FTSE 100 close: Anglo American and Antofagasta receive China boost but Barratt drops after house price slide March 1, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 sprung higher today, propelled by investors piling into commodity giants after a batch of better than expected data indicated the Chinese economy is on the mend. The capital’s premier index flung 0.49 per cent higher to back above the 7,900 point mark, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more [...]
Housing market: Shares in FTSE 100 house builders tumble as outlook weakens March 1, 2023 Investors are shying away from pumping their funds into the residential market after figures from the Bank of England show that mortgage approvals for house purchases plummeted to the lowest level since the 2008 financial crash.
Savings accounts: Banks under fire as MPs demand to know why interest rate rises have not been passed on to savers March 1, 2023 MPs have asked further questions of banks’ savings rate as pressure increases on the UK’s major high street lenders to pass on higher interest rates to consumers. In a letter to the heads of four of the UK’s largest banks, chair of the Treasury Committee Harriet Baldwin asked banks why their savings rates remain lower [...]
‘Shame on them’: Skipton Group boss slams banks for not passing on rate hikes to savers March 1, 2023 Skipton Group today criticised rival high street lenders for failing to pass on higher interest rates to savers. Britain’s banks have seen their income boosted by the Bank of England’s attempt to stave off inflation with a succession of ten straight interest rate hikes. The base rate now stands at four per cent – the [...]
Cost of living crisis has forced families to take on £1.1bn debt and dig into savings, says Bank of England March 1, 2023 Families are saving far less than they did over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic and maxing on credit cards to maintain spending amid the cost of living crisis, official figures have revealed. Brits set aside £3.5bn in January in savings accounts, a slight increase from December, but below the pre-pandemic monthly average increase of [...]
Co-operative Bank profit surges to £132.6m as CEO Slape confirms bank still looking at acquisition targets March 1, 2023 The Co-operative Bank recorded a big increase in pretax profit in its final year results thanks to higher interest rates as CEO Nick Slape confirmed the bank was still scanning the market for acquisition targets. . Across 2022 as a whole, pretax profit increased to £132.6m up from £31.1m last year. This was primarily a [...]
The Notebook: Neil Bennett on the Bank’s lost credibility, corporation tax, and Scotland the timid March 1, 2023 The Notebook is a place where interesting people note interesting things. Today it’s our fortnightly columnist Neil Bennett, the global co-CEO of communications and strategic advisory group H/Advisors, on the Bank of England’s forecasting record, corporation tax plans, and a new must-see play Cast your mind back to last November, when Huw Pill, Chief Economist [...]
Our regulators are too close to those they should be regulating – and this is a problem March 1, 2023 Political parties of all colours have been lauding our regulators as "world class". Unfortunately, our regulatory bodies actually have a quite problematic record of failures, writes Paul Ormerod
The Notebook: Giles Kenningham on improving Rugby’s fortunes, banning the bots and the renewable investment boom February 28, 2023 The Notebook is a place for interesting people to say interesting things. Today, it’s Giles Kenningham, founder of Trafalgar Strategy.
Britcoin could ‘open a new frontier’ in payments, says BoE official February 28, 2023 A central bank digital currency (CBDC) could “open a new frontier” in payments and even make the financial system more stable, the deputy governor at the Bank of England said today. Speaking to MPs at a Treasury Committee hearing, deputy governor Jon Cunliffe said a so-called digital pound “could have huge benefits for the economy [...]