According to information released by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) it looks increasingly likely that further price increases in the domestic property market may be put on hold, as more properties continue to come on to the market. RICS announced that in February more instructions to sell came on the market than enquiries to buy, making for the second month in a row that this has happened. Analysts have always speculated that

The rise in house prices during 2009 has been because there was a shortage of both new and second hand properties for sale. In spite of the rise in volumes, however, the average price paid for private homes during the year fell 9 per cent to £166,000.

That well known bearer of bad news and inaccurate predictions the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) have come up with another winner. This time they suggest that the cash-strapped U.K. government should aim to balance its budget two years earlier than currently planned. The CBI say that such a move would go a long way to calming investor fears that Britain could lose its top-notch credit rating. They have yet to come up with suggestions of how Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling or whoever is lucky enough to replace him should go about this mammoth task, although the traditional spending cuts and reforms to public services were mentioned rather than tax increases.

In the last few weeks, newspaper polls continue to point in the direction of a coalition government for Britain in the coming elections. This will mean the first minority government since 1974, and those who remember that far back, don’t recall it as a particularly pleasant experience.

It appears that the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has their feet more firmly on the ground than some of the other public bodies. They have proved it once again by suggesting that the UK government reduce their economic growth target for 2011 from 2.3 percent down to 2.1 percent. At same time, the BCC issued a strongly worded suggestion to the government to abandon proposals to raise national insurance. To complete a cheery picture, the UK trade organisation also suggested that the UK government should rapidly address public sector pensions as well as taking a close look at public sector levels to make any progress on tackling the UK’s ever increasing budget deficit.

One of the biggest clouds hanging over the future of the Royal Mail service has finally been lifted after an agreement was reached with postal workers which means that they could be eligible to salary increase of around seven percent over the next three years, as well as a more stable job security. In return for these favours, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) need to promise to cooperate in structural changes to the organisation that will eventually transform it .

The deal, which is still to be accepted in a ballot vote by CWU members, is designed to avert the threat of further union disruption and give the green light for the Royal Mail to proceed with their proposed £2 billion modernisation programme. With their union troubles hopefully behind them, the stage will be set for Royal Mail to face some of their other challenges, including revaluating their pension fund deficit, which currently stand as £3.4 billion to at least three times that sum.

The company that manages the Channel Tunnel, the aptly named Eurotunnel, announce that they had succeed in making a £1.3 million last year, despite the effects of the "poor economic environment" as well as one or two setbacks that they experienced in 2009, which they must hope will be one-offs. These included the tunnel being closed after the fire in late 2008, not returning to normal levels until February of last year, as well as the heavy snow that made it impassible in December of 2009.

There is a buzz in the city that states that Northern Rock are about to announce multi-million pound losses in 2009, and for the third year running, Pre-tax losses are expected to be around 400 million pounds, meaning that . The bank has made losses totaling of £2 billion since being bailed out by the UK government in 2007.

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Money, who at one time were said to be interest in acquiring Northern Rock, and are to launch themselves as a retail bank later this year, have come with a fairly innovative new proposal for potential customers. The proposal we that Virgin Bank will charge a fixed monthly fee for current account customers, payable in advance. A spokesman for the company did hasten to point out that the fees will be low and will replace high overdraft charges.

Virgin Money’s launch comes at a time when consumers have lost confidence in existing High Street banks and Virgin’s high profile as a high street trader who gets things done.

Another major UK retailer, supermarket giant Tesco are also set to expand into the banking industry, already offering credit cards, savings accounts and insurance via its Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) brand through their in-store banks.

In the meantime, supermarket chain WM Morrison are expected to report a 16 percent increase of their in full-year pre-tax profit for 2009 to £757 million when its results are announced on Thursday. Sales are expected to have risen to £15.5 billion. The supermarket’s increased penetration in the south of England has led to industry-beating sales growth and large gains in market share.

Money markets continued to be unfavourable for Sterling with the pound closing yesterday on $1.499 while also falling against the Euro on €1.1028.

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index slowed down after a few days of heavy rises, up just five points, to close on 5,602.3.

Stateside, ailing insurance giant AIG have announced that they are to sell of yet another of their overseas insurance business, American Life Insurance Company (Alico) to rival MetLife for $15.5 billion (£10.3 billion), in a drive to raise funds to pay off their $182.3 billion federal bail-out.

