By: Annabelle Williams

I'm deputy money editor at City A.M. I started my career on a local newspaper before moving into financial journalism. I've worked in a number of senior editorial roles including news editor and features editor. I write about global economics, investment, technology, and personal finance.

Buy-to-let is booming with more mortgage deals for landlords than ever but George Osborne’s tax changes will bite

November 19, 2015

Buy to let is booming. Banks’ mortgage lending hit a post-crisis peak of £200bn last year so that “mortgage lending is currently enjoying its best spell since 2008,” says Bob Pannell of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Although mortgage lending figures remain well below their pre-crisis highs of £350bn in 2007, the number of [...]
Villains of finance: How the world’s most infamous crooks tricked investors – and the tell-tale signs of ponzi schemes

November 19, 2015

Victims of the biggest ever Ponzi scheme – Bernie Madoff’s $65bn (£43bn) fraud – are finally getting their money back after seven years, as another tranche of payouts is approved by US courts. The saga is not over yet, as an upcoming film called “Wizard of Lies” will shine a light on the story, starring [...]
UK’s pension system is still lagging behind: landmark freedoms have not gone far enough say critics

October 22, 2015

Sweeping reforms to the UK pension system do not go far enough, according to an international report that says Britain fares badly compared to many peer countries. Despite recent changes, the UK's public and state pensions remain "almost entirely unfunded", say analysts from the Melbourne Mercer Global Pensions Index (MMGPI), while the basic state pension [...]
Biotech and ethical funds were best-sellers as global markets sold off

September 1, 2015

Biotech and ethical funds have topped rankings of the most popular investments for savers during last week’s market carnage. The last seven days was disastrous for markets around the world as sharp falls in Chinese equities – dubbed “Black Monday” – caused panic to spread. Stock exchanges across Europe and the US fell, with [...]
High yield stands out as last pocket of return as bond markets make losses this year

August 19, 2015

Nearly all bond sectors are in the red this year. With losses across the sector, high yield is standing out as the last area of decent return, according to experts. BOND MARKET LOSSES Four out of six Investment Association bond sectors have made losses in sterling terms this year, including global and emerging market [...]
Female motorists are being charged 20% more for car repairs

August 13, 2015

Women are being charged hundreds more for car repairs than men, a nationwide study has found. London garages are among the worst offenders, as females are being charged on average 18 per cent more than men – which translates into hundreds of pounds extra. Mystery shoppers went into 180 garages around the country [...]
Saudi Arabia heads to the debt markets as low oil prices weigh on budget deficit

August 7, 2015

Saudi Arabia will head to the debt market seeking $27bn as low oil prices begin to weigh on the country's finances. The Kingdom is planning its first sovereign bond issue since 2007, and reportedly hopes to raise $5.3bn each month until the end of the year through tranches of five, seven and ten-year bonds. [...]
P2P lending trust raises fresh £400m as investors clamour for income

July 31, 2015

P2P Global Investment has raised £400m from its latest C-share issue, as investors clamour for alternative sources of income. The trust is managed from London and lends through a number of online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms around the world, including Lending Club in the US, which is the world's largest P2P platform. In the UK it [...]
Picnic in the park with a butler: An indulgent alternative to afternoon tea

July 24, 2015

A summery lunchtime alternative The butler is a British institution both ridiculed and revered in equal measure. A complex figure, sitcoms have parodied the butler, but he is also powerful, and his omnipresence has been portrayed in period dramas and twee murder mysteries for decades. It is no wonder, then, that butler services prove a [...]
Bitcoin’s price surges as Greeks rush to buy in

July 1, 2015

Greeks have rushed to Bitcoin as the country’s financial future hangs in the balance. The digital currency has risen seven per cent since Friday and, at £262, is at its highest level since March. Interestingly, gold – which has long been relied on as a store of wealth during crises – has actually fallen in [...]

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