Recent research has show that close to 50 million pounds was paid out shareholders in the form of dividends, in many cases just a few days before the end of the tax year on April 6. Experts believe that many UK companies are employing this tactic as a means to help some of their big-income employees who are also shareholders to avoid the rise in the rate of income tax. If this is the case, it could cost the Treasury as much as £85 million pounds. Analysts estimate that the main "offenders" are directors in small to medium sized companies who want to minimise the effect of the soon to be effective 50 percent tax rate, due to their greater flexibility over returns.

A rise in UK retail sales, albeit a minor one has been reported for March by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) According to the ONS, retail sales volumes during the month grew by 0.4% from February, which is less than the 0.6% analysts had expected. Sales improved in February after a very poor January, report with retail sales being hard hit by the icy weather.

Overall, sales volumes during the first quarter of 2010 were reported to be down 1.7% from the equivalent quarter of last year.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced a series of proposals to toughen performance targets in its executive pay scheme. The announcement from RBS chairman Philip Hampton signals a key trigger point for RBS’s long-term incentive plan, which is to be revised upwards. Under the existing incentive plan bank executives gain a significant proportion of performance-linked rewards when the bank’s share price hits 50 pence. RBS shares are currently well over the fifty pence mark.

HSBC are reports to be on the look out for bankers to help them direct any industry-wide bank levy into government-sponsored venture capital agencies. The bank has toured Europe seeking support from colleagues in the industry for their plan to alter the terms of the ongoing debate about bank regulation. HSBC proposals include varying the capital buffers banks are required to hold, dependant on economic conditions. The bank’s argument is that banks need to hold higher capital in good times to absorb losses when conditions decline.

In an effort to strengthen confidence in its brand before a proposed launch onto the UK high street, the Bank of Ireland (BoI) that would have a spate and UK based board of directors. The UK move would also see BoI, which has operated in the UK in a partnership with Post Office since 2004, being regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Although the group has operated in the UK in various formats since the mid nineteen seventies, till now their operations have always been overseen by the Irish Financial Regulator, with customers protected through Ireland’s deposit guarantee scheme. In the meantime BoI have announced plans to raise £2.9 billion through a rights issue and private placing, in order to finance the expansion and meet its capital needs. The bank is in need to aid its recovery from the financial crisis due to the crash in the Eire economy which has been one of hardest hit, but has now emerged from what was one of Europe’s worst recessions. Irish lenders were particularly hit hard by the housing market crash, which saw billions of Euros-worth of home loans go bad.

UK Coal, Britain’s largest coal mining company, has announced 2009 losses of almost £130 million in what it describes as “an extremely challenging year for the group”.

Total demand fell to 7 million tonnes from 7.9 million in 2008, while the Group’s financial results revealed a pre-tax loss of £129.1 million, compared to a minor loss (£15.6 million) the previous year.

A spokesman for UK Coal commented that while the financial results for 2009 were poor, new contracts and developments to their property portfolio look set to help boost profitability in 2010, with the Group planning to disposal of land for agricultural use expected to help reduce its debt.

As the largest producer of coal in the country, last year UK Coal mined 15% of the total amount of coal burned in the UK.

For the third time in six months mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse have raised their full-year profit forecast.

A company spokesman has no predicted that they expect net profits for the year to the end of March to be around the £47 million mark, considerably more than the £40 million to £45 million predicted at the beginning of the year.

Strong growth due to the joint venture with US group Best Buy, cost cutting and strong sales of smart-phones were said to be the principal factors behind the profit growth.

Uncertainty regarding the Euro pushed Sterling up against the dollar while the Euro fell. The pound closed on $1.5263 and €1.580

On the FTSE, stocks plunged at the fasted rate for one day for five months after the economies of both Greece and Portugal were downgraded spurring concern that these heavily in debt European nations are moving closer to default. The index sank 150.33 to 5,603.52, its biggest drop since late November 2009.

Greece has become the first eurozone member to have its debt downgraded to junk level, while Portugal’s debt was also lowered on fears of "contagion", adding to the markets’ rout and a fall in the euro. The German government immediately came out with a statement that it would not "let Greece fall", and there were signs that an aid package could be increased.

