It wasn’t that long ago that if you went to your bank of building society looking to earn some interest on your deposit account, all you would get was a blank expression. A sign that things are getting better in the UK economy in general and banks and building societies in particular is that there are some fairly generous interest rates around if you are prepared to shop around online.

For example if you access Abbey National Building Society, online or even better through the http://www.bank–accounts.co.uk/ web site you will be able to discover that currently Abbey are offering interest rates on deposits starting at an annual rate of 2.5%. They can even get as high as 4.15% if you are prepared to close off some of your capital for two years.

Alliance and Leicester is another bank worth checking out for your online savings account. They are offering a fixed rate of 3.15% annually with no withdrawal restrictions. If you want to set aside a sum of up to £2,500 pounds Alliance and Leicester are currently paying out 6% annually.

Halifax International, a member of the HBOS group, have also been sharpening their pencil of late, and have come up with a 4% annual rate for online deposits of up to £24,000 as long as they do not exceed £2,000 monthly.

Banking online has never been easier, and the chances are that as the economy continues its recovery, the banks will continue to offer as generous rates as they can. After all it’s your money that will help to fire the UK economy, and you can deposit your savings and earn reasonable interest rates with total confidence. Nowadays it has never been easier to transfer money from account to account so it is time well spent to check out where the best interest rates can be found. Always begin your search by clicking on http://www.bank–accounts.co.uk/ to discover the best online interest rates.

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Tags: Abbey, Alliance and Leicester, Bank, Banking, Economy, Finance, Financial News, Halifax, HSBC, UK Banks

Business Secretary Peter Mandelson is expected to announce on Wednesday the UK Government’s intention to launch a £150 million pound investment programme aimed towards small manufacturing companies specializing in areas where high levels of production and engineering skills are emphasized.

The program will be designed to benefit companies involved in high to medium tech manufacturing industries involved in the development of new technologies and designs.

Mandelson’s initiative comes as an extension of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s package to help businesses access venture capital and loans.
Yesterday Mandelson along with Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling met with chief executives of the UK’s leading banks at Downing Street and told them to step up lending for small companies.
Those represented included the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Barclays Plc.

Veteran British banker Sir Win Bischoff is to become the new chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, taking over the reins in September from Sir Victor Blank who stepped aside after being blamed by investors for Lloyds’ disastrous takeover of HBOS. . The 67-year-old former chairman of Citigroup appointment comes despite objections from some investors who were less than happy about Sir Win’s handling of Citgroup’s problems during the financial turndown.

Europe’s largest short-haul airline Ryanair have announced a strong increase in their first-quarter profits which they attributed largely due to the steep decrease in fuel costs. Despite the fact, Ryanair’s share price fell by nine per cent or 20 pence to close at 400 pence, on warnings that their full-year earnings would be lower because of the need to cut air fares due to extreme competition.

Lower oil prices have affected the profitability of BP in the second quarter, in fact halving from the same period a year ago. This year’s results showed profits of a still commendable £1.9 billion
The results took BP’s half-year profits to around £3.2 billion, down 57% from the same period in 2008.

The situation at National Express, the bus and rail operator ,became even more complicated after their UK based competitor Stagecoach announced that they were in talks with the consortium led by Spain’s Cosmen family and CVC Capital over a possible asset trip operation if the group were successful in their take- over attempt.
Representatives of Stagecoach also hinted that they even consider making a bid of its own for the whole of National Express.
This latest development only strengthens speculation that the board of National Express will reject the takeover approach from the Cosmen and CVC consortium.
News of Stagecoach’s interest sent shares in National Express 6.4 per cent higher in mid-morning trading to 368 pence, while shares in Stagecoach were 2½ pence lower at 135 pence.

As was widely expected, the FTSE 100 failed to extend its winning streak to a record-breaking 12th straight session as profit taking began to set in.
The blue chip index sank 57.3 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 4,528.8,
The FTSE 250 recorded a further reverse this time down 145.70 points to 7,731.16

The pound continued to stutter on Tuesday against the leading currencies.
Pound/US dollar 1.6421
Pound/Euro 1.1591
Pound/Japanese Yen 154.7119
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7659

The Dow Jones faltered slightly on a flat day’s trading, down 11.79 points to 9096.72 The NASDAQ made another small gain, up 7.62 points to close on 1975.51

Deutsche Bank has reported a 67% rise in quarterly profits, boosted by its investment banking arm.
Germany’s largest bank announced a net profit of £950 million (1.1 billion Euros) for the second quarter of 2009, compared to £550 million (645 million Euros) profit for the same period last year.

