]
British workers who fail to save for their retirement could end up working until they reach 86 if they want to be paid a decent pension. Research by Standard Life found the real retirement age of people not currently saving for retirement could be between 74 and 86 if they want to retire on two-thirds [...]
A survey by pension advisers MGM Advantage has revealed that around 35% of people over 55 who are still working said they would put off plans to retire. Meanwhile, a further 23% of people in this age group are expecting to work past the state pension age of 65, while a third (32%) confessed to [...]
A survey of over 250 employers by consultants Watson Wyatt has revealed that half of Britain’s companies will close final salary pension schemes in the private sector to existing employees between now and 2012. The survey, conducted in July, also found that another 28% will keep their scheme open to existing members but on less [...]
American Express, the credit card giant, has announced that with effect from 1 July, it has suspended pension contributions for its UK employees. The move, which affects 6,000 members, will see payments stopped for a maximum of 18 months. Many firms have adopted similar measures as the global recession has forced companies to slash costs. [...]
A survey by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has revealed more worrying news for the retirement prospects of Britons. The survey by PwC, which polled 1,000 companies, established that 55 respondents are considering freezing their final-salary pension scheme for existing members within the next five years. It appears the trend is growing after banking giant Barclays [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is almost 70% owned by the taxpayer, is set to spark public outrage again with the news that chief executive, Stephen Hester, is in line for a £9.6 million pay deal. The bank, which is expected to approve the package this week, has also hit the headlines this weekend [...]
Former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, has given in to public pressure and agreed to hand over £4.7 million of his much-talked about £17 million pension. There has been much hostility towards Sir Fred with regard to his controversial pension entitlement, since he and former ex-chairman of RBS, Sir Tom [...]
Oil giant BP announced yesterday it is to close its UK final salary pension scheme to new members from April next year, in a bid to cut costs for the company. The scheme currently has more than 60,000 members, with 12,000 staff paying in. In the meantime, banking giant Barclays has announced today that it [...]
A survey commissioned by the BBC has revealed that saving for a pension is not a top priority for many UK adults. The report revealed that half of adults in the UK aged between 20 and 60 are not putting anything towards a pension with the situation being worst for those under the age of [...]
Research carried out by Aon, the insurer and pension provider, has found that the value of private pension savings in the UK have been badly damaged by the credit crisis and the recession. Aon calculates that 3.7 million people in the UK are affected and since the beginning of October 2007, their defined contribution savings [...]
Aon’s UK division is proposing to cut the contribution it makes to employees’ pensions as part of a cost reduction strategy. The firm has already closed its final salary scheme and according to a BBC report is now proposing to reduce the level of its employer contributions by up to a half. Aon has been [...]
Public outrage at the role played by leading bankers in driving the UK economy into the buffers has possibly erupted into violence, with reports that the Edinburgh home of Sir Fred Goodwin, former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), was attacked in the early hours of this morning. Windows at the property were [...]
Former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension package is being criticised by the organisation which was set up to oversee taxpayer’s interest in UK banks. John Kingman of the UK Financial Investments (UKFI) said Sir Fred could have been paid off for much less than the £630,000 annual pension that he [...]
Working adults in the UK have ‘higher expectations’ of life than previous generations, causing a decline in saving for pensions. This is the view of Padraig Floyd, editor of Pensions Management magazine. According to Floyd, many consumers now take for granted having ‘a house, two holidays’ and being ‘able to go out for meals regularly’ [...]
A survey by the National Association of Pension Funds has revealed that a quarter of major private sector companies will close their doors to existing members in the next five years. A final salary pension scheme is deemed attractive since it promises to pay a percentage of earnings on retirement and those who join believe [...]
A survey carried out by insurer Friends Provident has established that 75% of Britons believe the state pension is not enough to provide a comfortable retirement. The survey was conducted to mark the 100th anniversary of the state pension and questioned 3,056 people. However, while three quarters of respondents said it did not provide an [...]
Pension fund trustees at HBOS are threatening to block the proposed merger with Lloyds TSB until better protection is put in place for the scheme’s 80,000 members. Out of the nine trustees, seven are due to meet at the end of the week to decide whether to challenge the merger in the Scottish courts. The [...]
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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