Profits at oil giant BP have more than doubled from a year ago on the back of rising oil prices.

Profit for January to March was £3.6 billion, ($5.6 billion) compared with the around £1.45 for the first quarter of 2009 – a 135% rise.

The profit figure is also up on the profit made in the last three months of 2009.

BP has benefited from rising global oil prices, which averaged $76 a barrel in the first three months of 2010, compared to an average of $41 a barrel a year ago.

On the news of Greece’s possible default, shares on Wall Street fell sharply. The Dow Jones dropped 213.04 points to 10991, 99 while NASDAQ fell 51.48 points to 2471.47.

Car giant Ford has reported net income of $2.1 billion for the first three months of 2010, its highest quarterly profit for six years, and cancels out a a loss of $1.43 billion for the same period in 2009.

A spokesman for the company said the result was down to a recovering economy, which meant people were again beginning to buy expensive, one-off items.

Ford also predicted that it will remain in profit every quarter this year.

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Tags: Bank, Bank of Ireland, Banking, BP, British Economy, Carphone Warehouse, Dow Jones, Economy, Employment, Financial News, Ford, FTSE, HSBC, income tax, Irish Financial Regulator, Money, NASDAQ, Office for National Statistics, Post Office, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Stocks and shares, Tax, UK Banks, UK Coal, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession

A recent report has stated that UK House prices have raised by more than 0.7 % (£3,000), while updates forecasts show that annual property inflation is due to slow down from the current rate of 9%. The increase more or less cancels the 0.8% fall in February.

The average UK property is now valued at £164,519, £16,773 more than the in February 2009, which was the low point in the recent property value slump In from the worst recession since World War II.

In last week’s budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling scrapped a tax on house purchases for first-time buyers spending £250,000 pounds or less. The tax previously started at 1 percent for properties costing more than £125,000 pounds. The policy will mean nine in 10 first-time buyers will avoid the levy, according to government forecasts. Signs of increased demand is recent mortgage approval figures s released that show that almost 60.000 new mortgages were approved in February, more than double those approved at the at the trough of the financial crisis in November 2008, and less than half the 120,000 reading at the peak of the boom.

The Bank of England said net mortgage lending for February 2010 rose by £1.6 billion pounds, the most since December 2008.

In addition, figures recently released show that UK households added to their unsecured debts in February, with net consumer credit rising by £528 million pounds, a significant increase on economist’s predictions of a £400 million-pound increase. Credit-card lending increased by £374 million, while personal loans and overdrafts increased by £154 million.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have been fined £28.6 million for breaking competition law in the first big case brought against a financial services company, potentially exposing the part-nationalised bank to lawsuits from clients. RBS admitted staff involved in making loans to big law and accounting firms had illegally given pricing data to counterparts at Barclays. Barclays reportedly escaped being penalised because it voluntarily disclosed its part in the affair to the Office of Fair Trading.

Desire Petroleum, the British company who are drilling for oil off the Falkland islands have seen their shares halve in value , after they revealed the existing supply may not be commercially viable.

In a statement on their Web site, Desire stated that "oil may be present in thin intervals, but the reservoir quality is poor."

Desire will release the final results of its 30-day test drilling operation in the South Atlantic archipelago on Wednesday. According to the company it may have to drill deeper to find greater quantities of oil and gas.

Desire estimated that the North Falkland Basin could contain 3.5 billion barrels of oil as well as having "significant gas potential."

Potential revenues from oil and gas reignited have already re-ignited a long-running dispute between London and Buenos Aires over ownership of the Falklands.

Leasing UK high street banking groups, Banco Santander SA and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc are reported to be in advanced talks with the U.K. government over allowing their client’s access to their bank accounts through Britain’s 11,500 Post Offices. According to a recent statement, the negotiations are part of a package of measures intended to breathe life back into the Post Office network. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson is about to announce another series of measures, including allowing consumers to open a Post Office current account, issue mortgages for up to 90 percent of a property’s value. Another revolutionary proposal will be subsidised savings accounts for people on low incomes. If Mandelson’s proposal bears fruit, it means that the government will add 50 pence for every pound saved.