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Tags: Alastair Darling, Financial News, Gordon Brown, Goverment, Lord Mandelson, Peter Mandelson, Small Businesses, UK government, UK Small Business

With the number of High Street banks branches getting smaller and liable to continue to do so for some time, not the only reason for this trend can be put down to amalgamation and cost savings. There is another reason, and it is the increasing number of companies and individuals who prefer to do their banking online. And you don’t have to be a genius to figure out why.

Predictions are that the physical presence of high street bank branch will be a rare a usual sight as virtual banking become increasingly common place. Virtual banking is a “win-win: situation. The banks love it and so do the World of business and even more so the consumer. As handling physical cash is becoming a thing of the past, and most salaries being paid by bank transfer and bills being paid by standing order, the days spent waiting in a queue to pay your gas, water and electricity or deposit you pay cheque will be long gone.

To be fair, the main UK banks woke up to the cost cutting possibilities that the internet will provide them a long time ago, and have made consistent efforts to educate the public on how to handle their bank account and providing financial incentives to do so.

While the trend to bank online is still in its infancy in the UK, in American banks report that they have been far more successful in persuading their customers to do their banking online. For the time being, only 30 percent of British families reportedly conduct their banked online while in the States that number is a lot closer to 50 percent. However predictions are that the number of internet based accounts will grow, as the number of middle class families in the UK continues to increase the number of common daily activities, such as reading the news online, increases.

One fear that the banks have voiced that the growth of internet banking may bring is the ease that customers will be able to switch accounts in search of better interest rates and lower bank charges.

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Tags: Bank, Bank of England, Banking, Economy, Financial News, Money, Money Management, Online banking, UK Banks

Almost three years ago when the UK economy was still in its unnatural state of euphoria, and the banks reigned supreme, certain parties began to take up the case on behalf of those sectors of the UK population who were starting to lag behind in the credit race, and had fallen victim to exorbitant charges levied by the banks against them for breaching their overdraft and credit card limits.

With all that has happened since, this issue has been swept to the back of the line of things to worry about. However thanks to the patience and fortitude of those who believed in the rank unfairness of these charges, a test case has now reached the House of Lords, and it would appear that an end to one of the most unsavoury aspects of pre-collapse UK banking greed might be reaching some form of conclusion.

The conclusion and the subsequent crediting of accounts of those who have been unfairly treated is still very far off in the distance, as the Lords are only to decide at this stage whether the Office of Fair Trading I will be the body chosen to rule on the dispute and are not liable to discuss whether the draconic borrowing charges were illegal. Although many of the UK banks who made windfall profits on these charges are now ironically owned by the public themselves, that are still expected to fight tooth and nail to block any refunds as well as any claims for compensation that are likely to follow.

While there are several precedents of individuals suing banks in the county courts and winning, the banks appear to be unnerved by the prospect of an overall ruling endgame against them and the Pandora’s Box it will happen.

The argument that is already being put forward is that bank’s have been subsidizing their free banking services from the income earned by those who constantly are in unauthorized overdraft and incur excessive administrative fees, such as the famous but infamous £40 letter to advise a client that they are in overdraft of 50 pence. They claim that if everyone were to manage their accounts according to the book then they would have to charge everyone equally. An example of the kind of logic that got banks to where they are today

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Tags: Bank, Bank of England, Banking, British Economy, Credit Crunch, UK Banks

Some might say deservedly, buts some of Britain’s best known banking brands will be removed from the UK’s high street, on news that Santander, the Spanish bank who first set foot in the UK market with the purchase of Abbey and later acquired both Alliance & Leicester as well as the savings branch of Bradford & Bingley announced that from next year all branches would trade under the Santander label. The British public will need to get used to seeing Santander, especially when they are about to invest around £12million on a major makeover, rebranding branches and product livery with their already well known and ever distinctive logo of a white flame on a red background.

A spokesman for Santander pointed out that when the Spanish bank entered the UK market five years ago, only 20 per cent of the public were aware of the company. This figure is believed to have raised four -fold largely due to Santander’s sponsorship of the British Grand Prix and their partnership with current Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton.

The in-your-face presence of Santander in the UK high street might represent a turning of the page for many who would associate the companies that will be replacing as unpleasant memories..

