House prices are poised to slide in 2023 but straight into the hands of the lucky few February 7, 2023 There’s a pretty wild variety of house price predictions doing the rounds. Capital Economics have forecast they could fall 12 per cent, while experts at property search site Zoopla are a bit more optimistic. The consensus seems to be somewhere around a six per cent fall in 2023. One thing is certain: house prices are [...]
‘Britcoin’: Bank and Treasury explore the need for a digital pound February 6, 2023 The Bank of England and Treasury are exploring launching a digital pound in a move that officials claim would firm up financial stability in Britain. “No decision has been taken at this stage,” the pair’s experts said yesterday, but added that what some are dubbing ‘Britcoin’ is “likely to be needed in the future”. The [...]
Liz Truss admits £45bn mini budget would have been scaled back if Bank of England warned on LDI crunch February 6, 2023 Former prime minister Liz Truss has today admitted her calamitous mini-budget could have scaled back had she known about the existence of LDIs. Truss admitted in an interview with Spectator TV that she “didn’t know the existence” of LDIs – liability driven investment vehicles – which sparked a near fire sale in the pension market [...]
Bank of England aggressive rate hikes send chill through UK construction economy February 6, 2023 The Bank of England’s ten successive interest rate rises have sent a chill through the UK’s construction economy, a closely watched survey out today shows. Potential home buyers are shunning purchases due to mortgage rates flying higher, prompting house builders to rein in spending. S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) [...]
Rom-cons on the rise: Romance Scammers trick average victim out of over £8k February 6, 2023 Lonely souls looking for Valentine’s love are being warned not to fall prey to romance scams which have increased by over 30 per cent in the last year according to Lloyds bank. The rise of dating apps and social media has made romance scamming easier, as criminals can more easily fake their identity to gain [...]
Bank of England will have to keep hiking rates to stop inflation hanging around, MPC’s Mann warns February 6, 2023 The Bank of England will have to hike interest rates again to stop the UK from being hit by a much stronger inflation surge than expected, one of its top rate setters has said today. Catherine Mann, an external member of the monetary policy committee (MPC) who has consistently backed steeper rate increases compared to [...]
Regulator’s fraud reimbursement scheme is ‘fundamentally flawed’, top MP says February 6, 2023 The Payment Systems Regulator’s (PSR) new fraud reimbursement scheme is “fundamentally flawed,” Chair of the Treasury Committee Harriet Baldwin has said. The PSR is considering using its statutory powers to force Pay.UK – Britain’s interbank payments standards body – to amend its rules to ensure fraud victims are reimbursed by banks, according to draft proposals [...]
City jobs surge in year after Brexit as Barclays, JP Morgan and Revolut accelerate recruitment February 6, 2023 Finance firms ramped up efforts to hire workers in the year after Brexit, with big banks Barclays and JP Morgan and fintech Revolut leading the charge, according to exclusive figures shared with City A.M. London banks, accountants and fintechs led the recruitment charge in 2022, offering more one in two of every vacancy in England [...]
Bank of England not poised to slash interest rates until middle of next year despite inflation cooling February 5, 2023 A year of interest rate pain is still in store for households, businesses and mortgagors even after Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and his team of economists have already lifted borrowing costs 10 times in a row. That is according to several top City economists, who do not expect interest rate cuts until early [...]
Digital pound coming this decade, unpublished Treasury and BoE report suggests February 5, 2023 The Bank of England (BoE) and the Treasury are convinced that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is becoming increasingly necessary, an unpublished report seen by the Daily Telegraph suggests. “On the basis of our work to date, the Bank of England and HM Treasury judge that it is likely a digital pound will be [...]