Funding for Lending Scheme to be scrapped for mortgages as UK house prices soar November 28, 2013 The Bank of England is to end Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) mortgage incentives as the UK housing market strengthens. UK house prices grew by 13.4 per cent in the two years from October 2011. So FLS is just available for business from next year. There's a strange juxtaposition here – The Bank is taking [...]
ECB’s Asmussen compares women in finance to unruly children November 28, 2013 European Central Bank (ECB) board member Jorg Asmussen has let attendees of a panel discussion on women in finance into insights of his own. Discussing whether women are more risk averse than their male peers, Asmussen said that as a father of two girls, six and five, he has seen "that female do behave hazardously [...]
Eurozone economic sentiment beats expectations in November November 28, 2013 Eurozone economic sentiment has come in at 98.5 from 97.7 (revised from 97.8) to November. Analysts had expected a rise to 98.0. IHS Global Insight's Howard Archer says that this news supports "hopes that the Eurozone can gradually establish economic recovery". Consumer confidence however, has dropped for the same period – down from -14.5 to [...]
Capita selected as preferred bidder for Npower customer service – as Npower confirms 1,460 job cuts November 28, 2013 Outsourcing company Capita has been selected as the preferred bidder for a partnership with Npower, to provide front office customer management and back office services. Apparently finance negotiations are still ongoing, and the contract is expected to be worth around £120m over seven years, beginning on 1 February 2014. Capita will take responsibility for part [...]
German unemployment sees unexpected jump in November November 28, 2013 German unemployment has risen by 10,000 in November, and October's increase of 2,000 has been revised up to 3,000 by statisticians. That's higher than the increase of 1,000 forecast by analysts for this month. The unemployment rate remains unchanged at 6.9 per cent, as expected.
Cyber fraud victims lose an average of £371 this year November 27, 2013 As 33.6m of us are expected to storm online stores this Monday, new research from Barclays and Kaspersky Lab reveals that 4m of us were hit by cyber fraud in the last year. Victims were stung for a total of £1.5bn – an average of £371 per person. Shoppers are expected to rush for online [...]
If you’d taken out a £100 payday loan last month to invest in Bitcoin you’d be up over £330 November 27, 2013 How fast is Bitcoin rising? The hugely volatile market in the digital currency has seen its price rise more than 7500 per cent this year, hitting $1000 today. To really get a grip on how fast that is, compare it with other fast-rising things – how about a payday loan? If you borrowed £100 from [...]
Bitcoin clears $1,000 barrier – but why is this radical alternative currency worth so much? November 27, 2013 The crytocurrency Bitcoin has just breached the psychologically significant $1,000 level. Many have compared the virtual currency's rise to the tulip bulb mania of the 1600s. It suffered a severe correction in April when it lost more than half of its value in days after climbing to over $220. The unconventional means of exchange has [...]
Goldman’s longest serving employee Alfred Feld dies at 98 November 27, 2013 Goldman Sachs employee Alfred Feld passed away last night, according to the investment bank. Feld had worked for the Wall Street institution for 80 years. Feld began with the bank in 1933 as a messenger in mail operations. Five days later he was promoted to office boy, and would eventually work in private wealth-management. He [...]
One US indicator suggests that economic growth is lower in October November 27, 2013 The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) dropped from 0.18 (revised up from 0.14) to minus 0.18 in October. The Chicago Fed said that the decline resulted from fall in employment and production related indicators. The index is a weighting of 85 different indicators of US economic activity. Employment-related indicators were responsible for -0.05 of [...]