On the FTSE yesterday media stocks provided the only highlight, with ITV topping the bill, jumping by 12.5 percent after renewed speculation of a tie-up with Mediaset, Italian Prime Minister and business magnate Silvio Berlusconi’s media group.

Financial stocks also made gains with Man Group rising 5.4 per cent to 250p ahead of full-year results due on Thursday. There is speculation that the company’s retail fund launches are likely to have exceeded analyst’s expectations.

After abandoning a proposed deal to acquire 49 per cent of a China based asset management business from fortis, shares in Old Mutual rose 4.9 per cent to close on73½p.

Tour operators were buoyant on the news of Sterling’s continued recovery Intercontinental Hotels led the way, climbing by six per cent to 675p. Shares in Thomas Cook also rallied by four per cent to 233¾p.

Spirits were low at Diageo as shares slipped by one per cent to 843½p after French owners Pernod Ricard announced that talks of a recovery in the wine market might be premature.

At the end of a subdued day, the FTSE 100 closed up 4.51 points to 4,416.23, due to very low levels of trading. The FTSE250 closed on 7,588 down 26 points from Tuesday

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Tags: Abbey, Alliance and Leicester, Bank, Economy, Financial News, Santander, Stocks and shares, UK Banks

There must be no small number of UK citizens who are slowly sinking in a sea of debt and asking themselves” what did I do wrong?”

After all what did they know about Bear Stearns, subprime mortgages, toxic debt and global debt running into trillions of whatever currency you care to mention.

All that most of them wanted was to own their own home like Margaret Thatcher promised, a reasonably nice car in the drive way, 2.5 children smartly dressed with perfect teeth and all that was modern in the way of household appliances. What did it matter to a fair percentage of them that they couldn’t afford to pay for them? The nice man at the bank kept on lending them more money to support this lifestyle, so why not keep up with the Jones family next door, who secretly were trying to keep up with you.

When all of a sudden the bubble burst, UK citizens were left in a state of shock and it seems that no-one is really capable of helping them. Unemployment is on the rise, house repossessions too. Many basically innocent people are facing a genuine risk all that they have built up will disappear. And is often the case, those individuals who are less deserving of government advice and assistance are getting it before them

So why are the government seemingly falling over themselves to protect the banks and more obviously the bankers who played a major part in the financial downfall of the UK.

A simple answer is that the Britain needs to have a banking system, the question is how large and far reaching does it have to be and who should be running it. These are issues that may be well above the understanding of the man in the street. However these appear to be the pressing issues for Messrs Brown and Darling for the time being. It almost seems inevitable that at least two of the major UK banking groups will gradually move into public hands and there are those that say this is not a bad thing, at least for the foreseeable future.

What the Government is trying to achieve s to stabilize the banks as much as possible, and they are using the taxpayers’ money to do so. The toxic insurance scheme means that the Government is insuring shaky loans that the banks took on when they were greedy for profits and their managers were not just hungry but ravenous for bonuses. And the public will have to pay their bill and for years to come.

This is the situation that the United Kingdom finds itself in, and some experts say it could continue for up to ten years, although not at the same level of severity that we are going through today.

There are those that say that the UK Government are not doing enough to helping the man in the street to really understand what is going on, and what is likely to happen in the future. President Obama, who knows how to lay the internet like a violin, hastened to order the establishment of a web site to explain to the US public what was going on. Brown and Darling should rapidly follow suit.

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Tags: Bank, Bank of England, Banking, British Economy, Credit Crunch, Current Account, Economics, Financial News, FTSE, Money Management, Money Markets, Recession, UK Banks, UK Recession

Your bank at the end of your mobile phone?

That might be a nightmare for some, but for most people it will allow them to stay in touch with their financial affairs like never before.

Imagine the scenario of being out shopping and eyeing those special shoes, or that gadget that you must have, and thinking, do I have enough money to treat myself.

Well, you have a few choices. Walk away, promising to check your bank account when you get to the nearest ATM; don’t buy the goods; or, you can now text your bank and get a balance on your mobile phone.

As people become more mobile and more used to internet banking, this type of service is being offered by an increasing number of institutions, giving people a sense of immediacy about their banking affairs that they’ve never had before.

And it’s not only balance requests that the mobile phone service can offer, it can also be used to pay bills, make transfers, request itemized lists and make password changes. In short, it’s internet banking via a mobile phone.