MetLife will pay out $6.8 billion in cash and a further $8.7 billion in shares for Alico, which operates in more than 50 countries.

The announcement comes a week after AIG agreed to sell its Asian business AIA to UK group Prudential for $35.5 billion.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was holding its own, closing up 21 points on 10,585.62. The NASDAQ Composite was still climbing, rising 21 points to close on 2,347.13

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Tags: Alico, American Life Insurance, Bank, Banking, British Chambers of Commerce, British Economy, Channel Tunnel, Communication Workers Union, Confederation for British Industry, Credit Crunch, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, Eurotunnel, Financial News, FTSE, House Prices, MetLife, Money, NASDAQ, Northern Rock, Recession, Retail, Richard Branson, RICS, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Royal Mail, Savings, Tesco, Tesco Personal Finance, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Virgin Money, Wall Street, WM Morrison

Alistair Darling, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that he is open to discussion on the possibility of scaling back on the interest rate charges which Iceland is required to make on the £3.4 billion pound losses from failed online bank Icesave. After talks between the governments in London, Darling was reported as saying that although British taxpayers "must get their money back" the Treasury could be willing to negotiate terms. The Treasury is considering two options to scale back interest rate charges while insisting that both options must see debts being fully recouped. The Icelandic government is seemingly eager to arrive at a more flexible compromise as opinion polls in the country suggest the initial deal that was hammered out would be more than likely rejected in a forthcoming referendum.

According to a very recent survey, the UK personal computer (PC) market saw fourth quarter growth for the first time in a year, despite a fall in sales from the business sector. Holding the top spot were Acer with 19.1 per cent market share, with HP hot on their heels with an 18.9 per cent market share. Dell was in third place with 16.5 per cent, followed by Toshiba and Samsung with 10.4 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively. The total UK market in terms of shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010 was 3.8 million units. A market analyst reported that the personal computer market in the UK was becoming increasingly dependent on laptops (mobiles), which accounted for 70 per cent of the total PC market, with growth in demand reaching 24 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009. However, the report did state that despite the overall growth, the professional PC market declined by 25 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The much loved general interest magazine Reader’s Digest UK has been forced into administration after failing to gain support from the UK pension’s regulator over an agreement for funding their £125 million pension deficit. The UK subsidiary of U.S. Reader’s Digest Association have recently brokered a deal with trustees of its pension plan and the Pension Protection Fund. The deal would have seen a capital payment alongside the transfer of a one-third interest in the equity of the UK business to the UK pension scheme trustees. The UK is the only branch of the multiple national Readers’ Digest Association with a large pension shortfall. The parent company said the UK insolvency is not liable to have a material impact on its other global operations.

Legal & General (L&G) has revealed plans to supply "longevity insurance" to pension funds, in a move which will see the insurer compete against the major European insurance companies. The launch of the new insurance product by L&G will precede similar plans by others in the insurance sector including Prudential, who are also considering moving into this market. A spokesman for L&G emphasised that the provision of longevity swaps will "develop alongside and not necessarily compete with" L&G’s bulk annuity business. Babcock International and RSA were reported to be the first companies to take out longevity protection in 2009.

Private equity group HgCapital Trust is seeking to raise more capital from investors by preparing a share issue to shore up its finances, amid expectation of a rise in new investments. Industry sources suggest the London-listed group could raise as much as 50 million pounds. As one of the best-performing listed private equity groups with a market capitalisation of 210 million pounds, HgCapital is hoping to appeal to investors from its position of strength by making a placing of ordinary shares with subscription shares attached. A spokesman for the company projected that HgCapital will invest more than it sells, as the market conditions present bargains.

Shares in Barclays were up 2.9 per cent to 302 pence on a positive response to their recent results. Ahead of their results due to be issued next week, Lloyds Banking Group rose 3.2 per cent to 50½ pence and Royal Bank of Scotland took on 1.9 per cent to 34 pence.

Sterling continued to slip against both the Euro and the Dollar. It closed at $1. 5392 while settling on 1.1409 against the Euro.

Overall, the FTSE 100 added 32 points to 5,307.85, meaning that it has risen for seven of the last eight sessions.

