According to Thomas Huertas, the banking director at the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority, London’s role as the European Union (EU) equivalent to Hong Kong as a self-regulating financial center, is drawing to a close.

The group of 27 European states that comprise the EU plans to centralize oversight of markets in the wake of the global financial crisis, with proposals for new regulators for the banking, securities and insurance industries, Huertas said. Evidence of a continental European sway away from London was provided by recent statements from Michel Prada, former chairman of French market regulator "the Autorite des Marches Financiers", who said that while continental Europeans “admire the City,” the also felt high levels of jealousy and irritation towards it.

About 10 percent of jobs in Britain’s financial services industry could be cut, equivalent to over 110,000 jobs. An official from one of the UK’s leading union Unite has announced estimates that 38,000 jobs had gone this year at banks and other financial firms it represents and that was set to rise substantially.

The financial services industry employs between 1.1 million and 1.3 million people. Part-nationalised banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group have cut thousands of jobs, and planned restructurings at the two banks are likely to affect about 25,000 employees,

Dubai World began negotiations to restructure about $26 billion in debt and said the remainder of its $59 billion of liabilities is on “a stable financial footing. Dubai World began talks with banks; easing concern a delay in debt payments will hurt U.K. lenders.

Chelsea Building Society has confirmed it is in advanced merger discussions with its Bradford-based larger rival Yorkshire Building Society.

It said the talks are part of a detailed review of its activities, financial position and corporate structure, which includes looking at the benefits of a possible merger. However the group, which is the UK’s fourth largest building society, stressed that it remained well-funded and had strong liquidity. Yorkshire Building Society is already the UK’s second biggest society, and a tie-up with the Chelsea would create an organization with more than £35 billion of assets, 178 branches and 2.7 million members. Cheltenham-based Chelsea said the merger would boost its capital position by around £100 million. Both the societies said the deal would only go ahead if it produced mutual benefits.

According to a survey of leading UK mortgage lenders, Home owners are choosing to make bigger repayments on home loans instead of increasing spending. This news, whilst pleasing to most, will come as a blow to attempts to drive economic recovery through consumer demand. A rising household saving rate means the Bank of England must instead look to exports to fuel growth. A spokesman for the Lloyds banking group which includes Bank of Scotland, Cheltenham and Gloucester, Birmingham Midshires, Lloyds TSB and Halifax, confirmed that the percentage of customers making regular overpayment on their mortgages has doubled compared to last year. With the average monthly overpayment within the group being around £350 pounds.

BSkyB has been named as Britain’s most admired company by City experts. The media giant, owner of Sky News is the youngest company ever to win Management Today’s top award.

Tesco came in at number two, with its chief executive Sir Terry Leahy retaining his most admired leader crown. BSkyB topped its sector in every one of the nine criteria decided upon and rated by industry peers and City analysts as well as winning the ‘quality of goods and services’, ‘quality of marketing’ and ‘capacity to innovate’ overall awards.

Online retail sales are expected to rise 14 percent to £5 billion this month, According to a recent study, almost three quarters of Britons will do more than half of their Christmas shopping on the Internet,.

A leading industry body specialising in global e-retail, forecast that Monday, December 7 would be the busiest online shopping day this year, with spending reaching £350 million. The survey also states that around 90 percent of consumers plan to buy at least some of their Christmas presents online this year.

The pound retreated strongly against the dollar and the Euro whilst rising against the Yen.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6528
• Pound/Euro 1.10975
• Pound/Japanese Yen 145.6191
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6537

The FTSE 100 has rebounded 51 percent from its low on March 3 amid government stimulus programs and record low- interest rates. The gauge fell 3.3 percent from Nov. 25 till the end of trading Thursday as Dubai World’s move to delay debt payments risked triggering the biggest sovereign default since 2001. The FTSE 100 closed on Thursday on 5313.00.

According to a recent survey, the US private sector job cuts narrowed in November for the eighth consecutive month, with less than 170,000 jobs being lost last month, 26,000 fewer than in October. The US services sector shed 81,000 jobs in November, up slightly on October, with fewer jobs being lost in the manufacturing sector. According to a spokesman for the Obama administration, since the beginning of the £473 billion jobs stimulus package, passed in February, it has saved or created more than one million jobs across the US. According to the latest US Labour Department figures, the unemployment rate in the US rose to 10.2% in October, and its highest rate since April 1983. Since the recession began in the US in December 2007, the number of unemployed has risen by 8.2 million, while the jobless rate has risen from 4.9%.

The Dow Jones index closed down 86.53 points, on 10,366.15 points, while the NASDAQ remained steady on 2173.14.

