Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling now appears likely to give Lloyds the go ahead to test the seriousness of its ambitious £25 billion refinancing plan. Darling’s tacit agreement will be looked upon by city watchers as a definite indication that the chancellor could be prepared to release the bank from its obligations to the government’s toxic asset insurance scheme. It would appear that Darling has concluded that Lloyds’ plan to bring in more private capital is in the public interest. However it would appear that his final decision will only be positive when he is convinced that the market is ready for such a bold initiative. Darling is expected to announce his decision to the Lloyds at the early part of next week. The move will mean that the bank can then begin to appoint underwriters and test the market. Only then will Darling make the final decision and may even withdraw approval for the plan if he concludes the move carries to many risks for the already under siege UK taxpayer.

As expected, the European Union (EU) has approved plans for nationalized bank Northern Rock to be split into two parts, a move that is expected to pave the way for a partial sale of the bank.

One half of the bank, known as the "good" bank, would trade as retail bank holding deposits including some of the Rock’s existing mortgages, as well as lending money to consumers only.

The toxic side of the bank will remain in government hands, whose unenviable task it would be to attempt to salvage as much as the taxpayer’s money tied up there. The chancellor has ruled out the possibility of completing the sale of Northern Rock before the general election, in spite of winning approval from Brussels.

Meanwhile Spanish banking giants Santander continue to clean up on the UK high street. The bank announced that profits during the first nine months of the year for its UK banks have risen by more than a third.

Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley banks, owned by Santander announced a £1.2 billion profit, up 38% from the same period in 2008.

Debt laden bus and rail operator National Express has wound up their discussions with rival Stagecoach regarding a possible merger. Instead they will press ahead with their plans to mount a rights issue to re-finance the company. Yesterday’s announcement follows weeks of speculation over a possible tie-up between the groups that would have created a transport giant with an estimated worth of £1.7 billion.

Oil and gas supply group BG, announced on Wednesday that their post-tax profits for the third quarter had fallen 39 per cent to £474 million from last year’s £777 million. A spokesman for the company said that the fall in gas and oil prices had been partially offset by advance sales of liquefied natural gas at advantageous prices. Although natural gas has rallied since early September, it had not done as well as crude oil during continued signs of economic recovery.

Sterling continued to rise in value yesterday against the dollar, while rising slightly against the Euro.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6393
• Pound/Euro 1.1131
• Pound/Japanese Yen 148.0908
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6804

London’s FTSE 100 dropped 2.32% or 120.55 points to close on 5080.42. The FTSE 250 plummeted a further 3.19% percent yesterday, down 291.78 points to close on 8849.50

For the first time in half a year, sales of new homes in the US fell as buyers opted for bargains on existing and foreclosed houses. Unexpectedly new home sales fell by 3.6 per cent from August to September, defying economists’ expectations that they would increase. Compared with a year ago, sales of new homes were down by 7.8 per cent, according to commerce department figures

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 1.21% after news that the annual rate of US new home sales had fallen unexpectedly in September.

At close of trading Wednesday it had fallen 119.48 points to 9762.69. The NASDAQ Composite index also took a tumble down 56.48 points to 2059.61.

It was announced on Wednesday that new orders for durable goods rebounded in September after slumping the prior month, offering another sign that manufacturing activity is stirring in the US

European shares also fell fairly sharply yesterday, largely due to disappointing company results and negative US economic data.

Norway has become the first European country to raise its interest rates since the beginning of the global financial crisis. The country’s central bank raised the cost of borrowing from 1.25% to 1.5% in a move that was widely expected. A spokesman for the bank stated that the increase was necessary due to increases in inflation and recent unemployment figures that were considerably lower than previously projected.

Oil prices dropped by more than $2 a barrel on Wednesday, as the latest US weekly inventories data continued to show supply outstripping demand. All in all the expected recovery in the dollar weighed on investor sentiment towards the commodities market.

