The Obama administration is proposing to cut the salaries of top executives at firms which have received billions of dollars in Government aid. The institutions that are affected are Bank of America, American International Group (AIG), Citigroup, General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial. According to reports, these seven companies will see their 25 highest [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today set out “major reforms” that it intends to impose on UK mortgage lending. The proposed new measures are aimed at making the market “sustainable” for lenders and borrowers and reflect “a more intrusive and interventionist style of regulation”. Key features include imposing affordability tests for all mortgages and [...]
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has today confirmed the dates for the national postal strike. Two 24-hour nationwide postal strikes will start on Thursday 22 October with around 42,000 centre staff and drivers on strike. On Friday 23 October, almost 80,000 delivery and collection staff will walk out for a 24-hour period. The CWU said [...]
In an effort to tackle Britain’s spiralling public debt, the Government has today unveiled proposals that will see it raise £16 billion via asset sales. In order to reduce the budget deficit, which is set to hit a record £220 billion (the equivalent of 12% of GDP), the Government has taken action by ordering sale [...]
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 [...]
France’s proposal of a series of mandatory caps on bank bonuses was rejected at this weekend‘s meeting of G20 finance ministers. While the proposals made by French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, received strong European support, UK Chancellor Alistair Darling dismissed them as “unenforceable”. Instead, the G20 group of leading economies have agreed on new regulatory measures [...]
The Building Societies Association (BSA) has expressed its concern over new regulations, proposed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), saying they will disadvantage the industry. Proposals from the City watchdog include plans to restrict riskier types of lending by building societies, which according to the BSA, would have a “discriminatory and anti-competitive effect in the [...]
British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) has today announced that pilots of struggling airline, British Airways (BA), have voted overwhelmingly to accept a 2.6% pay cut, which will save the airline up to £26 million a year in running costs. The airline recently admitted that it was fighting for its survival but it is not alone. [...]
More than 2,000 British Airways (BA) cabin crew have rejected the company’s proposals to slash costs by freezing pay and reducing headcount. A deadline of 30 June was set by the company to reach a deal on 3,500 job cuts, a pay freeze and other changes, but no agreement was reached at that time. Speaking [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has been airing its views on the type of regulation needed to avert another banking crisis. According to a BBC report, FSA chairman Lord Turner wants UK banks to adopt a more sober approach to lending during boom years and use periods of strong economic growth to build up their [...]
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is set to unveil details of a loan which will kick-start lending to small businesses to help them weather the economic downturn. According to Lord Mandelson, the plans will target ‘genuine business needs‘. It is expected that Lord Mandelson will announce support for up to £10 billion in short-term loans for [...]
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has announced new measures to protect savers who lose money as a result of a bank getting into financial difficulty. The Government has also asked the Financial Services Authority to consult on increasing the current threshold for compensation from £35,000 to £50,000. Any changes will come into effect in [...]
The National Housing Association (NHA), which represents 1,300 not-for-profit housing associations in England, is asking the Government to use up to £1 billion to buy new homes from housing developers who cannot sell the properties they have built. The sale of new homes has plummeted since the beginning of the year and many developers have [...]
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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