Mandelson was reported to have said that the Post Office is a well-loved community institution. "This move will bring more banking services back to the heart of those communities.” He concluded.

Nowadays, with pensions and benefits being paid directly into bank accounts, and services including car licensing have gone online. Falling revenue has seen the number of U.K. Post Office branches declined from 25,000 in their peak during the 1960s.

U.K. publisher Daily Mail & General Trust PLC have announced their predictions that first-half operating profit will be up sharply for the last six months trading figures. They state that the increase is due primarily to improvements within its consumer businesses, but it remains cautious about the second half of the year given the political uncertainty in the U.K. ahead of the imminent general election. The Daily Mail and the Sunday Mail newspapers reported an 8% rise in underlying advertising revenues at Associated Newspapers for the six months period.

The pound was little changed at $1.5079 while the Euro rose on increased optimism on the Greek situation to €1.1249.

The FTSE 100 index dropped again on trading, finishing down 31 points to 5,672.32

The Dow Jones industrial average ended at a fresh 18-month high and the rest of the market churned Tuesday as investors weighed a rise in consumer confidence, more weakness in the housing market and a stronger dollar.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 11 points, or 0.1%, closing at 10,907.42, the highest finish since 11,143.13 on Sept. 26, 2008. The NASDAQ composite also added 6 points to close on 2410.69.

The Irish government are expected to inject a further €8.3 billion Euros (£7.4 billion, $9.9 billion) into the nationalised Anglo Irish Bank.

A spokesperson for the Irish Finance Ministry revealed that pumping in more money was the" best of a series of bad options". Although both Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland will attempt to raise funding from private investors, it appears more likely that Allied Irish Banks will also require taxpayer support,

This second bailout follows the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank last year.

The Irish government also owns 25% and 16% stakes in Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland respectively

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Tags: Alistair Darling, Anglo Irish Bank, Banco Santander SA, Bank, Bank of England, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Budget, Credit Crunch, Desire Petroleum, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, General Trust PLC, House Prices, Inflation, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Peter Mandelson, Post Office, Recession, Royal Bank of Scotland, Savings, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, The Daily Mail, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Wall Street

City minister Lord Myners, in a recent speech played down suggestions that Britain might follow in US President Barack Obama’s footsteps in introducing radical reforms to the UK banking system.

Myners stated that the UK had already taken sufficient measures to address the problems in its banking industry.

"President Obama came out with a solution to the idiosyncratic problems that he sees in the American banking system, based particularly around the investment banking" pointed out Milner "It’s worth remembering that proprietary trading, hedge funds, private equity, these were not at the heart of the difficulties that Northern Rock, or Royal Bank of Scotland or HBOS experienced." He summed up.

Alistair Darling, UK chancellor, was also reported to be against duplicating Obama’s moves to split commercial and investment banks.

Meanwhile U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to announce details of the release of £125 million pounds of venture capital aimed towards "low-carbon" businesses. The move is aimed to support his argument that the government should continue spending to bolster the UK economy.

The first slice of money from the Innovation Investment Fund will be released on Jan. 26th, according to an announcement on the prime minister’s official Web site.

“On Tuesday our new innovation investment fund will show our commitment to the industries and the technologies that will create the skilled jobs of the future,” Brown promised. “What is increasingly clear is that determined and active government can and does make a difference.” He continued

Public sector borrowing for December in the UK was lower than forecast,, However the government’s hopes of meeting its deficit target for the fiscal year still remain dependent on January’s tax receipts. However tax income for January, which is a key month for self-assessment, capital gains and corporation tax income, is expected to be down. This is due to reduced income and capital gains for 2008-09, when the UK economy was in the midst of recession. On a positive note UK financial analysts have pointed to the fact that recent receipts were stronger than predicted, with December’s income only 0.4 percent down on the previous year, favourable when compared with the average of 8.1 percent decline for 2009.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) plans to sell its U.S. trading business for $2 billion to JPMorgan could be in doubt following President Obama’s recent ban on banks trading on their own account. RBS has been urgently trying to complete the sale of their a 50 per cent stake in RBS Sempra Commodities, by the end of next week which would have been bound to create a much more positive view of their annual results due to be released by Feb. 25th. On the news of the positive standoff, RBS, saw their shares fall 0.64 pence to 34.68 pence