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Tags: Abbey, Alastair Darling, Alliance & Leicester, Bank, Banking, BG, Bradford & Bingley, British Economy, British Pound, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Currency, Current Account, Darling, Dow Jones, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, gas, llo, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, Money Markets, Mortgage, NASDAQ, National Express, Northern Rock, Oil, Recession, Retail, Santander, Savings, Stagecoach, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Unemployment, Wall Street

Controversial new rules that allows suppliers to increase their tariffs without the need to advise consumers for a period of up to 65 days has been slammed by a leading consumer group.

This power bill scam has been highlighted by the consumer protection group, Which who have been calling on the industry regulator Ofgem as well as the UK Government to ban the tactic.

Under the new regime, a family or a business can be paying higher gas or electricity tariff for more than two months without their knowledge. Additionally, which claim that the delay in notification also deprives the customer the opportunity of shopping around to look for a less expensive tariff?

Which officials are now claiming that the new rules, applying as they do, to all power suppliers, might even be illegal. If this is proven to be the case, consumers whose tariffs have been raised without prior notice may be eligible to launch a legal test case and claim for substantial refunds.

The UK courts as well as the Office of Fair Trading have previously established that contracts allowing a company to increase a charge without notice are deemed as illegal. A case worthy of comparison are UK banks who were ordered to repay hundreds of thousands of pounds to customers, after they were charged inflated exit fees on mortgages that were put up without consultation or notice.

Research by the consumer champion shows that 98 per cent of consumers hold the belief that suppliers should be required by law to notify them ahead of price rises, with almost the same percentage insisting that their current supplier of utility services should be legally obliged to notify them when a cheaper tariff becomes available.

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Tags: Banking, British Economy, consumer protection, Credit Crunch, Current Account, Economics, Economy, Financial News, Money, Money Management, Office of Fair Trading, Ofgem, power suppliers, Recession, Retail, scam, UK Banks, UK courts, UK Economy, UK Recession

A new deadly computer virus is doing the rounds and this one, which goes by the name of Clampi, is proving to be a headache for literally thousands of on-line banking customers.

The Clampi virus is spreading quickly throughout both the UK and US, and has a particularly invidious way of effecting people’s computers.

The virus, what’s known in the jargon as a Trojan, has been created by hackers intent on stealing people’s personal banking details. It effects people’s computers after they visit certain websites and then sits quietly waiting its chance. Then, once the computer users accesses their personal banking website, it activates, and captures such vital information as login and password details.

Once harnessed, these details are then sent back to the waiting hackers, who using them to commit on-line fraud scams.

The Clampi virus courts some 5,000 financial websites; ones which include British and American banks, but also mortgage lenders, on-line shopping sites, casinos and email service providers.

And although the Clampi virus has been around since 2005, only now is it really beginning to make its presence felt. In the US for example, thousands of dollars of fraudulent transactions are already being blamed on the Trojan.

Computer security experts are warning that the Clampi virus represents a complex threat and one which people should take very seriously indeed. They warn that it is just beginning to seriously target UK banks and there is potential for wave after wave of attacks. But only now are the experts fully aware of its devastating potential.

With the US under attack from the Clampi virus, it is believed that over 1,000 computers in the UK have been penetrated. And those computers running Microsoft Windows based operating systems are especially vulnerable to the Clampi virus.

Computer security experts are urging everyone to be particularly careful of falling victim to the virus. They advise all computer users to be on their guard against links embedded within emails from people not known to them, or likewise unfamiliar emails with attachments; but, also be cautious of social networking sites, instant messages, blogs, or websites that they come across during a surf. Innocent appearing websites are one of the most popular ways that such Trojans are distributed around computer networks. The general rule is, say the boffins, never download anything from any site unless you can completely vouch for its credentials.

What’s more, the experts are warning everyone to not only run a good anti-virus software programme, but also keep it up to date.

For more information on this and other computer viruses, help protecting your computer and staying safe on the web visit http://www.computer-protection.co.uk/

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Tags: anti-virus software, Bank, Banking, Clampi, Clampi Virus, Computer Virus, Current Account, hackers, Microsoft Windows, Money, Money Management, on-line banking, on-line fraud, personal details, Trojan, UK Banks, UK Credit Cards

In times gone by, the self righteous members of the community were often heard to say "neither a lender nor a borrower be." Not a bad piece of advice it would transpire and one that should have been heeded more carefully a few years ago. However it must have been hard to take when handed out by your maiden Aunt who refused to lend you sixpence for your bus fare, which you had mistakenly spent on liquorice allsorts.