According to a report released on Thursday, certain of the states of the U.S. look like facing a total shortfall totaling no less than $1 trillion in their funds for employees’ pensions and retirement benefits. The state of Illinois is reported to be in the worst shape, with only 54 percent of its pension obligations funded, according to the report, taken into account only the fiscal years up to June 2008. That fact makes the picture even less than rosy as the downturn that began in the final six months of 2008 and continued till the end of 2009 – was when many funds’ investment portfolios suffered their most serious devastation. Regardless of stock market fluctuations, pension funds were destined to fall down a budget hole, the non-profit research center who prepared the report pointed out.

The US Federal Reserve has predicted that the US economy is still on target to grow strongly during 2010, but unemployment will remain high, has warned. In its latest forecast, the Fed said that the economy would expand between 2.8% and 3.5% in 2010, with the unemployment rate expected to remain between 9.5% and 9.7% in 2010.

Encouraging January housing starts, better-than-expected earnings and receding fears on the European sovereign debt situation boosted risk appetite prompted Wall Street stocks to rise moderately for the second consecutive session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 93 points to 10,392.9 while the NASDAQ Composite rose 15 points to 2,241.71

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has raised its outlook for its financial year after strong sales over the Christmas period lifted its profits by 25%.

Higher demand for its personal computers and servers saw its net profit for the three months to 31 January total $2.32 billion (£1.48 billion).

This compares with $1.86 billion for the same first quarter period a year earlier. HP’s revenues for the quarter were up 8% to $31.2 billion, as its results came in ahead of market expectations.

The price of oil has risen sharply as the dollar, the currency in which the commodity is priced, weakened against the pound and the euro.

US light crude rose by $3 to $ $77.01 with London Brent settling at $75.68 a barrel.

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Tags: Alistair Darling, Babcock International, Banking, Barclays, British Economy, British Pound, Credit Crunch, Currency, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, Hewlett-Packard, HgCapital, Icesave, Legal & General, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, NASDAQ, Reader's Digest Association, Recession, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, RSA, Savings, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Wall Street

The UK in the first decade of the new century recorded the lowest economic growth of the postwar period and the worst returns for stock market investors since the 1930s. Information provided by the Office of National Statistics points out that gross domestic product, on average, rose by only 1.7 per cent annually in real terms throughout the so-called noughties, making them Britain’s weakest period of economic expansion of any since the war years. The manufacturing sector was particularly hard hit with output actually contracting over the decade by 1.2 per cent annually.

Meanwhile, the British stock market suffered its weakest performance of any decade since the Great Depression, with prices on the FTSE All Share Index recording negative returns, averaging minus 1.8 per cent per year. The particularly sharp contraction in the real economy as a result of the financial crisis of the past 18 months continues to fuel pessimistic assessments of the UK’s prospects for the new decade.

In his New Year message, that well know optimist Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to give an upbeat assessment of Britain’s economic prospects for the forthcoming 12 months. Under pressure amid Labour Party concerns that they are destined to lose the next election, Brown is expected to take a gamble on a positive prediction that UK unemployment will have decreased by the end of 2010, with more smaller businesses starting up during the period, His gamble is calculated by details of latest forecast from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) stating that UK unemployment will peak at 2.8 million in 2010, and would continue to rise for the first six months of the new year, despite the recovery in the UK economy. .

Earlier this year, the CIPD had said it expected unemployment to peak at 3.2 million as a result of the recession. The total number of UK unemployed in currently stands at 2.49 million, 7.9% of the population, with around a quarter of these job losses happening in 2009.

UK homeowners pumped almost £5 billion into their home equities during the third quarter of 2009, according to recent figures issued by the Bank of England. Analysts pointed out that the trend of homeowners repaying mortgage debt would continue to restrain consumer spending, as they took advantage of record low interest rates to reduce mortgage debts. This development is in healthy contrast to much of the previous decade when homeowners had continuously drawn on equity from their homes to fund durable purchases.

Pressure is being applied to the UK government to make some changes to the Sunday trading laws in time for Christmas next year. Boxing Day falls on a Sunday in 2010, and shopping centres are lobbying to relax the law that restricts outlets of more than 3,000 square foot to just six hours of trading during this peak trading day. According to surveys, the number of shoppers soared by 17.9 percent last Sunday against a year ago, making it the highest increase in UK consumer traffic on record for a December 27.

Waitrose, the John Lewis-owned supermarket, reported an increase of 13.5 percent for the week before Christmas compared to the same period last year, making it their most successful Christmas on record. Total sales jumped 20.5 percent to reach £134.6 million s in the week to December 26, compared with £111.7 million for the same period in 2008.

