Government-backed National Savings & Investments (NS&I), which runs Premium Bonds and a variety of savings products, has today announced its Savings Certificates have been withdrawn from the market. These saving products, which are linked to the inflation rate, have been withdrawn because sales “far exceeded” the level anticipated, said NS&I. In the meantime, NS&I said [...]
Business Secretary Vince Cable has warned that the UK’s car industry will not receive any further funding from the Government. Mr Cable was speaking at a conference in London organised by trade body, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). However, he said the industry is “incredibly important to the UK economy” and insisted [...]
US Democrats have been forced to revise their reform of the US financial sector after some Republicans are not in full support of a controversial tax on financial institutions. The reforms will impose strict limits on banks’ ability to take risky speculative bets on markets and were added during a 19-hour negotiating session by House [...]
The £20 banknote featuring the image of composer Sir Edward Elgar will be withdrawn from circulation today. The alternative £20 note features the picture of father of modern economics, Adam Smith, which has been in circulation since March 2007. However, anyone with an Edward Elgar note after today can swap it by sending it back [...]
According to reports, US buyout firm Blackstone and UK medical research charity, the Wellcome Trust, have dropped their joint bid for Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) 318 Williams & Glyn’s branch network. The branch network is being sold under the orders of the European Commission as a punishment of the billions of pounds in state [...]
Figures from the Bank of England today revealed that British consumers borrowed £500 million in January through credit cards, loans and overdrafts, once repayments were taken into account – the highest level since November 2008. According to the Bank, the increase was almost double the £265 million rise seen in the previous month December, and [...]
The US Federal Reserve stunned markets by raising its discount rate (the interest rate it charges banks for emergency loans) by 25bps to 0.75%. The news sent the pound down to its lowest level against the US dollar in nine months, while Asian equity markets reacted cautiously as they digested the news. Furthermore, the euro [...]
Official figures have revealed further evidence of a strong recovery within India’s economy after industrial output surged by 16.8% in December compared with a year earlier – beating analysts expectations. According to analysts, the Government is likely to withdraw its stimulus measures as a result of the strong performance. The country’s central bank has injected [...]
US search engine giant, Google, said revenues rose 17% in the fourth quarter 2009 compared with the same period a year ago. Advertising earnings were higher at the company with revenues totalling $6.67 billion (£4 billion) in the October to December period – up from $5.7 billion a year ago. However, the figures were at [...]
Troubled Japan Airlines (JAL) is expected to enter bankruptcy proceedings within the next couple of days, according to reports. It is believed the state-owned Development Bank of Japan has already agreed to the bankruptcy. The airline, which is Asia’s largest carrier, is grappling with a mountain of debt and it is currently under the watchful [...]
Figures published today show that people in the UK continue to repay debt as the incentive to save remains low in the current historically low interest rate environment. According to the Building Societies Association (BSA), its members withdrew more money than they saved for the ninth consecutive month in November. The BSA said there was [...]
Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), has said liquidity measures will be scaled back in order to ensure it doesn’t fuel inflation. Currently the inflation rate within the 16 nations that use the euro is 0.5% but at the start of the summer, inflation turned negative for the first time, declining to [...]
Mortgage experts have been urging homeowners to opt for fixed-rate mortgages for weeks, to hedge against an inevitable rise in the base rate. However, new research from Moneyfacts shows that lenders are launching and withdrawing fixed-rate deals with almost indecent speed. Last month the average time scale for borrowers to secure a fixed-rate mortgage fell [...]
The Sunday Telegraph has reported that local councils are planning to withdraw billions of pounds of deposits from building societies. The move follows the decision by Moody’s last month 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 downgrade [...]
For the ninth consecutive month UK homeowners paid back more of their mortgage debt than was borrowed. Before the credit crisis Britons tended to use their homes as banks, withdrawing equity for home improvements and to meet a variety of other expenses, including “champagne moments” such as holidays in exotic locations. Recession Britain tells a [...]
Leading lenders withdrew tracker mortgages just hours before the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee agreed an historic 1.5% cut in the base rate, to 3%. Lloyds TSB and its Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) unit, Northern Rock and Woolwich have all withdrawn tracker products today. Yesterday, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) warned that lenders [...]
Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G), the mortgage lending arm of Lloyds TSB, has withdrawn some of its most competitive mortgage deals, from today. The move follows yesterday’s emergency cut in the Bank of England’s base rate, to 4.5%, which prompted leading lenders, including Halifax and C&G, to cut their standard variable rates (SVR). However, C&G has [...]
Nationalised bank Northern Rock has had to withdraw some of its savings deals after a flurry of deposits has put it close to breaching state ownership rules. Since it was nationalised in February, Newcastle-based Northern Rock has been offering some of the best savings rates, making it highly attractive for concerned savers to put their [...]
The rescue of Bradford & Bingley (B&B) has prompted a mass withdrawal of mortgage products from the already depleted UK market. According to financial website, Moneyfacts, around 500 home loans have been withdrawn since the beginning of this week. The number of mortgages available for residential and buy-to-let borrowers fell 11% in 24 hours to [...]
Thousands of customers have been lining up to withdraw their savings from the Bank of East Asia after rumours spread that the bank is facing financial collapse, an allegation which the bank has fiercely denied. The police have been informed and are investigating after the bank said the rumours were malicious and untruthful and were [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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