Bank of America has announced plans to repay the £27 billion US government bailout it received during the credit crisis of 2008 as well as after the purchase of Merrill Lynch earlier this year.

The move is designed to allow Bank of America to free itself from government restrictions, including executive pay limits that were a stipulation of granting the funds. The bank reported a $1 billion net loss for the three months from July to September, worse than had been expected, especially when compared to a net profit of around £2 billion in the previous quarter and around £1 billion in the same period of 2008.

financial

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Tags: Autorite des Marches Financiers, Bank, Bank of America, Bank of England, Banking, Birmingham Midshires, British Economy, British Pound, BskyB, Chelsea, Chelsea Building Society, Cheltenham and Gloucester, Currency, Dow Jones, Dubai World, Economics, Economy, Financial News, Financial Services Authority, FTSE, Halifax, Lloyds Banking Group, Lloyds TSB, Michel Prada, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Recession, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Terry Leahy, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tesco, Thomas Huertas, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Yorkshire Building Society

According to data released by the Halifax Building Society, property prices increased by more than one percent. Halifax, one of the UK’s leading building societies also reduced their forecast reduced how far they reckoned property values would fall in the remaining part of 2009. Their updated prediction is that house prices will fall by just seven percent in 2009.

Halifax stated hat prices had fallen by 0.8 per cent during the first seven months of 2009, with average house prices at £159,623 in July compared with £160,861 in December 2008. July house prices were 12.1 per cent lower than the same period in 2008, with the annual rate of change showing an improvement for the third consecutive month.

On a more sober note a recent report released by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has reiterated their well known standpoint that there is little chance of a quick return to a housing boom, despite the fact that UK prices may well rise in 2010, while standing firm on their forecast of a price fall of 10-15% this year amid a “considerable shift” in the market. Tight credit and job losses are the principal causes for limited transactions in 2009 and if they continue may still cause prices to slip back in 2010.

Despite their expected £4 billion loss in the first half of 2009, shares in Lloyds Banking Group surged by 11% due to mounting bad debts at HBOS. The only reason that analysts could come up with were that most of the bad news that the bank could dish up was now out in the open, and investors now had a clearer picture to build on.

Lloyds Banking Group, of which 43% is owned by UK taxpayers, announced that although they were still sitting on £13 billion of toxic loans and investments, such charges for bad loans would be smaller in the future.

Meanwhile it seems increasingly likely that the sale of the healthy parts of Northern Rock will be held off until after the general election. Alistair Darling, UK chancellor said he was in “no hurry” to offload the bank he nationalised in February 2008 after they announced reasonable half-year losses of around £700 million. The chancellor remains adamant that the rescue operation could still reap a profit for the taxpayer.

A recent study also shows that the pension-plan shortfalls of the U.K.’s top publicly traded companies more than doubled to an unprecedented 96 billion pounds in June.
The deficit of these companies all of whom are listed on the FTSE-100 Index with a 41 billion-pound shortfall in the same period last year, The signs are that employers are cutting back on pension benefits after the global financial crisis eroded profits and stock prices. Europe’s second-largest oil company, BP Plc, announced in June their intention to close its final salary pension plan to new U.K. workers, while Barclays Plc are asking their 18,000 employees to surrender similar benefits that the bank now claim to have become too costly.

Insurance group Legal & General have announced that they have succeeded in “considerably reducing” their losses in the first six months of the year, as well increasing their capital surplus. L&G claimed that the cuts were brought about by reduced workforce headcount, and closing down activities in less profitable business areas.
Despite the fact, the insurance group halved its interim dividend as it pressed ahead with a programme to save costs, causing their shares to drop in value by 5.6 per cent to 62 pence. , For the half year, Legal & General’s showed pre-tax losses decreased by 81 per cent to £74 million on revenues that slid 6 per cent to £3.1 billion.

Industry tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp announced losses of £2 billion in the financial year to the end of June. A year which Murdoch claimed to have been “their most difficult in recent history”.

The loss, largely due to $8.9 billion in write-downs already announced, compares with a $5.4 billion profit a year earlier.
Revenues at the media giant, owners BSkyB, 20th Century Fox and the Sun newspapers among many others, were down 7.8%.

It appears that ITV is set to sell Friends Reunited to DC Thomson, the Dundee-based publisher, for £25 million, less than four years after the company bought the social network for £170 million, a sum that included £50 million in performance-related bonuses.

The FTSE 100 reversed early gains to close down 24.24 points at 4,647.13.
Meanwhile the FTSE 250 continued to gain, climbing a further 23.57 points to close on 8,266.08

The pound continued its rise against the dollar as well as all the other major currencies on Wednesdays trading.

