Co-op Bank narrows losses but warns over mortgage competition August 8, 2019 The UK’s Co-operative Bank cut its losses in the first half of the year but said “margin headwinds” due to mortgage competition were holding it back. Read more: Metro Bank share price plummets in wake of profit drop The figures Co-op Bank made a statutory pre-tax loss of £38.5m in the first half, its interim [...]
Rics: UK house prices ‘flatlining’ over no-deal Brexit concerns August 8, 2019 UK house prices are “flatlining” in a weak housing market, according to an influential group of chartered surveyors. A headline price indicator slipped deeper into negative territory in July, according to the latest survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). Read more: UK house prices ‘tread water’ as they slip for another month [...]
City grandee Bob Wigley sued over collapse of Yellow Pages-owner Hibu August 7, 2019 City grandee Bob Wigley has been named in a multi-million dollar lawsuit relating to his time as chairman of Yellow Pages-owner Hibu and the company’s collapse in 2013. The lawsuit, which was filed last week in the US, accuses Wigley and other directors and officers of the former FTSE 100 firm of deliberately crashing the [...]
UK house prices suffer surprise July fall as housing market ‘treads water’ August 7, 2019 UK house prices continued to “tread water” in July as they slipped 0.2 per cent month on month, Halifax warned today. However, annual growth rose 4.1 per cent thanks to the housing market’s poor performance in 2018, the bank’s latest house price index found. Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, said: “The average UK house [...]
Sterling hits lowest level against global currencies since 2016 August 6, 2019 The pound has fallen against the world’s biggest currencies to its lowest point since the so-called flash crash of late 2016. Read more: Sterling tanks to 28-month low on no-deal Brexit fears The Bank of England’s effective exchange rate index today sank below the most recent low point of August 2017, when a tussle over [...]
Former Virgin Money boss snubs Bank of England for top Salesforce job August 6, 2019 Former Virgin Money chief executive Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia has shunned a prospective job at the Bank of England to instead head up the British business of software giant Salesforce. The US tech firm, which is planning to inject $2.5bn (£2.05bn) into its UK business in the next five years, said Gadhia would begin the role [...]
Why has the weaker pound failed to turbocharge the economy? August 5, 2019 The sharp fall in the pound in the wake of the 2016 Brexit referendum would help “rebalance the UK economy”, in the words of Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England. But since then, the UK has struggled to improve its trade position and has certainly not seen any boost to GDP growth. [...]
UK service sector posts modest growth but economy ‘skirts recession’ August 5, 2019 Activity in the UK service sector edged up to a nine-month high in July, a closely-watched survey has shown, but stayed well below the post-financial crisis average. Read more: UK manufacturing sector ‘suffocating’ amid Brexit and a global slowdown Growth in the service sector, which makes up over 70 per cent of the UK economy, [...]
The Brexit clock is ticking down again, and City businesses are crying out for certainty August 5, 2019 With the excitement of a new Prime Minister and so many changing faces across government, it is easy to overlook that we are now less than three months away from the next Brexit cliff edge. In other words, the risk of a no-deal Brexit is drawing dangerously close. And businesses need to prepare for that. [...]
Andrew Bailey warns government to keep hands off the Bank of England August 4, 2019 A frontrunner in the race to become the next governor of the Bank of England has warned politicians not to meddle with its independence. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chair Andrew Bailey said the Bank’s independence was a “core underpinning” of economic stability, the Sunday Times reported. Bailey is among the favourites to take over in [...]