Bus and train operator National Express has confirmed that talks over a possible tie-up with rival bus and rail group Stagecoach have ended. In a statement yesterday, the company said: “The board has concluded it is unlikely that a combination with Stagecoach could be successfully executed in 2009, even if appropriate terms could be agreed.” [...]
The second wave of postal strikes started at 0400 BST today. Almost 80,000 delivery and collection staff will walk out for a 24-hour period and follows the walkout yesterday of 42,000 mail centre staff and drivers. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said it had no choice but to announce the series of strikes after it [...]
Royal Mail is in talks with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) in a bid to avoid the planned national postal strikes this week. However, according to a report by Sky News, Royal Mail said it will call in conciliation service Acas to try to resolve its industrial dispute if unions agree to call off the [...]
Shares in Lloyds Banking Group rose today on the back of reports that it is in talks to offload its Clerical Medical Unit to Clive Cowdery’s Resolution for up to £4 billion. Lloyds acquired Clerical Medical when it bought HBOS last autumn. According to a source, the talks between the banking giant and Resolution are [...]
According to The Mail on Sunday, Newcastle Building Society is in advanced talks with Skipton Building Society, which will see further consolidation within the sector. Newcastle BS, which is the country’s 10th biggest building society, has been struggling after a poor performance in 2008 when it reported losses of £35 million as a result of [...]
It is understood that the West Bromwich Building Society is to be rescued within days after weeks of speculation about its future. However, savers and mortgage borrowers have been assured that it’s business as usual since the rescue will not affect customers. There were talks last month that the country’s eighth largest building society was [...]
Irish pay-TV sports broadcaster Setanta is on the brink of administration after BSkyB refused to provide a £50 million lifeline. BSkyB’s chief executive, Jeremy Darroch, said that they had been “talking to Setanta, and trying to work with them and help them”, however, an agreement was not reached. BSkyB was also reported to say it [...]
Thousands of UK jobs are at risk today after van maker, LDV, has been forced into administration after a deal with Weststar (the Malaysian vehicle importer and contract manufacturer) collapsed. LDV has been struggling of late and sought financial assistance from the Government earlier this year after it said it was “literally running out of [...]
There have been reports over the weekend that West Bromwich Building Society is in rescue talks. The Sunday Times has reported that the Financial Services Authority is seeking a bidder for the mutual, which was one of nine building societies to have its credit rating downloaded by Moody’s last month, due to concerns they will [...]
Crippled van maker LDV, owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, announced yesterday that the company had applied to go into administration on 6th May, but trade unions are calling for the government to give a £4 million bailout sum, in order to keep the manufacturer going while rescue talks are underway. LDV is faced with [...]
The Asian semi-conductor industry has been hit hard by the fall in demand and the deepening crisis has meant that NEC and Renesas are reported to be in talks to proceed with a merger that is underpinned by the need to consolidate, cut costs and survive the downturn and dwindling demand. The combined company would [...]
Crisis talks have been taking place over the weekend between the Bank of England (BoE) and seven of the UK’s building societies. The move follows last week’s decision by Moody’s to downgrade the credit ratings of several building societies due to concerns they will be hit by losses due to the housing market slump. The [...]
This morning, Barclays saw its shares plummet almost 10% prior to talks with the Government with regard to a taxpayer bailout. According to a report in the Guardian, Barclays is set to hold talks with the Government with regard to taking part in its Asset Protection Scheme, which insures against losses arising from toxic assets. [...]
Iceland had a disastrous week last week after the nationalisation of the country’s three largest banks. On Thursday, it announced that trading had been suspended on the OMX Nordic Exchange in a bid to prevent further crises. It was expected that the stock exchange would reopen today but it remains closed due to ‘unusual market [...]
Talks between Britain and Iceland have begun with regard to the British deposits frozen in Iceland’s banks. The talks commenced after Treasury officials headed to Reykjavik late last week to discuss its banking crisis and the affect on UK savers and councils with money in its banks. Britain’s Local Government Association estimated 108 British local [...]
According to US Congress, America’s $700 billion (£380 billion) bailout plan is still in negotiations but considerable progress is being made. According to Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, there are 15 outstanding issues to be resolved in agreeing Treasury secretary Henry Paulson’s Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp). Meanwhile, The White House said the prospect [...]
Credit ratings agencies have added to Bradford & Bingley’s (B&B) woes after the lender has been downgraded by Fitch Ratings from BBB+ status to BBB-, only one notch above ‘speculative grade‘, or informally known as ‘junk’. Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the lender from A-2 to A-3. Earlier this week, there were reports that the [...]
According to Reuters, US investment bank Morgan Stanley is in talks with Wachovia and China Investment Corp (CIC) about a possible takeover or an investment opportunity. Last week, shares in Morgan Stanley plummeted after the collapse of Wall Street giant, Lehman Brothers, the rescue of US insurance giant AIG and Bank of America’s takeover of [...]
The remaining two independent investment banks on Wall Street are today surrounded by merger speculation after shares in the two organisations plummeted over recent days. Despite assurances from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, investors have still abandoned ship. Monday saw the collapse of Wall Street giant, Lehman Brothers, which was forced to file for bankruptcy [...]
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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