The top ten real causes of the crisis February 9, 2011 IN the end, Merlin turned out a damp squib. This is goodish news, because the deal is based on a faulty interpretation of the crisis. Here are the ten most important causes of our problems. 1) Loose, ultra-interventionist monetary policy from central banks that kept stepping in whenever growth slowed or the stock market fell. [...]
Merlin claims to boost lending to businesses February 9, 2011 HOUSTON, we have an agreement.” So joked one of the chancellor’s key allies yesterday, clearly relieved to have finally signed a deal of sorts with the four Merlin banks. But the government has got precious little for the weeks it has spent locked in negotiations with HSBC, RBS, Lloyds and Barclays. Here City A.M. looks [...]
Grainger sales fall as it reshapes debt February 9, 2011 LANDLORD Grainer yesterday said its sales pipeline has dropped £20m year-on-year, and that it has taken steps to streamline its debt with a £100m facility with M&G Investments, an arm of Prudential. FTSE 250 member Grainger, the UK’s largest listed housing landlord, yesterday said that sales between October and January dropped 32 per cent by [...]
Santander in £3.6bn deal February 7, 2011 SANTANDER will splash out 16.58bn Polish zloty (£3.6bn) on a full buy-out of Poland’s third-biggest banking franchise, Bank Zachodni WBK, the bank announced yesterday. Santander, led by chief executive Alfredo Sáenz, confirmed that a formal offer of 227 zloty (£49) per share in cash has been accepted by Allied Irish Banks, which owns 70 per [...]
Housing market dip continues February 3, 2011 Mortgage approvals dipped in January, according to chartered surveyors e.surv. Purchase approvals were down 6.2 per cent, it reported. “Far fewer people were able to get out and about house hunting in December with snow disrupting travel or simply offering something more fun to do at the weekend,” said e.surv’s Richard Sexton. “As a result, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 2, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LLOYDS DROPS MORTGAGE BROKERS OVER SUSPECTED FRAUD Concerns over suspected fraud have prompted Lloyds Banking Group to cull the list of brokers it allows to sell its mortgages. The UK’s largest mortgage lender has removed some 900 individuals over the past four years from its “approved panel” of brokers, including 300 in the [...]
House prices and mortgage approvals drop in January February 1, 2011 HOUSE prices and mortgage approvals both fell in the first month of 2011 sparking fears of a sluggish year for the property market, according to closely watched data published yesterday. Mortgage lender Nationwide, the first to publish figures for January, indicated that house prices declined by a seasonally adjusted 0.1 per cent last month after [...]
House prices still falling yet London defies trend January 31, 2011 HOUSE prices in England and Wales fell for the fourth consecutive month in December, yet in London prices ticked up sharply, official data showed yesterday. Overall house prices dropped by 0.2 per cent compared to November, yet in London month-on-month prices were up by one per cent, and 6.2 per cent higher than in December [...]
New mortgage loans set to dip January 30, 2011 MORTGAGE approvals could have fallen to their lowest level in around two years, according to City economists awaiting the Bank of England’s latest data on bank lending, released tomorrow. Yet the Bank’s figures for December may signal a steady rise in lending to businesses, some analysts said. “We think mortgage approvals slipped to 42,000 in [...]
Businesses can’t blame it all on weatherman January 30, 2011 WON’T blame it on myself, I’ll blame it on the weatherman”. So sang rubbish Irish girl group B*Witched in their 1999 number one hit. Over a decade later business leaders are following their lead. In December it snowed in the UK. In January we heard that people bought fewer Airfix models and drank less beer. [...]