Sterling remained below the $1.60 level on early week trading, even falling a little, whilst while remaining static against the Euro

• Dollar 1.5924
• Euro 1.1089

London stocks pushed higher on Tuesday, the first day back from the Christmas break, following the lead set in global equity markets in the previous session.

With US stocks failing to add much momentum, London’s FTSE 100 stayed at the same level for much of the session, adding 35 points or 0.7 per cent by the close to 5,437.61, extending its winning run to five days.

This was the index’s highest level in 15 months and took it above the point at which it stood on September 12, 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed.

Shares in US airlines fell on Monday following the alleged bomb attack on a US plane bound for Detroit, fueled by fears that renewed security concerns could further depress demand for air travel. Airport security measures have been tightened following the security incident on Christmas Day.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average returned from the Christmas break in buoyant mood, climbing 36 points to close on 10,521.1 while the NASDAQ Composite jumped just three points to 2,288.46. Retailers had initially lifted the market after data from the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs showed like-for-like sales across the sector were up 2.3 per cent last week from the same period a year ago

US house prices rose in October for the fifth month in a row, according to a leading index.

Prices were 0.4% higher than they were in September on a seasonally-adjusted basis, according to a recently published index.

Confidence among US consumers has shown a larger-than-expected rise; with improved optimism over the jobs market saw consumer confidence hit a three-month high in December

Oil prices have climbed to more than $79 a barrel, reaching the highest levels for five weeks. During Monday’s trading in London, US crude touched $79.12 a barrel before falling back later to $78.77.

Heating oil futures led the gains, while London Brent crude rose by more than a dollar to $77.32 a barrel.

Prices rose following forecasts of colder weather in the United States, and the expectation of increased consumption and falling reserves.

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Tags: Bank, Bank of England, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, British stock market, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, CIPD, Council of Shopping Centers, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, Economic Growth, Economics, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, Goldman Sachs, Gordon Brown, Heating oil, House Prices, John Lewis, London Brent crude, Manufacturing, Money, Money Management, NASDAQ, Noughties, Office of National Statistics, Recession, Savings, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, UK unemployment, Waitrose, Wall Street

The announcements that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group are to sell off hundreds of branches has added a smile to the face of.

Alistair Darling as well as the European Commission, who had insisted that the banks sell off some of their branches. In a recent statement, the chancellor confirmed his opinion that the sales, were in the "best interest" of the wider UK banking sector.

Lloyds will dispose of more than 600 branches over the next four years, while RBS will sell 318 of their high street outlets. The Spanish banking group, Santander will be allowed to bid for Royal Bank of Scotland’s branches when they are put up for sale. Under competition rules agreed between London and Brussels, Santander will be eligible to bid for some of the branches as the currently hold less than 8 per cent of the UK small business lending market. Meanwhile, Sir Richard Branson is reported to be interested in moving into the world of high street banking as his Virgin Money group has applied to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for a banking licence.

There are even some contentious rumors around that no less a company than PayPal might find them on the UK high street. Reports have it that PayPal already have an EU banking license, granted to them in May 2007, so why not a place for the outsiders!

Britain’s fourth-biggest supermarket group, WM Morrison have sent a message to their major suppliers that they will be looking for increased support for their increased and more aggressive promotion campaigns, The campaigns are aimed to increase their market share in what has become an increasingly competitive market. Morrison’s move comes as the prices of basic food stuffs begin to drop.

Europe’s biggest low-cost airline Ryanair announced on Monday that it is considering slowing down its rapid expansion program, and instead break with tradition by distributing cash earmarked to buy new aircraft to their shareholders instead. The company raised the possibility of the strategic shift while announcing a 46 per cent rise in second-quarter profits. The company has kept its full-year profit forecast steady, although they expect that figures for the third and fourth quarters will be less than rosy.

Sterling continued to weaken against the dollar, whilst rising slightly against the Euro and holding its own against the rest of the major currencies.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6398
• Pound/Euro 1.1168
• Pound/Japanese Yen 148.3102
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6874

The FTSE spent time under the 5,000-point mark on Tuesday with banking stocks taking the biggest toll. At close of trading, the FTSE 100 was seen to be holding its own on 5,037.2.

The FTSE 250 continues to suffer from a consistent run of heavy losses, falling more than 15% of its peal of 10,000 just a few weeks ago. At close of trading yesterday it was sitting on 8,756.68.