Pound/US dollar 1.7009
Pound/Euro 1.1799
Pound/Japanese Yen 161.1997
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.8028

As a result of ongoing controversies, the US Senate looks likely to push through their $2 billion extension of the “cash for clunkers” car subsidy programme before it breaks up for its August recess on Friday.

In a change of position from Monday, when senators from both parties expressed reluctance to follow the House of Representatives in extending the highly popular scheme the extension could be passed by the end of the week

Yesterday on Wall Street, the Dow Jones lost a lot of its previous days falling 39.22 points to 9280.97. The NASDAQ also crept back a little, down 18.26 points to close below the 2,000 mark on 1993.05

In the face of the global economic slump computer firm Cisco Systems have announced a fall in its quarterly profits by 46%, $1.1 billion compared with $2 billion for the same period a year earlier. Analysts, who had expected an even steeper decline, also were encouraged as was the company who announced that the quarter may have seen the last of the recession-related downturn.

Following the latest US weekly inventories data, US crude oil prices fell to $71.97 a barrel, after hitting a high of $74.89 in the previous session.
US crude stocks have risen to 1.7 million barrels.

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Tags: Alastair Darling, Barclays, BP, British Economy, Economics, Economy, Employment, Financial News, Halifax, Halifax International, Legal & General, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Mortgage, Mortgages, News Corp, Recession, UK Banks

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

The Halifax Building Society, now part of the Lloyds Banking Group UK announced an increase of around 2.5% in house prices for despite the fact that purchasing activity still remains lower than expected.

However encouragement can be taken from the fact that property prices did increase for the first time in three months, and the increase, although minor, eases the annual rate of decline to 16.3%, with the average UK home now valued at around £160,000.

Also on the rise are demand for workers in the service sector according to figures released by the highly respected Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply’s (CIPS). Their survey revealed that the services industry sector has begun to employ more people for the first time since the spring of 2008.

The UK service industry is the largest employer in the country, with more than 60% of the country’s employees earning their living in the sector, which covers catering, entertainment, sports and leisure. Signs of increased activity in this sector are yet another sign that the UK citizen has more cash in his pocket to spend on entertainment, yet another indication that the recession is slowly easing.

The signs of revival are yet to make their way to the care industry where figures show that sales of new cars in May were down by close to 25% on the same month last year, despite the considerable efforts made by Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson to boost sales of new cars by offering subsidized trade ins. The figures, issued by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), show that 134,858 new cars were registered in May.

On the Stock Exchange, partially state owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), saw their shares recover by 3.3 percent to 37.3 pence after they had fallen by more than 10 percent over the previous two days. Shares in the U.K.’s second-largest real estate investment trust, British Land, also took a turn for the better, rising d 2.9 percent to 376 pence. Land Securities Group Plc, also jumped by 2.2 percent to close the day on 486.5 pence.

Food retailers seemed to be doing well, with Sainsbury, Britain’s third-largest supermarket company climbing by 2.3 percent to 323.75 pence, while William Morrison Supermarkets Plc also climbed a more modest 1.2 percent to reach 250.5 pence, on the announcement of .first-quarter sales growth that exceeded expectations.

On expectations that the global economy will be able to absorb increases in the price of crude oil, Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, saw their shares rise by 0.7 percent to 1,674 pence. BP Plc also climbed 1.4 percent to 525.75 pence The FTSE 100 Index added 23.77 to close on 4,407.19 while the FTSE 250 closed on 7,660.07 down 8.12 points from Thursday.

With the current political uncertainty surrounding Gordon Brown playing no little part, the pound’s revival drew to a minor halt yesterday.
Pound/US dollar 1.6112
Pound/Euro 1.1373
Pound/Japanese Yen 156.4584
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7313

In the US retails sales showed a major downturn as the public seem to be making a major effort to cut spending despite the many attractive offers around.
Unfettered by political scandals and instead bolstered by President Obama’s impressive speech in Cairo, the Dow Jones returned to moving upwards, 74.96 points to 8750.24, while the Nasdaq followed suit up 24.1 points to close on 1850.02

Unemployment in Western Europe (the Eurozone) has reached its highest level for ten years. Taking into account seasonal adjustments, unemployment in the 16 country region rose to 9.2 percent in April, and an increase from 8.9 percent of the total labour force in March 2008.