The service is also being finessed all the time, with the result that you can locate your bank’s nearest ATM, or branch; receive a text once a given threshold has been reached (say last £100 in account, go carefully); or, receive flash warnings if say someone was making an unauthorized withdrawal from your account.

The potential is massive, but so is the potential for abuse warn the experts. Internet banking has certainly been a liberating experience for most bank users (especially the younger generation say the researchers), but it also has been very liberating for online thieves who have become adept at separating people from their money.

The trouble with modern day banking is that if you acquire someone’s account details by nefarious means, you can access their account very quickly and before any action is taken, be off with their money, or order goods. And the cyber criminals are adept at ways pf working around whatever security measure the banks might take. So, whilst in theory online banking will introduce ever more liberating features and services, the downside is of course the constant threat of online crime.

But, the consumer can offset the risk by making sure that their bank, or financial institution, takes a lot of the responsibility for online crimes.

Of course, if the consumer is negligent, then they possibly deserve to bear some of the cost themselves, but if the actual banking system is penetrated by criminals, then the institution should hold their hands up and accept their share of the blame. But things are never that straightforward of course.

So, when it comes to banking on your mobile phone, make sure that you read the fine print and find out who is responsible in the event of monetary thefts. You basically need the same guarantees as with your existing bank accounts. If you can’t get these, then you should think twice about conducting your banking affairs via your mobile phone.

And just think what would happen if your mobile phone was lost, or stolen. You should have a way of being able to report its loss immediately, meaning that your phone and mobile banking methods can be barred straight away, avoiding any losses.

This is helped by the fact that mobile banking should not need the storage of lots of personal information on the handset. In fact, your phone should store less information than is commonly found on a receipt issued by an ATM.

So, if you are confident that you are not exposing yourself to internet crime, and that if you are not negligent, you are not liable for the losses should you be hacked, then the next thing to consider is costs. Although banks might claim they offer free mobile banking, make sure this is the case long term (and not just introductionary offers) and make sure that your actual mobile costs aren’t increased using mobile banking (web browsing can seriously increase your download activity so make sure you do not breach your limits).

Another consideration is technique; how do you communicate with your bank via your mobile phone? You have three basic choices. Firstly, text messaging which is possibly the easiest method, but not the most sophisticated. Secondly, using a web browser which allows you to access your account as you would from your desktop computer and gives you a similar level of service, allowing you to do most things when mobile, as you would when based at home, or in the office. The downside of course is that web browsing depends on your mobile’s ability to give you a good connection and display enough of the website to be able to do what you require for online banking.

And thirdly, by downloading software from your bank. A bank application download is a good compromise between the simpler text messaging and the more complicated web-browsing, but, as mentioned earlier, ensure that the information stored on your phone does not make it easy for the online thieves.

Banking is set to take off and if you wish to stay young at heart, bear in mind that it’s the younger generation (those aged between 18 and 25), that are fully embracing mobile banking. Just remember to watch out for those people that also use online banking to part you from you money.

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Tags: Banking, Current Account, Text Message, Text Message Banking, UK Banks

The Government is preparing to lend money directly to businesses from January.

Leader of the House Harriet Harman revealed the move as she told MPs about a new small business loan guarantee scheme.

“It’s true to say that, while lending figures are starting to show increasing lending to small businesses, there are still businesses having problems,” she said.

Small firms borrowing from a bank will receive cash from the Government, which will effectively be acting as a bank.

The Government is likely to provide more than half the cash firms need, with banks expected to come up with no more than 25%.

The move reflects frustration among ministers that businesses are still finding it difficult to get the credit they need, despite the Government’s £37 billion bail-out of the banks.

The proposed new scheme would apparently enable the Government to get round the problem by cutting out the banks and providing firms with the credit directly.

Meanwhile bankers who have stacked up billions of pounds of losses at Credit Suisse will receive their annual bonus based on the worthless investments they made on behalf of the bank.

About 2,000 investment bankers will share a bonus with a face value £3.1 billion that is not worth the paper it’s printed on.

This is a novel way of a bank saying thank you to the people who, along with many other speculators, are responsible for the worldwide recession.

The bonus is paid in bonds that have no value as the market for trading them has collapsed

The bank says the idea is that if the bonus is based on sensible lending decisions, then the bankers will win as the bonds mature in value, but if not, the staff will pick up the reward they deserve.