Troubled US commercial lender CIT Group, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday after attempts at a restructuring or bail-out failed. In a statement, CIT, who have been a key figure on the American banking scene for more than a century, announced that they had requested that the court quickly confirm its prepackaged bankruptcy plan. The plan, which has broad support from its debt holders, and in particular from Carl Icahn its billionaire investor. Icahn has agreed to provide a $1 billion line of credit, allowing the company to remain confident that they would be able to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the year.

The US Dow Jones index made some recoveries from the last two days trading; up 61 points to 9,774.1 The NASDAQ were also fairly stable, reaching 2047.46.

The market was taken by surprise by the announcement of a swing to profitability by the auto manufacturing giant Ford. The company posted its first quarterly profit in more than a year, thanks to the implementation of cost-cutting and the government’s “cash-for-clunkers” rebates helped produce earnings of nearly $billion, or 29 cents a share, during the third quarter. Shares in Ford closed up 8.3 per cent at $7.58.

Australia’s economy continues to be the rising star of the global economies, so much so that it central bank has increased its interest rate for the second consecutive month, up a quarter percent to 3.5%. The Australian economy is the only one in the developed world to expand in the first half of 2009, with the continent largely managing to steer clear of recession, only entering into negative growth for the last quarter of 2008. The bank’s confidence was justifiably increased by the release last week of the lowest inflation figures in Australia for 10 years.

The price of gold price hit a fresh record high on Tuesday as India agreed to buy 200 tonnes of bullion from the International Monetary Fund. The move caused traders to speculate that there would be further purchases by the emerging economies. India’s purchase valued at around $6.7 billion, accounts for half of the IMF’s expected disposal of gold and signals a growing appetite among developing countries’ central banks for bullion in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis, coming after China had revealed earlier in the year that it had quietly almost doubled its gold reserves to become the world’s fifth-biggest holder.

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Tags: Alistair Darling, Bank, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Bullion, Carl Icahn, cash for clunkers, CIT Group, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, EU banking license, European Commission, Financial News, Financial Services Authority, Ford, FSA, FTSE, Gold, Government, Interest Rates, International Monetary Fund, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Paypal, RBS, Recession, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ryanair, Santander, Savings, Sir Richard Branson, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK banking sector, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Virgin, Virgin Money group, WM Morrison

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

The Nationwide Building Society Nationwide have recently announced that they are to substantially increase the discount on offer for first-time home buyers that participate in the company’s mortgage reservation scheme with the offer applying to three-, four-, and five-year fixed-rate mortgages in the meantime. In addition, the Nationwide are offering a complementary combined reservation and legal fee option to borrowers who are planning to move home. These offers, as well as similar, have been designed to reduce the initial lay outs involved in acquiring a property. A spokesman for the Nationwide is the world’s largest building society and one of the largest mortgage lenders in the UK predicted that with these measures they have removed some of the barriers that may have prevented people from buying a property.

In a bid to satisfy European authorities, the Royal Bank of Scotland may have no option but to either close down or farm out 312 of its branches operating s in England and Wales under the RBS banner and serving more than one million small businesses. The EU competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes appears to be forcing the RBS ’hand as they EU looks for substantial disposals to compensate for billions of pounds of taxpayer support as well as to finance the bank’s involvement in the UK Treasury’s toxic asset insurance scheme. The bank’s proposals to the EU, which are not liable to involve the company’s NatWest branch network in England and Wales, are thought to be in a well advanced state of negotiation.

The Icelandic government have announced that they have reached a fresh agreement with the UK government over the reimbursing the 400,000 savers who lost money when Icesave owner Landsbanki collapsed, leaving debts of around £3 billion. The original ruling was rejected by the UK and Netherlands governments, meaning a new bill will go before Iceland’s parliament for final agreement some time today.

A number of UK based manufacturers are combining efforts to promote the ‘Buy British’ angle in their marketing campaigns. among them are amusement ride manufacturer Amusement Technical, who, among others, want to take full advantage of the low exchange rate between sterling and the Euro to increase their export activities. A spokesman for the company explained that the low value of Sterling created a considerable opportunity for UK manufacturers competing for business in the Eurozone. The obvious downturn is that products and raw materials imported from the same region will be considerably more expensive.

