Virgin Money moves into retail banking January 8, 2010 VIRGIN Money has moved into the retail banking sector after taking over a small private bank in a £50m deal. The move to buy Church House comes two years after the company failed to win control of Northern Rock. Virgin Money will pay £12.3m for the bank while pumping in a further £37.3m of capital [...]
UK mortgage loans at a 20 month peak January 4, 2010 UK MORTGAGE approvals rose in November to their highest level since March 2008 as confidence trickles back into the property market, Bank of England figures showed yesterday. Loan approvals numbered 60,518 over the month, rising from an upwardly-revised 57,718 in October and more than double the record low of 27,162 set in November 2008. The [...]
Bank buyers circle as Rock splits off unit January 4, 2010 THE race to snap up the good assets of Northern Rock heated up yesterday, with Virgin Money and National Australia Bank (NAB) emerging as the frontrunners. Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank owner NAB is understood to have held meetings with potential advisers including Lazard, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley ahead of a potential bid for [...]
Details of RBS pain revealed by Treasury December 7, 2009 The full extent of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s stricken assets were made public yesterday, when the government published details of the insurance scheme set up to stabilise the bank. The Asset Protection Scheme (APS), which will insure £282bn of the bank’s assets, covers £15.4bn of residential mortgages, £80bn of loans, £39bn of derivatives, and [...]
SAVINGS GIANTS IN MEGA-MERGER December 1, 2009 YORKSHIRE Building Society is in advanced merger talks with beleaguered competitor Chelsea, in a deal experts said could fuel further consolidation in the sector. A tie-up, yet to be approved by the FSA, would create a major force in the building society arena. With £38bn assets and 2.7m members it would be second only to [...]
Bank reports a rise in home loan approvals November 30, 2009 HOME loan approvals rose in October to a 19-month high as the housing market showed signs of recovery. Banks approved 57,345 mortgages in October against 56,205 in September, the highest since March 2008 and the 11th monthly rise in a row, the Bank of England said. Net mortgage lending rose by £922m in October versus [...]
ECONOMIC DIARY November 29, 2009 Monday 30 NovemberUK: November GfK Consumer Confidence (12am)November Hometrack Housing Survey (12am)CBI Service Sector Survey (12am)October Net Consumer Credit (9.30am)October Net Lending Secured on Dwellings (9.30am)October Mortgage Approvals (9.30am)October Final M4 Money Supply (9.30am)Eurozone: November CPI Estimate (10am)US:November Chicago PMI (2.45pm) Tuesday 1 DecemberUK:November PMI Manufacturing (9.30am)November Nationwide House Prices (7am)Eurozone:November PMI Manufacturing (9am)October Unemployment [...]
The FSA must make sure that its tough new approach doesn’t backfire November 24, 2009 FINANCIAL services firms have come under the increasingly intense gaze of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in recent months. Its supervisory approach has changed dramatically as a result of the credit crisis. The upshot of this is that the risks for somebody who is FSA authorised, or is an “approved person” at an FSA authorised [...]
Banks report mortgage approvals at two-year high November 24, 2009 THE number of new mortgages approved by the main banks rose to its highest level for nearly two years in October. The British Bankers’ Association said 42,238 loans were approved last month – nearly double the number seen last October at the height of the crisis. This was a slight increase on the September figure [...]
TIMELINE: HOW BRITAIN’S BANKING SECTOR WENT SOUR November 3, 2009 21 February, 2008Britain passes legislation allowing the government to nationalise Northern Rock after rejecting two private bids. Northern Rock is nationalised months after the Bank of England stepped in to provide support. 21 AprilThe BoE unveils the Special Liquidity Scheme to swap banks' risky mortgage assets for at least £50bn of government debt. 18 SeptemberLloyds [...]