Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, warned last night that a major rethink of how banks are structured is required. Addressing Scottish business leaders in Edinburgh last night, Mr King’s comments came after it was announced that public finances suffered their worst six months on record between April and September. In his speech, Mr King [...]
Homeowners renting a room to a lodger should inform their home insurance provider, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said this week. According to the ABI, homeowners who don’t inform their insurance provider about taking on a lodger risk invalidating their policy. “If you are applying for insurance and you are taking a lodger, or [...]
It has been reported that around 1,100 Vauxhall jobs could go as a result of Canadian parts maker Magna’s restructuring of Opel. While full details have not yet emerged, there is speculation that the Luton plant will be worst hit but jobs will also go at Ellesmere Port. Vauxhall has around 5,500 workers at the [...]
A major restructure at US pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly, is set to put UK jobs at risk. The company has announced details of a restructuring programme, which it described as the most significant in its history, will see global headcount reduced by 14% over the next two years. The Indianapolis-based drugs company, which has a [...]
Budget airline easyJet is to close its base at East Midlands airport and cut services at Luton Airport by a fifth with a view to transferring them to profitable bases in continental Europe. Luton is one of easyJet’s biggest bases and operates 16 aircraft and carries almost 5 million passengers each year. Meanwhile, the low-cost [...]
Cattles, which has already axed 1,000 jobs this year, is proposing to cut a further 510 jobs at its Welcome Financial Services subsidiary. The struggling sub-prime lender, which is battling to stay afloat, is seeking ways to slash costs and as leases on its premises expire, several Welcome Financial Services branches could close. In a [...]
Eurostat has revealed that the CPI in the euro zone declined in August by an annual rate of 0.2% and followed the record 0.7% fall in July. Analysts were encouraged by the slower rate of decline in consumer prices and Nick Kounis of Fortis commented: “We think that the negative impact of energy prices is [...]
Student households are more than twice as likely to be burgled compared to the average home, Confused.com has revealed. The price comparison website released the figure as thousands of new students prepare for their first term at university. Confused.com also said students shouldn’t assume their possessions are covered on their parents’ home insurance policy. “Separate [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has warned UK financial institutions that guaranteeing bonuses for more than 12 months could mean they are breach of new rules and risk harsh penalties. In a letter to the heads of British banks, chief executive, Hector Sants, said the regulator is determined to “to align remuneration policies, procedures and [...]
Virgin Atlantic is set to reduce its number of flights this winter which will put 600 jobs at risk. The airline, founded by Sir Richard Branson, announced that it was not operating its Heathrow-Chicago daily service for the winter 2009/10 season and is suspending one of its two daily services between Heathrow and Hong Kong. [...]
The Government has announced details of the first round of grants under the £5 million Flood Protection Scheme, which is aimed at helping homeowners reduce the risk of flood damage. Twenty five local authorities in England can call on an initial £3 million under the scheme and 593 properties should benefit. The money is to [...]
There are fears that the world’s second largest economy could be heading for deflation after figures from the Ministry of Finance revealed that Japan’s core consumer price index (CPI) fell 1.1% in May compared with the same month last year – the most since records began almost forty years ago. The country’s Finance Minister, Kaoru [...]
Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, is calling for major regulatory reform, but Chancellor Alistair Darling said there are no plans to change the current financial regulatory system. The news comes as US President Barack Obama is proposing a major reform of banking regulation in order to prevent future meltdowns of the [...]
Following the collapse of the Dunfermline building society and the rescue of other societies last year, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is proposing to stop building societies expanding into risky types of lending and borrowing. The move comes after a senior FSA official accused some societies of taking far too many risks with their lending [...]
Clinton Cards has put its Birthdays greetings card chain into administration after it said it could not provide funding to the loss-making chain anymore. The announcement puts 2,200 jobs at risk. Peter Saville of Zolfo Cooper, who has been appointed administrator, said: “Despite today’s announcement, I would like to reassure customers that it is business [...]
Following the recent stress tests on 19 US banks, carried out to establish which financial institutions are in a position to weather the downturn, the Federal Reserve has revealed that no US banks are at risk of insolvency. However, the results have revealed that tens of billions of dollars are needed to strengthen balance sheets [...]
Daniel Bouton, Société Générale’s chairman, has announced he will step down from the bank citing the “personal attacks” against him for his resignation. Mr Bouton, who is to stand down on 6 May, said the repeated attacks risk harming the bank and will depart to “protect the bank“. Mr Bouton has been criticised since the [...]
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the world’s largest carmaker General Motors (GM) is preparing for bankruptcy. While the company is hoping to win concessions from its creditors, the threat of going bust puts 5,000 jobs at risk at Vauxhall in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire and Luton as well as 60,000 supply jobs. GM [...]
Figures released by the US Labor Department revealed a slight rise in US consumer prices as energy prices increased. According to the Labor Department, the Consumer Price Index rose 0.3% – the first rise in six months, following a fall of 0.8% in December. The rise is seen as positive by many analysts who have [...]
Figures out today from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed that consumer price inflation (CPI) fell in January to an annual rate of 3% from 3.1% the previous month. Inflation reached a 16-year high in September of 5.2% but today’s fall means the rate is still higher than the Bank of England’s target [...]
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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