Northern Rock and the Post Office have announced cuts to their mortgage rates believed to be in response to Skipton Building Society’s shock increase to its standard variable rate, which rose from 3.5 per cent to 4.95 per cent. A spokesman for the Skipton quoted "exceptional circumstances" had forced them to renege on promises that their lending rate would not rise more than three per cent above the Bank of England base rate.

The first two British banks to come under state control are looking increasingly likely to be merged, in a controversial change of direction by the EU in Brussels. The EU is apparently on the verge of approving the state aid package that Bradford & Bingley received from British taxpayers, opening the door for their buy-to-let mortgage book to be merged with Northern Rock’s so-called ‘toxic bank’. The merger, which UK government officials have been working on for several months, comes in the wake of public pressure to remove some of Northern Rock’s taxpayer-funded benefits, including the customer savings guarantees held in the "good of non toxic "part of the bank.

British Airways has issued some fairly heavy threats to their cabin crew who are threatening strike action. If they do so they stand to lose some of the traditional perks of the job, and on a permanent basis. These include the ability to book standby flights for themselves and nominated friends or family at a 90% discount , as well as the standard of hotels that crew are put up in overnight while they are away would be substantially reduced.

The airline says a strike would have serious financial implications leaving them with no option but to cut staff benefits.

British Telecom, in a move to woo broadband customers from rival operators, has unveiled an aggressive pricing strategy. The fixed-line telephone company is to offer consumers high-speed broadband based on optical fibre for £20 pounds, eight pounds cheaper than a comparable service offered by Virgin Media. An executive at BT’s retail unit, announced that the company goal is to attract "customers to come back to BT for all their services." BT’s optical fibre broadband will be predominantly based in towns and cities, and is expected to be capable of servicing more than 40 percent of UK homes by mid-2012.

According to BSkyB their High Definition marketing campaign was a Christmas marketing hit will full details due to be revealed in their forthcoming half year results due to be released this week. The results are expected to show that capitalising on the stay at home ethos typical of a recession was a shrewd move, with Sky offering a free HD box for customers who signed up for their film channels. City analysts are expecting the company to produce strong results, with turnover up by an estimated £2.8 billion, and a customer base up by around 300,000 new HD subscribers.

The fast food chain McDonalds are looking to create 5,000 new jobs in the UK in 2010 after seeing an 11 percent rise in sales over 2009. McDonalds currently operate close to 1200 outlets in the UK. The new jobs would come from the opening of up to 15 new branches in 2010 and the extension of opening hours in existing outlets. The UK jobs being created would take McDonald’s workforce to 85,000 in this country. A spokesman for the company announced that McDonald’s had increased UK like-for-like sales by 30 percent over the last four years.

Triumph, the UK motorcycle maker have announced an amazing upsurge in interest in their product with new bike sales for Triumph were up 26 per cent in 2009, at 7,450. This means that the company outperformed industry leader, the Japanese Kawasaki company for the first time since the early 1980s. Triumph has now captured 13 per cent of the British market and in the past year witnessed their global market share rise from 3.3 per cent to 4.4 per cent. Turnover in 2009 increased seven per cent to £304 million.

Sterling fell slightly against the dollar and the Europe before the weekend. The pound closed at 1.6118 against the dollar, with the Euro being traded at 1.1404

Shares in the FTSE 100 recovered some of their earlier falls closing on

Friday down by 0.6% at 5,302.99, Fears that the US President’s sweeping reforms would affect UK banks were seeing to recede.

In the US stock markets tumbled for a second consecutive day, over continued concern over President Obama’s plan to revamp the US banking industry.

The Dow Jones plunged by 216 points, to close at 10172.98, while the NASDAQ fell by 60 points, to finish at 2205.29.

