February 26, 2009
New drive for savers
Story link: New drive for savers
As mentioned before, I am definitely with agreement with Abbey Savings here, as I believe the recession has increased the awareness and highlighted the importance of saving and stabilising finances for the future, just in case things get worse.
Abbey Savings has claimed that the recession has given rise to “a new age of thrift” as people cut back on their outgoings in order to save more money.
The bank conducted a study which found that Brits have made an average saving of £3,168 by cutting down on their living expenses in the past year.
New bonds on the market
Story link: New bonds on the market
Both Alliance & Leicester and Abbey have recently announced their launch of new bonds. The new bonds will be offering a fixed rate of interest, which of course means they will not be affected by the fluctuations in the Bank of England rate changes which seem to be happening on almost a weekly basis.
Alliance & Leicester and Abbey have announced the launch of a new bond which offers a guaranteed fixed rate of interest.
The two-year bond offering will pay interest at a rate of 4.01 per cent a year on balances of between £30,000 and £200,000.
February 17, 2009
Northern rock hit by repossessions
Story link: Northern rock hit by repossessions
While property values may have increased in January and the general interest around property is increasing slowly, it’s the masses that count and at the moment, the masses, or majority are defaulting on mortgage repayments.
Northern rock hit by repossessions
The data, from its Granite securitisation vehicle which was set up by the bank to raise money from investors, showed that the government owned bank suffered losses of £8.65m in December as a result of repossessing homes from those who had defaulted on their mortgages.
This compares with losses of £6.82m the month before.
One year on and still hard work
Story link: One year on and still hard work
In August 2007, Northern Rock faced its hardest times to date, which led to the bank eventually being nationalised in February 2008. One year on and the bank is still struggling to make some tough decisions!
One year on and still hard work
The bank was floored when the money markets froze in August 2007 and was nationalised the following February. February 17, 2009 marks its first anniversary in state hands.
Far from being yesterday’s cautionary tale, though, Northern Rock remains as pressing an issue as ever. Policymakers, when not battling to save the financial system from collapse, know that ugly decisions have still to be made. Most ugly of all, perhaps, is the prospect of more taxpayer money being poured down the great Northern Rock black hole.
February 11, 2009
Barclays PLC report high profits
Story link: Barclays PLC report high profits
The start of 2009 was likely to be a challenge for many businesses based within or just outside the banking sector.
However, that wasn’t the case for Barclays, who have reported profits a lot higher than what analysts expected.
Barclays PLC report high profits
Barclays Plc reported second-half profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates, and President Robert Diamond said the investment bank had an “extremely strong” start to 2009 after buying Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. assets.
Barclays, the third-biggest U.K. bank by assets, rose 11 percent in London trading after saying credit writedowns this year will be less than last year’s 8.1 billion pounds. Net income jumped to 2.66 billion pounds ($3.9 billion), or 31.3 pence a share, in the six months ended Dec. 31, up 49 percent from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on full-year results posted today.
Recession; worse to come
Story link: Recession; worse to come
The financial regulator has warned that the economic recession that we currently find ourselves in could get even worse and could go on for a lot longer than many economic analysts expected, due to factors that have suggested a negative stretch is ahead.
Britain’s recession could be deeper and last longer than expected despite economic rescue plans, the country’s financial regulator warned Monday.
The Financial Services Authority released its Financial Risk Outlook saying the risks to the British economy are “weighted to the downside and, while the effects of fiscal stimulus and monetary easing remain unclear, the recession may be deeper and more prolonged than expected.”
Banks should Guarantee
Story link: Banks should Guarantee
Banks should offer their depositors a guarantee whether they operate in other countries or not.
When you invest in a company, you don’t have a secure deposit, but at least if they do well your likely to get a healthy return on your money; banks look like a lose, lose situation to me.
Banks that operate in more than one country should guarantee compensation for depositors, no matter where they live, while the deepening U.K. recession threatens more financial institutions, Britain’s market regulator said.
The system of banks outside the U.K. accepting funds from the country’s citizens without setting aside deposit insurance is “untenable,” the Financial Services Authority said today, referring to the collapse of Icelandic banks. The call for a review comes amid the FSA forecast for a U.K. recession that will be deeper than in other countries, including the U.S.
More European bank oversight needed
Story link: More European bank oversight needed
The banks need to have a European regulator, that makes sure all banks are abiding by the strict standards set in each country, of course, finding the perfect regulator could be the biggest challenge yet for the banking sector
More European bank oversight needed
The U.K.’s markets watchdog says Europe should consider giving countries more power to regulate foreign banks they host — or letting a single European regulator do the job instead.
“We have to face the fact that we need either less Europe or more Europe,” said Adair Turner, who took over as FSA chairman in September and launched a detailed examination of banking regulation in the U.K.
RBS to slash jobs
Story link: RBS to slash jobs
One minute banks are going broke and being bailed out by the taxpayer, then they are flush with cash paying bosses six figure bonuses, finally they nearly go broke again, and decide to ace around 2,300 jobs…whats it with the banks!?
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, the biggest U.K. government-controlled bank, said it plans to cut as many as 2,300 British jobs as the company’s former chief apologized to lawmakers for the bank’s decline.
The reductions are equivalent to about 2 percent of the U.K. workforce, RBS said in a statement today. The cuts won’t affect employees dealing with customers, the bank said.
Banks face difficulty
Story link: Banks face difficulty
The UK banking sector has ques of people, with hundreds of people wanting to ask questions about various decisions that are being made. The decisions are being made, but the purposeof the decisions is questionable!
RBS and HBOS are likely to be in the limelight for question time, seeing as though they are subject to taxpayer bail outs.
The former chief executives and chairmen of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and HBOS will be quizzed by UK politicians on Tuesday to discuss where mistakes were made during the banking crisis.
Fred Goodwin, the former RBS chief executive, is likely to attract most attention for his role in the near-collapse of RBS.