The last year has seen an all time low for both savers as well as those whose life style forces them to borrow just to survive. For savers it has been especially tough. According to statistics gathered by the Bank of England’s the average interest rate for savers has plunged from 4.49% to 0.41% in the last twelve months, as the BOE has cut interest rates to the bone to prop up the banks.

Interest rates for the average instant access account has plunged from 1.85% before tax (2.31% after tax) to 0.14% (0.17%), while the average price of fixed rate bonds has fallen from 4.53% (5.66%) to 2.42% (3.03%).

However the true picture for many savers is a lot less colourful than that, as these rates are only on offer frosh fresh deposits, while much of the money held in UK banks are on older long terms plans, where interest rates have plunged as low as 0.08% (0.1 %) interest, returning just 80 pence interest a year for every £1,000 saved.

For borrowers the picture is just as gloomy. Overdrafts are being cut and default interest rates being applied with a heavy hand. Those whose debt package is linked to their credit card have fared no better. Reports of rates hiking reduced borrowing limits or even having their credit cut off completely abound. And balance transfer deals and reward schemes are rapidly becoming part of banking history.

It may be a bitter pill for many to swallow, but Auntie might have been right!

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Tags: Bank of England, Banking, BOE, British Economy, British Pound, Credit, Credit Crunch, Current Account, Debt, Economy, Financial News, Interest Rates, Money, Money Management, Overdraft, Recession, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Recession

With the news that the UK Co-operative society is looking to increase exposure for their bank division, Coop banks are liable to become an increasingly common site on the UK high street within the coming years. Stage one to test the extent of in-house banking with coop stores, will be the opening of two pilot schemes situated in strategic points in the UK. As well as opening in-house outlets in a similar marketing mould as Tesco. Banking analysts see the Coops move into high street bank on a national scale as a logical extension of their acquisition of Britannia building society in early 2009. A move which increased their asset base considerably, while diluting their management costs. .

There have been Cooperative banks on UK high streets for almost forty years, although their numbers have always been limited. In the wake of the recent economic downturn, and with hopes of a return to economic normality around the corner, the stage is set for the appearance of new and clean faces in the high street. The Cooperative Bank many not be new face but it is certainly shiningly clean

UK politicians have made it no secret that they are keen to see medium sized players make greater inroads into retail banking to improve consumer choice with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) reportedly swamped with applications for banking licences

The Co-op Banking group is bound to be among the front runners, with a track record that shows prudent lending policies, and boasting an average equity to property value of close to 50 percent.

The stage is set for some interesting times in high street banking in the UK high street, with some surprising new faces entering the banking world. The Coop has been around for a long time, yet there new banking policy looks like cleaning up the high street.

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Tags: Bank, Banking, Britannia building society, British Economy, Coop Bank, Cooperative, Current Account, Economy, Employment, Financial News, Financial Services Authority, Money, Money Management, Savings, Tesco, UK Co-operative, UK Credit Cards, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession

After the traumas it has gone through over the last year or so, it appears that the Lloyds Banking Group Plc, still the U.K.’s biggest mortgage lender is making strides to relive itself of some of the stigmas attached to it as the UK banking industry almost imploded in autumn of last year. The bank has reached an agreement with the U.K. government to guarantee half the risk on a portfolio of its existing short-term loans to companies, The billion pound deal will be dependent on Lloyds agreeing to increase their business lending.

As far as the high street us concerned, Lloyd’s Halifax building society unit is currently review the licensing agreements they currently hold, entailing running some 300 outlets situated in real-estate agents, lawyers and financial consultants. They have already implemented a decision to shut down 26 of the situated in independent banks. Lloyds are also reported to be interested in selling off their branches of Lloyds, TSB and the Cheltenham & Gloucester Plc in Scotland. Lloyds Banking Group is considering more job losses as the bank plans to close more than 300 “agency” counters run by its Halifax subsidiary in the offices of estate agents, solicitors or financial advisers.