• Alliance & Leicester
• Capital One
• Child Trust Fund
• First Direct
• HSBC
• Post Office
• Tesco Savings

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Tags: Bank, Bank of England, Banking, Credit Crunch, Interest Rates, Loans

Banks have promised to try and make life easier for small businesses by agreeing a ‘statement of principles’ brokered by Business Secretary Peter Mandelson.

Businesses say they are having problems arranging loans and overdrafts despite the billions of pounds the government has injected in to the economy as banks have screwed down lending criteria.

Following the meeting, banks have agreed to cut the time it takes to transfer business accounts from one bank to another from ten to five working days.

The Federation of Small Businesses said the concession was “very welcome” because it would allow firms to shop around more easily between banks in search of better lending terms.

Banks have also agreed to consider business assets as securities before business-owners’ personal assets. That could reduce the number of personal bankruptcies that result from businesses collapsing during the recession.

The borrowing problem seems to have bypassed care worker Kaylie Coomber, 20, from Highnam, Gloucestershire, who asked her bank for a £50 overdraft extension and got a letter back telling her she could have £84million.

She had telephoned the Alliance and Leicester to ask if they would give her the higher limit in the run up to Christmas – and the paperwork came through telling her she had an £84million overdraft facility and would only be charged £5 for the privilege.

Her bank, the Alliance and Leicester said: “We apologise for any inconvenience or upset caused to Kaylie and can confirm this is an unfortunate one-off incident. The letter was sent off incorrectly.”

Meanwhile, on the markets, both the FTSE and the DOW closed up – the FTSE rose 251 points from 4049 to 4300 and the DOW 296 points from 8638 to 8934. The Pound closed unchanged against the US dollar and Euro – standing at $1.47 and 1.56 Euros.

• Alliance & Leicester
• Barclays
• Capital One
• Child Trust Fund
• First Direct
• HSBC
• Post Office
• Tesco Savings

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Tags: Alliance and Leicester, Business Acounts, Ft, FTSE, Overdraft, Small Businesses, UK Banks, UK Small Business

The fight between financial watchdog The Office of Fair Trading and banks over billions of pounds creamed off customer accounts as unfair bank charges is rumbling on.

The OFT won their case but is waiting for a High Court decision following an appeal by the British Bankers Association, representing the High Street banks.

What is the row about?

Banks and building societies imposed unauthorised overdraft charges on customers and charged interest on the overdrawn amount plus the charges.

These charges include:

• Unpaid item fees – charged when a bill payment is refused because of a lack of funds in the account
• Guaranteed paid item fees – charged when a payment is made but creates an unauthorised overdraft, like paying a cheque backed by a guarantee card
• Paid item fees – charged when a payment is made and creates an unauthorised overdraft
• Overdraft excess charges -fees charged for going in to the red at the bank without permission

Banks levied these charges totaling up to £3.5 billion a year on 1 in 20 customers. If you are one of these customers and incurred charges like this from July 27, 2001 onwards, you can reclaim the money.

How to claim

Claiming your money back is not difficult, providing you follow these steps in the right order:

• The Unfair Terms In Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 say penalty charges must reflect administration costs.

In plain language, this means banks must not profit from making you overdrawn and if they do, you can claim they are acting outside the law.

• Write to your bank and ask for your account records. You are entitled to this information under the Data Protection Act
• Tot up any fees the bank charged relating to your overdraft penalties.
• Write and ask for a refund. Quote the legislation mentioned in step 1 above.
• If the bank offers you some money but not the whole claim, refuse.
• If your bank refuses a refund, write them a ‘seven day letter’, which is a warning that if they don’t pay, you will take the matter to court. They won’t, so after the seven days has passed, fill in a claim at www.moneyclaim.gov.uk.
• The court will serve a notice on the bank giving them 14 days to respond.
• If the bank responds, there is a further 14 days for them to prepare a court case.
• If the bank doesn’t pay, ask the court for a warrant of execution by filling in form N323 on the Money Claim website.
• Once this is granted, bailiffs can take items to the value of your claim from the branch.

Your bank may threaten to close your account. Before you write to them to make a claim, set up a new account at another bank.

For More information on specific Banks use these links

• Alliance & Leicester
• Barclays
• Capital One
• Child Trust Fund
• First Direct
• HSBC
• Post Office
• Tesco Savings

For all the best deals on Current bank account, Business bank accounts, Savings and Mortgage deals visit the number one Independent Bank Compassion site Bank—Accounts

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Tags: Bank, Bank Charges, Credit, UK Bank Accounts