Sajid Javid: UK should run the economy ‘hot’ and support lenders May 8, 2020 Former chancellor Sajid Javid has said the government should “run the economy hot” and lift coronavirus restrictions to encourage growth. He also suggested “bad banks” could be created to help the UK’s lenders which are set to struggle with bad loans as coronavirus crashes the economy. Javid’s intervention came after the Bank of England yesterday [...]
The City View podcast, from City A.M., with Stephen Jones – CEO of UK Finance May 8, 2020 Listen to our daily City View podcast as we chart the economic fallout and business impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In this episode, Christian is joined by Stephen Jones, CEO of banking industry group UK Finance, which is at the heart of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). Subscribe to The City View Podcast: [...]
UK economy: Is the Bank of England’s 2021 rebound scenario too optimistic? May 7, 2020 The Bank of England today said the UK economy could suffer its worst economic crash in 300 years this year as the coronavirus lockdown batters the economy. Yet it said it is likely to bounce back relatively quickly. Despite the dire report it stopped short of launching more bond-buying or “quantitative easing” (QE) and left [...]
Banks blasted over ‘disappointingly slow’ pace of lending as coronavirus loans hit £5.5bn May 7, 2020 Banks have lent over £5.5bn to SMEs through the CBILS scheme but a leading industry body has said the process is still too slow. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the improvement in the number of firms accessing CBILS is welcome. However, head of economics Suren Thiru said that with many firms “only having [...]
Bank of England: UK economy could suffer biggest crash in 300 years May 7, 2020 The UK economy is likely to shrink by an enormous 14 per cent in 2020 in its worst crash in 300 years amid the coronavirus pandemic before rebounding strongly in 2021, the Bank of England has said as it kept interest rates on hold at their current record-low levels. The Bank said it expected the [...]
£2bn of ‘bounce back’ loans for SMEs approved in first 24 hours May 6, 2020 More than 69,000 so-called coronavirus bounce back loans were approved on the first day of them being made available via banks. The approvals equate to over £2bn in loans during the first 24 hours of the bounce back scheme’s launch on Monday, chancellor Rishi Sunak said today. The seven largest UK banks including HSBC, Barclays, [...]
Nine new lenders approved under coronavirus loan scheme May 6, 2020 Investec is among a group of nine lenders that have today been approved for accreditation under the government’s coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS). Assetz Capital, Atom bank, Ebury, Fleximize, Investec, Social Investment Business, Tower Leasing, Ultimate Finance and White Oak UK will now be able to provide financial support to small businesses across the [...]
Metro Bank shares fall despite rise in customer deposits May 6, 2020 Metro Bank experienced a lull in lending over its first quarter but customer deposits jumped by £77m since the end of December, it told investors today. Customers ignored lower interest rates on deposits to store more money with Metro Bank to bring deposits to £14.55bn over the first three months of 2020. Meanwhile, net lending [...]
Co-operative Bank takes £12m hit from coronavirus as losses continue May 6, 2020 The Co-operative Bank booked a loss in the first quarter as it took a £12m hit from coronavirus, it has said in a trading update. The challenger bank said today that it made an underlying loss of £14.2m in the first three months of the year. This was down from a loss of £5.1m in [...]
Virgin Money’s first half profit plunges 60 per cent on coronavirus loan losses May 6, 2020 Virgin Money, formerly CYBG bank, has taken a £164m impairment charge on coronavirus for the first half of 2020 that has sent underlying profit plunging almost 60 per cent. The figures Profit before tax slumped 40.5 per cent from £37m in the six months to March 2019 to just £22m in the six months to [...]