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Tags: British Economy, Financial News, FTSE, Halifax, Halifax International, Lloyds Banking Group, Lord Mandelson, Royal Bank of Scotland, Shell

Halifax International has launched a new, informative Expat Focus website www.halifax-international-expats.com, designed to enable expatriates to access breaking news, up to date information and advice from one single source, wherever they are in the world.

Halifax International’s Expat Focus www.halifax-international-expats.com contains all the latest news and stories on emigrating abroad, employment and money management issues for expatriates.

Key features of www.halifax-international-expats.com include:

• Expat Centre – A section dedicated to Halifax International news, including expat case studies, latest press releases, survey results, product launch information and links to other useful websites covering important issues such as education, employment and social events.

• News Categories – All the latest news that is important, relevant and of interest to expatriates. This covers lifestyle issues, the property market, offshore banking, finance, taxation and
employment.

• Latest News – A source of up to date breaking news stories to keep expatriates abreast of any developments that are of interest to them.

• Burning questions – A question and answer section that enables expatriates to email questions to Halifax International’s experts, via the website. The questions and answers will be posted onto the site, where possible, to provide a source of information to others.

• Email bulletins – Expatriates can also sign up to get free monthly email bulletins that will provide them with information on any news as well as new Halifax International products and
services.

James Gairdner, managing director of Halifax International said,
“The new Halifax International Expat Focus website is an informative and interactive tool. Expats or anyone thinking of moving abroad can use the website to get a feel for life overseas and catch up on all the breaking news or views from the expat community from one single source.”

Halifax International is part of the Lloyds Banking Group
Tel: 01422 333829 Fax: 01422 333007
Website: http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media.asp

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Tags: Banking, Expat, expatriates, Halifax, Halifax International, Savings, UK Banks

Banks and buildings societies have silently slashed savings rates over the holidays, with many accounts returning a penny in the pound or 0.1% interest.

Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Abbey, Barclays, Alliance and Leicester, NatWest, Nationwide and Royal Bank of Scotland all reduced their rates on variable interest accounts.

Egg and Yorkshire Building Society have withdrawn fixed rate offers over the holidays.

Savers with £5,000 in a savings account paying 0.1% will pick up £50 interest per year – with £10 income tax deducted at source reducing the pay out to just £40.

“It’s bleak for all savers, and pensioners in particular,” said Ben Yearsley, an investment manager with advisory firm Hargreaves Lansdown. “We’ve reached a point where savings rates are lower than the rate of inflation.”

Individual Savings Account (ISA) rates are down too – as Halifax, Abbey, and Lloyds TSB have reduced cash ISA rates by 1%.

The Bank of England’s monthly interest rate setting meeting later this week is expected to lop at least a further 0.5% of rates, pushing the bank lending rate down to 1.5%, although some pundits believe the rate will follow the US cut to 1% or less.

Waterford Wedgewood goes in to administration

Waterford Wedgwood, the upmarket glassware and china maker, has gone in to administration after failing to secure new funding.

Famous for Waterford Crystal and Royal Doulton, the company has failed to raise up to £200m in fresh capital. Deloitte will be appointed as receiver and administrator.

Waterford Wedgwood employs about 1,000 people at Barlaston, Staffordshire, and 200 people at Waterford, Ireland. Wedgewood has traded for 250 years, but has had profits eroded by cheap imports and is one of the last in a long line of pottery firms to face trading problems in Staffordshire.

Principles, Karen Millen and Oasis cash fears

Fashion chains Oasis, Warehouse, Karen Millen and Principles, all owned by the Mosaic, are in dire straits over cash flow after poor Christmas trading.

Before Christmas, Mosaic made clear how bad the situation was for the group, which operates through more than 2,000 shops employing 13,000 staff. Mosaic is paying interest only on debts of more than £400 million to Icelandic investor Kaupthing. The company fears Kaupthing will call in the loan, giving them a controlling stake.

Kaupthing also has a major stake in Harrods owner and department store chain House of Fraser.

“It is the worst run-up to Christmas we have ever experienced. The likelihood is that there is too little time left for the majority of retailers to make up the shortfall from the past two months,” said a Mosaic spokesman.

Markets

On the first day of trading in the New Year, the FTSE 100 finished up 128.6 at 4561.8 from 4434.2 and in New York, the DOW gained 262.44 points to end the day at 9034.69 from 8772.25.

The pound was steady – up a cent from $1.45 to $1.46 against the US dollar and shifting from 1.032 to 1.047 against the Euro.

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For More information on specific Banks use these links

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

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Tags: Abbey, Alliance and Leicester, Bank, Barclays, Halifax, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide, NatWest, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Savings, UK Banks

Property sales are at their lowest level since 1978, according to the latest figures from the Royal Society of Chartered Surveyors.