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Tags: Alistair Darling, Bank of England, Barack Obama, Bradford & Bingley, British airways, British Telecom, BskyB, Dow Jones, FTSE, Gordon Brown, HBos, Innovation Investment Fund, JPMorgan, Kawasaki, Lord Myners, McDonalds, NASDAQ, Northern Rock, Post Office, RBS Sempra Commodities, Royal Bank of Scotland, Skipton Building Society, UK Economy, UK government, Virgin Media

Poor Exchange Rate Maths Costs UK Travellers £288 Million
More than a third of adults are unable to convert currency 44 per cent don’t work out how much things cost when shopping abroad Countdown maths expert, Rachel Riley, provides currency conversion tips and calculations

More than a third of UK adults (38 per cent) are unable to convert popular currencies into sterling1 and are losing out on a staggering £288 million2 a year on holiday as a result.

Despite household budgets being squeezed, a new report3 by the Post Office® reveals that 44 per cent of people don’t work out how much things actually cost when they are abroad and one in three people (27 per cent) go over budget when they travel.

Such is our dislike for exchange rate maths, one in five people (17 per cent) prefer holidaying in places where they understand the currency, and nearly 1.5 million people actually avoid places with unfamiliar currency because they find it too confusing and stressful to work out how much they are spending.

Despite Turkey’s growing popularity as a holiday destination, the Turkish lira topped the list of confusing currencies, 49 per cent of people were unable to convert it into sterling. And a surprising number of people struggled to convert the most popular and widely used currencies – 35 per cent did not convert US dollars accurately and 26 per cent struggled with the euro.

Rachel Riley, Countdown’s new resident maths expert said: “Working out how much things cost on holiday doesn’t have to be time consuming or confusing.
To help avoid overspending, make a note of the exchange rate when you buy your currency and use my easy to remember formulae for working out some of the most popular currencies.

“It’s not always practical to carry a calculator around but most mobile phones have calculator functions, so make the most of this, particularly if buying expensive items, and work out how much you are spending before you purchase.”

Rachel Riley’s Currency Conversion Formulae (based on rates XX June 2009)

Currency | Method | Formula
—————-+——————————+———————————-
Euro | The current euro exchange | Take One Tenth Off For Sterling
| rate is around 1.09 so the |
| easiest way to work this |
| out in pounds is to take |
| away 1/10 of the price in |
| euros. |
—————-+——————————+———————————-
US dollar | For current US dollar | Double Dollars Then Take A T
| exchange rate is 1.56 so | hird
| doubling the number of |
| dollars and dividing by 3 |
| gets you to sterling. |
—————-+——————————+———————————-
Turkish lira | For the Turkish Lira it is | Lira Times Two Times Two, Then
| around 2.4 which is | Divide By Ten
| approximately multiplying |
| by 4 (or doubling twice) |
| and then dividing by 10. |
—————-+——————————+———————————-
Thai baht | For Thai baht it’s 51.8 to | Doubling Your Baht Equals Price
| the pound so doubling this | In Pennies!
| is approximately the price |
| in pence. |
—————-+——————————+———————————-
Egyptian | The Egyptian pound is 8.2 | Halve Once, Twice,Thrice,In,E
pound | to the British pound so | gypt!
| halving the number of |
| Egyptian pounds 3 times is |
| the easiest way to work |
| that out. |

Sarah Munro, head of Post Office Travel Services added: “At a time where budgets are being stretched, it’s more important than ever to keep a reign on holiday spending. To make the most of your pound make sure you do your research before you go. Check out the exchange rate and do some research to find out how much things basic staples like drinks and suncream will cost when you get there.

Sarah continued: “Make sure you buy commission-free currency in advance and avoid purchasing it at airports where you won’t get the best rates and can be charged through the nose in commission; recent research shows that we waste £20 million a year by purchasing money at airports4. It is also advisable not to withdraw money abroad at ATMs as you will be charged and it can be difficult to keep tabs on your spending.”