The 43% state controlled banking giant has already paid off 7,500 people in 2009 so far. On the up side, Lloyds recently announced it was reviewing its decision to close down its 160 Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) branches,

Less than cheery forecasts from insolvency specialists are beginning to emerge that a second wave of corporate restructurings are due to break this month as bankers and investment houses begin to face problematic customers. .

September has always been regarded as the second important crunch date in the year for companies and lenders, as companies involved in retailing and distribution draw heavily on working capital to stock up in anticipation of what might not be the greatest of Christmas seasons.

On a difficult day for the FTSE, Lloyds bank’ stock rose 6.3 percent, to 111.34 pence on news of their reorganisation plans.

Shares in the U.K.’s largest self- storage operator Safestore Holdings Plc also rose by 8.3 percent, to 131 pence, in anticipation of improved third-quarter earnings.

RSA Insurance fell 4.8 per cent to 124 pence following reports that the company was considering a £1 billion rights issue to reduce their debt burden

The FTSE 100 closed at a low, having been under pressure all day after market strategists recommended clients to cut their allocation of UK equities.

The FTSE returned from it August Bank holiday break to find itself not in the best of shape. The FTSE 100 dropped to 89.20 points close on 4819.70 while the FTSE 250 fared even worse, dropping 2.24 % or 197.83 points to close on 8,619.68

Sterling also continued to struggle against the major currencies

• Pound/US dollar 1.6126
• Pound/Euro 1.1349
• Pound/Japanese Yen 149.5807
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7207

It would appear that scrapping incentives has not had too much of an effect with new cars sales generally on the increase around the world in August according to some preliminary data. Car sales in Japan rose for the first time in more than a year, while several auto manufacturing groups in Asia and Europe reported higher sales volumes than for the comparable month last year.

On Wall Street, markets continue to struggle due to continued uncertainty in the Chinese economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by 185.68 points to close on 9310.6 while the NASDAQ Composite index dropped below the 2,000 mark yet again, down 40.17 points to close on 1968.89.

For the first time since February 2008, US manufacturing output grew according to the Institute of Supply Management’s purchasing managers. Their index rose to 52.9 points last month, up from 48.9 in July.

Any number above 50 indicates an expansion in manufacturing output, making for another significant sign of recovery in the US economy.

In a long anticipated move, the internet phone company Skype has been sold off by online auction site owners in a transaction worth about £1.2 billion

Skype will now be owned by a group of private investors, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and private equity firms, in partnership with EBay who will retain a 35% stake in the firm, which it has been trying to sell for some time. The deal values Skype at $2.75bn. EBay bought Skype for $2.6bn in 2005.

Unemployment levels Euro 16 countries was reported to have hit a 10-year high in July, as despite declarations to the opposite, the impact of the recession continues to be felt.

The number of unemployed across the eurozone region in July was reported to have reached more than 15.1 million, making for a seasonally-adjusted rate of 9.5%. The unemployment figures were the worst in terms of monthly percentage since May 1999 and compares unfavourably with the numbers of unemployed with all the 27 member states of the European Union which was a total of 21.8 million, or 9%.

Crude oil prices have fallen this week as news out of China continued to raise doubts about its petroleum demand, with prices falling below the $70 a barrel mark again.

Economic concerns have hit China where the benchmark Shanghai Composite index fell 6.7 per cent in its worst one-day decline since June 2008, halting the ongoing increase in crude oil prices, which have risen steadily in 2009, after falling as low as $33 a barrel.

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Tags: Banking, British Economy, British Pound, C&G, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Currency, Current Account, Dow Jones, Ebay, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, Halifax building society, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Marc Andreessen, Money Management, Mortgage, NASDAQ, Netscape, Recession, Retail, RSA, Safestore Holdings, Skype, U.K. government, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK Recession, Unemployment, US economy, Wall Street

Although your bank manager will tell you that he or she is your friend, and that they have your best interest at heart when they cut your overdraft or credit card levels, don’t believe them. The truth is that banks thrive on people who are in financial trouble and know exactly how to play on your weakened situations to continue to feed their insatiable drive for profit.

