Lloyds sells distressed Irish mortgages to US private equity affiliate December 6, 2013 Lloyds Banking Group announced on Friday that it will be selling a portfolio of non-performing Irish retail mortgages for £257m. The portfolio worth £610m, will be sold to Tanger Limited, an affiliate of US private equity company Apollo Global Management. The portfolio performed poorly last year generating losses of £33m for the year to 31 [...]
Here’s why BoAML thinks Bitcoin is going to reach silver status December 5, 2013 Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) has said that Bitcoin could become a major source of e-commerce and can become a serious competitor to traditional money transfer services. In BoAML's view Bitcoin has clear potential for growth. However, the bank believes Bitcoin's volatility remains a problem for its further development. BoAML estimate that if Bitcoin [...]
Osborne sticks to plan but is he ready for rising interest rates? December 5, 2013 The message emerging from George Osborne's Autumn Statement is that the UK's fiscal consolidation is far from over and the government remains committed to fiscal discipline. There was disappointing news on the deficit which did not fall by as much as had been predicted. Borrowing this year will amount to £111bn, analysts had expected borrowing [...]
Osborne caps business rates on top of £1,000 discount December 5, 2013 George Osborne has extended rate relief for another year and will relax the rules that discourage businesses from expanding. All businesses with a rateable value of up to £50,000 will receive a £1,000 discount. Business rates will also be capped at two per cent from next April and businesses will be able to pay in [...]
Shale gas tax allowance will slash the amount paid on profits December 5, 2013 The chancellor has announced a new tax allowance for shale gas that halves the amount of tax paid on early profits. The chancellor praised Britain's innovative spirit and declared that the UK should not turn its back on new sources of energy.
Osborne declares victory on jobs as private sector job creation booms December 5, 2013 George Osborne declared the government has been vindicated in its economic strategy as the private sector has created three jobs for every one job lost in the public sector. The Office for Budget Responsibility revised up the number of jobs to be created this year to 400,000. The number of people claiming unemployment benefit has [...]
2 reasons why the dollar will be king in 2014 December 5, 2013 The dollar is set for a strong year in 2014 according to Deutsche Bank who have set out their bullish case for the dollar on Thursday. Here are the two building blocks of Deutsche Bank's bull case. 1. Monetary policy This year markets have focused on pricing out QE with treasury inflows suffering as a [...]
3 reasons why China is running scared of Bitcoin December 5, 2013 The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has announced a ban on financial institutions handling Bitcoin transactions. The central bank declared that Bitcoin was a currency without “real meaning.” The move comes shortly after China became the world's largest trader of the virtual currency. As China moves to restrict the use of Bitcoins here are three [...]
Buyers rush for gold after worst quarterly fall in 35 years December 4, 2013 November has seen a hefty increase in gold sales with buyers outnumbering sellers two to one, according to BullionVault. The gold and silver exchange used its investor index to show that buyers had taken advantage of the falling gold price to grow their holdings. The index is sentiment indicator of the 50,000 people who use [...]
France in dire need of mass shock privatisation December 4, 2013 The former president of the Joint Association Executive Employment (APEC), Eric Verhaeghe has said France is need of "mass shock privatisation." In an interview with French newspaper L'Express, Verhaeghe called on the French government to roll back the frontiers of the state and liberate the private sector from government controls. Verhaeghe is not alone in [...]