Top Tips from Rachel Riley and the Post Office for budgeting on holiday:

Make a note of the exchange rate – it sounds simple but many of us change our money and then forget the rate we bought it at. Keep a note in your purse or wallet and use this as your reference when working out how much things cost. Write the equivalents for £1, £5, £10 and so on and use as a rough reference guide Use your phone – make the most of the portable calculator that most of us have in our mobile phones, if you are struggling to work something out, you can do it quickly on your phone. For those who want something more advanced, you can buy special currency converters and calculators

Don’t pay in sterling– don’t be tempted to pay in sterling on your card or in cash as shops and restaurants can charge their own exchange rate which is unlikely to be competitive. You can also get stung by added fees of up to 4 per cent. Bartering – in lots of popular destinations like Turkey and Morocco, bartering is part of the culture. Do your research before you go and if you’re going somewhere where bartering is acceptable, don’t be afraid to offer the merchant the price that you are willing to pay Try a pre-paid travel card – pre-paid cards like the Post Office Travel Money Card enable you to load your card with currency when the exchange rate is good. You can then use this as you would your bank card and it helps act as your own budgeting tool to ensure you don’t spend more than you have loaded onto the card. The Travel Money Card is completely separate from your bank account too so it’s a secure way of taking money abroad.

Over 1,600 Post Office bureau de change branches offer the most widely requested European currencies on demand (except the Hungarian forint and Estonian kroon, which can be pre-ordered).

All currencies can be pre-ordered for next day branch collection at all 11,500 Post Office outlets or online at postoffice.co.uk. Home delivery can also be requested online. Travellers to the eurozone can obtain euro currency over the counter at more than 8,000 Post Office branches.

1 Respondents were asked to convert euro, US dollar, Egyptian pound, Thai baht and Turkish lira into pound sterling
2 Figure based on the finding that 25 per cent of the population over-spends on holiday through miscalculating prices by an average of £24 3All research unless stated otherwise is from Opinium Research. Opinium Research carried out an online poll of 2,022 British adults from Friday 12th to Tuesday 16th June 2009. Results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria. www.opinium.co.uk 4With an estimated 2.6 million UK airport transactions made annually, the volume of euro transactions was based on 80 per cent of outbound travel being to Europe, cross-referenced with the Post Office’s own statistics which show that euro sales account for 70 per cent of currency purchases.

That lower figures of 70 per cent was therefore used to calculate euro wastage. The figure of £20, 329,400 was calculated by combining the minimum commission charge of £3 with the difference between the euro exchange rate in UK airports and that at Post Office branches. An individual wastage of £11.17 per transaction was multiplied by 1.82m transactions (70 per cent of total transactions of 2.6m). The exchange rate differential was calculated by taking the mean average from cost comparisons at eight UK airports on three separate days.

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Tags: British Pound, Economy, Exchange rate, Financial News, Money, Post Office, The Post Office, Travel, Travel Money Card

• Young people believe UK living standards won’t recover for a decade
• Next generation to reform borrowing habits

Young people look set to bear the scars of the current recession for years to come judging by their pessimistic outlook for economic recovery, new research published today by Post Office Financial Services reveals.

However, having been forced to learn financial lessons the hard way, the next generation of adults believe they are far more likely to take on a more responsible approach to credit and spending.

Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of 18 to 24 year-olds believe that living standards will take over a decade to return to pre-recession levels. A further third (34 per cent) predict that economic recovery is more than five years away.

These results reveal a younger generation more pessimistic about the timescale for economic recovery than any other age group. By contrast, just five per cent of 45-54 year-olds thought that recession would last longer than a decade; perhaps indicative of those who have lived through the last recession feeling more optimistic about recovery from the current downturn.

Credit-crunched young people have also learned some serious financial lessons as a result of the recession, and to a much greater extent than in older age groups. This is particularly apparent when it comes to borrowing:
· Half of young people (48 per cent) believe they will reduce their usage of credit as a result of the crunch
· This trend is less apparent among older age groups, with a significantly lower 28 per cent of 35-44 year-olds planning to reform their use of credit

Doug Strachan, head of consumer insight at Post Office Financial Services said: “These findings demonstrate that the recession is already causing a marked change in the attitudes and the potential behaviour of the younger generation in particular.