More so, that when you go to them on your knees asking for just a little more leeway, they will already have made sure that you will find it difficult if not impossible to find alternative finance elsewhere, and will take full advantage by providing you with additional finance at horrendously high interest rates.

The UK public must surely have learned one expensive and painful lesson from the current financial crisis and that is to keep the credit under control, and to try to do so by achieving and maintaining a credit rating that is as pure and white as the first snows of winter.

And believe it or not, despite prodigious efforts by the FSA to prevent this from happening, lenders, be they banks, building societies or credit card companies, are pooling their efforts to make sure that people who have fallen into debt in the past will find it very difficult to improve their credit rating.

There is, and always has been, a great anomaly about how finance providers look upon a potential client. If someone has money, why should they need to borrow it? Yet in many cases it is sensible to borrow money, particularly for a mortgage, or to buy a new car or even some major household appliance. Banks carry out tens of thousands of transactions every month, although secured loans are much less attractive to them than unsecured loans, where they can make more than twice the interest.

The sad truth of the matter is that if people are in severe financial trouble the last place they should set foot in is a bank, building society or credit card company, except to ask for an extended agreement on the same terms. Under no circumstances should they agree to accept a new refinancing agreement which will certainly be on prohibitive terms.

Only time will cure most people’s problems, and eventually better times will come. In the meantime it is everyone’s interest to keep the head down, draw in the belt even tighter, and repair each credit status. Learning to be less credit dependent will be a challenge for all of us, but it will be justified by never having to bend your knees to your bank manager again.

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Tags: bank manager, Banking, Building Society, Credit, Credit Card, Credit Crunch, credit rating, Current Account, Debt, extended agreement, Finance, finance providers, financial trouble, FSA, Interest Rates, Loans, Money, Money Management, Mortgage, Mortgages, negative equity, Savings, UK Banks, UK Credit Cards, unsecured loans

With global leaders converging on London or tomorrow’s eagerly awaited G2O conference, despite Prime Minister Brown’s hopes for a major breakthrough in solving the World’s financial problems, it looks increasingly like it will be a difficult if not impossible goal to achieve.

Already there are cracks showing with French President Nicolas Sarkozy causing problems, initially threatening to shun the conference only later to state that he and the French party would attend, but would strongly emphasise that their demands for stricter financial regulation be met.

It appears that the need to strengthen financial regulation will be one of the core issues at the conference, with France putting the heat on, and even threatening to walk out of the conference if agreements are not reached on this issue.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama have been the principal sponsors of the conference, and both of them have not missed a chance to stress its importance and their hopes that it will generate the results needed to stimulate much needed global financial recovery.

The countries who go to make up the G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, the US and the EU. These countries control 80% of global financial wealth.

What may emerge is a serious conflict of interest between the British and North American camp and the European faction. President Sarkozy has not been slow in attaching blame for the global financial meltdown on the US and UK

More supportive of the G20 conference has been German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has been reported as saying that the chances of reaching some form of agreement, or at least a statement of intent, were high.

Brown and Obama remain confident that the participants in the G20 conference will rise to the challenge and he will have the full backing of

President Obama, who said before setting off on his first official visit to Europe since he became president that the G20 must give a “strong message of unity”,

In the meantime, Gordon Brown continued to show faith in his belief that the results of the conference will show that global problems require global solutions. With an obvious message to President Sarkozy brown went on to add that “the conference will mark defeat those who say protectionism is an option.”

In anticipation of the expected public demonstrations that the conference is expected to cause, London police have created a sterile environment around the Excel centre, in Canning Town where the World leaders will meet. In the meantime, it is not expected that the police will be called on to break up disturbances inside the hall.

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Tags: Alastair Darling, British Economy, Credit Crunch, Current Account, Economics, Financial News, The G20 conference

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