Estate agents all over the UK reported property sales down for November – with most selling only 10 properties in the three-month period leading up to the survey – that works out at less than one a week..

Most estate agents reported having large numbers of houses for sale on their books – and the good news that 14% more prospective buyers signing up this quarter than last.

Sales were double the rate at the start of 2008, before the credit crunch started to drive prices down due to buyers facing difficulties in raising mortgages.

“Many are starting to see the current market as an opportunity to purchase a previously unaffordable property despite the worsening economic picture,” said RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf.

“Unless people feel relatively confident about their job prospects, they’re unlikely to even try to obtain mortgage finance unless of course trading down or seeking to release capital.”

“Sellers still have to accept the inevitable fact that house prices are falling and re-price their property to suit current market conditions.”

“The rise in interest reflects both the drop in asking prices and recent cuts in interest rates.”

The lowest level of sales in the past three months was in London, with just seven homes per estate agent, followed by Wales and East Anglia.

With sales still slumping there has been a continued downward pressure on prices.

RICS found that 76.5% more of its members had seen prices fall locally than rise, only slightly better than the previous months’ negative balance of 81%.

Both the Nationwide and Halifax, two of the UK’s largest mortgage lenders have also recently reported falling house prices in November. The Nationwide index showed prices down at 0.4% and the Halifax down at 2.6%. The variance is due to different sampling methods.

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For More information on specific Banks use these links

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

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Tags: Credit Crunch, Halifax, Jeremy Leaf, Nationwide, Property Markets, Property Prices, RICS

Savers with large amounts of cash on deposit should take action now to protect their money as the credit crunch threatens to sink more banks.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) underwrites a £35,000 per person per bank repayment guarantee in the event of a crisis.

On the face of it, the FSCS pays out if savers have up to £35,000 squirreled away in a savings account – but rules for receiving compensation are not as straightforward as they seem.

Reading the small print reveals the rules actually say that if a saver has up to £35,000 on deposit in any number of accounts at the same bank, only the first £35,000 of the total amount is protected

Those at particular risk are savers with personal, partnership and business accounts with the same banking groups

FSCS is triggered if a bank, building society or credit union cannot settle or is unlikely to settle claims from savers – providing the institution is authorised under a banking licence in the UK.

The problem is many banks are groups operating on one licence, and although savers may feel their money is safe, they are at real risk of losing a lot of money if the banking group collapses.

In the current dog-eat-dog world of banking, a saver may unwittingly have cash outside FSCS due to a take-over or merger, even though they may know about the scheme’s shortcomings and have already taken action to protect their cash.

Here’s a list of the main banks and financial institution groups that operate under umbrella licenses:

· LloydsTSB, The AA, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Birmingham Midshires, Intelligent Finance, Saga, Cheltenham and Gloucester

· Nationwide, Cheshire and Derbyshire Building Societies

· Barclays and the Woolwich

· Royal Bank of Scotland and Direct Line

· Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank

· The Post Office and Bank of Ireland

· Co-op and Smile

· Abbey, Cahoot, Alliance and Leicester and Bradford and Bingley savings accounts

Under FSCS rules, if you have more than £35,000 in a single name or joint names in any of these groups, then disperse the money straight away in to sums of less than £35,000 at banks and building societies operating under separate licenses.

Most other big players like HSBC hold individual banking licenses.

Keep an eye on any cash you may have with the Alliance and Leicester – the Abbey recently swallowed the bank and at the moment they are trading on separate licenses, but this may change at short notice.

The FSCS raises money for compensation from a levy paid by member financial institutions.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has hinted that the £35,000 FSCS limit may go up to £50,000 in the near future.

Banks outside the UK

By law, overseas financial institutions should request Financial Services Authority permission before they open for business in the UK.

Many of these firms are not covered by the FSCS and savers should carefully check the firm’s terms and conditions before depositing money, however good the deal may seem.

The Post Office bank looks a good safe bet for savers as trading is under the same licence as the Bank of Ireland. The Irish government has recently announced all Irish banks are covered by a 100% compensation guarantee.

 

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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: Abbey, Alliance and Leicester, Bank of Ireland, Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Birmingham Midshires, Bradford and Bingley, Cahoot, Cheltenham and Gloucester, Cheshire, Clydesdale, Co-op, Derbyshire Building Societies, Direct Line, Halifax, Intelligent Finance, LloydsTSB, Nationwide, Recession, Royal Bank of Scotland, Saga, Savings, savings accounts, Smile, The AA, The Post Office, the Woolwich, Yorkshire Bank