The pound continued to rise in a volatile week’s trading, climbing 0.4% against the euro and 0.2% versus the dollar.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6303
• Pound/Euro 1.10989
• Pound/Japanese Yen 148.2221
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6658

The FTSE 100 fell 32.71 points on 5190.24 on Friday’s trading. The FTSE 250 dropped also shed some of its gains before the weekend, down 58.97 points to close on 9,426.20.

Bank of America have reported net losses of £612 million ($1billion) for the three months from July to September, a figure much worse than analysts predicted. The figure compares with a net profit of $3.2 billion in the second quarter of 2009 and $1.2 billion for the same period of last year. Bank of America is the fourth major US bank to report their third quarter results which are the least impressive so far.

The Dow Jones index took a tumble on Friday’s trading, falling below the 10,000 points mark, achieved during the week’s trading. The index fell 67.03 points to 9995.91 while the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 16.49 points to 2,156.8

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Tags: Amusement Technical, Bank, Bank of America, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, Global Credit Crisis, Icelandic government, Icesave, Landsbanki, Money, Money Markets, Mortgage, mortgage seekers, NASDAQ, Nationwide, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest, Netherlands government, RBS, Recession, Royal Bank of Scotland, Savings, UK Banks, UK government, UK Recession

Millions of members of the UK community of retirees are looking at the dim prospect of receiving a pension hike of less than ten pounds a month when the new rates kick-in in April 2010 The reason for the minimal increase is that UK inflation on which pension rises are calculated. Is considerably less than the minimum of 2.5%. government pledge to annually increase the state pension.

Instead, recently released figures from the Office for National Statistics show that UK retail prices index registered actually recorded a fall of 1.4% for the year ending September 2008. This means that both state and public sector pensions, both of which are calculated according to September inflation, will reach only the minimum figure of 2.5%.

A spokesman for the charity, Age Concern rushed to state that at £97.65 a week the basic state pension was seriously inadequate to guarantee the UK elderly a reasonable standard of living. Thy went on to insist that the current pension system is in need of urgent reform that will ensure older people can live off their pensions without having to apply for benefit top ups.

A monthly study has shown that living costs for pensioners are rising at a rate much higher than those for younger people, with the elderly spend a disproportionate amount on energy bills and food.

This daunting piece of news for UK retirees is only the latest in a line of unexpected pitfalls they will have to bear. Recent studies have shown that not only are many Britons are dramatically reshaping their retirement plans to match a new reality. A reality that depicts those who were due to retire in the near future, are putting off their retirement for as long as possible as the reality hits home that those who are retiring today will need to live off less than what represents half of the UK national average wage.

financial

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Tags: Age Concern, British Economy, British Pound, Credit Crunch, Debt, Economy, Financial News, Government, Inflation, Interest Rates, Money, Money Management, Office for National Statistics, pensioners, Recession, Retail, retirees, Savings, state pensions, UK Economy, UK elderly, UK government, UK inflation

It seems such a short time ago that people who invested all of their money in the stock market were regarded as being "risqué," and those who kept their money in the bank in short and long term deposit accounts were described as being "sensible". Well that role has certainly been reversed over the last crazy year or so, when the financial world turned upside down for so many.

Nowadays people who still have money on deposit at the bank are regarded as being some form of masochists, and no less than the banks themselves. With interest rates seemingly stuck forever on 0.5%, money left in a bank account is not only gathering dust, it is also paying for the privilege. On the other hand, the FTSE can almost do no wrong. And it has been that way for more than half a year, when the first indications that the global economic downturn might not last forever began to look evident. Sufficient to say that, the FTSE 100 rose by 21% in the third quarter of 2009, and 45% since March the highest percentage rises since the exchange was created in 1983. At current interest levels, investors would have to leave their money in the bank for around 7 years to earn that kind of return on their investment.

Leading economists argue that by trying to jump start the economy, the UK government has damaged national growth for the foreseeable future, with the only way that the situation can be reversed is to put an end to the stimulus passage and increase interest rates. They go on to suggest that as soon as the government does increase interest rates, only then will the stock market boom begin to fizzle out. That will be the time for the smart investor to release their equity exposure and return most if not all their capital to their bank account and earn some reasonable interest. Like the good old days.

financial

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Tags: Bank Account, Banking, British Economy, British Pound, Credit Crunch, Currency, Economic Downturn, Economics, Economy, Financial News, FTSE, Global Credit Crisis, Interest Rates, Investment, Money, Money Management, Recession, Savings, stimulus passage, stock market, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, 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.

financial

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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

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