“Younger age groups have only ever known relative economic good times during their adult lives, so the change in economic climate is therefore likely to hit these groups the hardest, contributing to this overwhelming sense of pessimism. One positive result of this appears to be indications of a desire to change financial habits drastically in the long term.”

The credit crunch has also impacted young adults (18-24s) in the following ways:
· More than twice as likely to have borrowed money from a friend (12 per cent) than older age groups;
· 11 per cent cite the decision to put off getting married or starting a family as a direct result of the current economic climate, more than twice the level of any other age group;
· Their greatest fear is the risk of losing their job, this is in line with older age groups; for a third (32 per cent) losing their job is something they are extremely concerned about. Overall, 70 per cent of under-24s are concerned about becoming unemployed.

Notes to Editors:

For further information or additional data from the Post Office Financial Services People’s Panel, please contact:

Blue Rubicon Post Office Press Office
Helen Searle/ Kate Cozens Hayley Fowell
020 7260 2700 020 7250 2417
helen.searle@bluerubicon.com  hayley.fowell@royalmail.com
kate.cozens@bluerubicon.com

About the Post Office Financial Services People’s Panel:

Research conducted by T-Poll on behalf of the Post Office People’s Panel during late March 2009. A nationally representative sample of the UK was used. In total, 1,541 consumers were surveyed online.

Research conducted by T-Poll on behalf of the Post Office People’s Panel during September 2008. A nationally representative sample of the UK was used. In total, 1,984 consumers were surveyed online.

The Post Office Panel is a specially recruited group of consumers, nearly all of whom are Post Office customers. They provide regular and in-depth consumer insight into spending patterns and trends within the UK to the Post Office. The Post Office Panel is comprised, in part, of some of the 24 million customers who use the Post Office each week and reflects every social demographic within the UK, as Post Office customers do.

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Tags: Financial News, Post Office, Savings, The Post Office

With all the talk of toxic banks, recessions, Bernard Madoff and negative inflation, it is no wonder that that intrepid sector of the UK population who actually have some savings are looking for a safe and steady haven to deposit their savings, having given up hope of earning any interest from the money over the next few years. And the answer could lie right under their nose, and it has been there for years; the friendly post office. Experts now agree that local post offices could well become the UK’s most high-profile bank, with a network of branches in every town and just about every community in the UK

A conclusion is rapidly being reached among leading financial experts that the UK Government, instead of rushing to close Post Office branches should be looking to strengthen them. Instead of ploughing billions into stoking up the coffers of the major banks, they should set aside the comparatively minor amount that would be required to promote the interest of the Post Office’s banking division.

Coming in the wake of the interim findings of a House of Commons committee, that shows that Government ministers continue to be positive and even enthusiastic on finding means to promote the interests of the Post Office and not only protect the remaining network but also find ways to expand it in the future.

The committee is expected to announce that although many of branches of the Post Office are lacking in proper management, operating using less than advanced technology and have suffered from a serious and long term investment program, the public at large seem to have retained trust and loyalty for their friendly post office and might well be more comfortable in depositing their savings there.

Issues such as the Royal Mail’s pension deficit of around £7billion pounds fades in comparison to the ” bottomless pit” that could run into the hundred million mark that the major banking groups will require to survive over the coming years.

Another problem that the Post Office banks are facing is that more than a half a million account holders have lost their savings cover, under the UK protection scheme. They were informed by mail that their savings were no longer covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, with it instead being covered by the Irish Deposit Protection Scheme.

The Post Office’s financial products have worked in tandem the Bank of Ireland for a number of years, and with their nationalisation the cover can no longer be provide. It is expected that the UK Government may need to intervene to solve the problem.

A sign of the faith that the British public still retains in the Post Office as a whole is a recent statement from the Commission for Rural Communities stating: “There may be scope for enhancing banking services and credit availability by making more use of the Post Office - perhaps by the Government working directly with the Co-operative Bank as well as others to increase lending in rural areas.”

Is it back to the future for UK’s Post Office banking system?

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Tags: Accounts, Bank, Banking, British Economy, Credit Crunch, Economics, Finance, Financial News, Post Office, Savings, UK Banks, UK Recession