Travellers can breathe a sigh of relief this morning after it has been announced that airports operator BAA and the Unite union have reached an agreement which will see the threat of strike action called off. A day of talks yesterday between the two parties at the central London offices of the conciliation service ACAS [...]
The Treasury Select Committee has warned that cutting the deficit too quickly could risk pushing the UK back into recession. Since coming to power, the new coalition Government has made cutting the deficit its top priority. However, many leading business groups and former Chancellor, Alistair Darling, all warned that cutting the deficit too quickly could [...]
After a two-day policy board meeting, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has elected to keep interest rates at 0.1%, as widely expected. Interest rates in the world’s second largest economy have been at the low level since December 2008 in a bid to fight off deflation. Deflation (where prices fall rather than increase) can be [...]
The massive spending cuts, implemented by the Government, have increased the chance of a double dip recession – according to a senior member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – the economic forecasting body. This is the opinion of Geoffrey Dicks who said public spending cuts and a hike in taxes will have slashed [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is tomorrow expected to leave its estimate of GDP in the January to March unchanged at 0.3%. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a key measure of economic growth, is closely watched by economists as an indication of the health of the economy. The figures were due to be released last [...]
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) is forecasting that the UK economy expanded by 0.7% in the three months to the end of June. Official figures for the period will be released later this month but the think tank believes most of the growth occurred over April and May. Growth is expected [...]
Chancellor Alistair Darling has been forced to defend Labour’s planned rise in National Insurance (NI) contributions after the Conservative Party said the hike would lead to job losses. Last month’s Budget confirmed that the Labour Government will raise National Insurance contributions by a further 0.5% from next year, on top of the 0.5% rise announced [...]
After a two-day policy board meeting, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has elected to keep interest rates at 0.1%. Interest rates in the world’s second largest economy have been at the low level since December 2008 in a bid to fight off deflation. It is anticipated that the central Bank will leave rates at the [...]
Telecoms company Vodafone has announced plans to cut a further 375 jobs as part of its £1 billion cost-cutting programme, undertaken last year by the company as a result of a sharp decline in revenues from its core UK market. The company, which is the world’s largest mobile phone operator, said the job losses would [...]
There have been fears that the return of deflation within the world’s second largest economy could stall growth. A short period of deflation (where prices fall rather than increase) could be a serious threat to the economy because it deters consumers and businesses from spending in expectation of falling prices. Deflation was a problem for [...]
The planned merger between mobile phone giants, T-Mobile UK and Orange, is set to be investigated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The OFT said the merger “threatens significantly to affect competition in mobile telecommunications in the UK”. At the time of the proposed merger in September, the two phone giants said a deal [...]
London Mayor, Boris Johnson, has warned that high-earning bankers are leaving the capital because of the super tax which has been introduced by the Government. In the recent Pre-Budget Report (PBR), UK Chancellor Alistair Darling confirmed there would be a one-off 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses paid above £25,000. The Chancellor said the banks, rather [...]
Official figures published yesterday revealed Japan’s factory output rose for the ninth consecutive month in November. Factory output was up by 2.6% in the month and was slightly above analysts expectations of a 2.5% rise. The rise extended the longest unbroken growth since a 12-month rise to March 1997 and was attributed to growing overseas [...]
The Cabinet Office in Tokyo has today revealed that the world’s no.2 economy grew at a far slower rate in the third quarter than previous estimates showed. According to official figures, the Japanese economy grew by 0.3% between the July and September period, rather than the 1.2% previously reported and slightly less than the 0.7% [...]
The board of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have threatened to quit under Government plans to veto bonus payments. Chancellor Alistair Darling is to be granted the right to veto bonus payments at the bank, following which the bank sought legal advice. The threat of a mass exodus comes as the bank is planning [...]
The German Government has named Joachim Metternich as the country’s new credit mediator in a bid to boost business lending. Mr Metternich, who currently heads up the public investment bank for the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, will take up his role in March 2010. The appointment comes after Germany’s Economy Minister, Rainer Bruederle, and [...]
There are fears of long-term deflation in the world’s second largest economy after official figures revealed August core consumer prices fell at a record rate of 2.4% compared with a year ago. It was the fourth consecutive month of record falls and the figures have raised fears that the economy could see a long period [...]
The Elysée Palace has today announced that French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, may walk out of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh next week unless an agreement is reached with regard to bank bonuses. France has long been arguing that excessive bankers’ bonuses reward the risk-taking that led to the financial crisis. At last week’s meeting of [...]
Japan’s unemployment rate has reached a record high of 5.7% in July, up from 5.4% the previous month. According to Government figures, over one million people have lost their jobs over the last 12 months, taking the unemployment total to 3.59 million, amid the worst recession in decades. However, it was recently reported that Japan [...]
The director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, David Frost, has warned that small and medium size businesses (SMEs) are particularly vulnerable to the swine flu. Mr Frost told Sky News: “After a dramatic decline in the economy there is a touch more confidence coming back. But if swine flu does really take off [...]
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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