Chancellor Philip Hammond to close Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme at end of 2016 September 29, 2016 Chancellor Philip Hammond has confirmed that he will be closing the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme at the end of this year. In a letter to Bank of England governor Mark Carney, he said the scheme's purpose has been "successfully achieved" and he will close it to new loans at the end of 2016. [...]
Bank of England announces latest details of landlord crackdown September 29, 2016 The Bank of England's crackdown on landlords kicked up a notch this morning, with a set of tough new lending restrictions for buy to let mortgages. Threadneedle Street's banking supervision arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), has long been concerned with the risks the UK's buy-to-let sector poses to financial stability and has again tightened [...]
Deutsche Bank: Where did it all go wrong? September 28, 2016 The German government could be considering a bailout for Deutsche Bank as the lender's share price falls to its lowest level since the mid-1980s and speculation over a rights issue or buyout swirl. The latest trigger has been the Department of Justice's claims for a $14bn settlement over Deutsche Bank's role in the underwriting of [...]
Yanis Varoufakis has some advice for the UK, Theresa May and Labour September 28, 2016 Academic, EU-tormenter, former Greek finance minister and leather-jacket-wearing big thinker Yanis Varoufakis has blasted George Osborne and told the UK to get a move on with triggering Article 50. In an interview with the Today programme, Varoufakis, who resigned from the Syriza-led government last summer after he helped prime minister Alexis Tsipras take Greece to the [...]
Mark Carney warns North Sea industry turmoil to “persist for some time” September 28, 2016 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has warned that the crisis engulfing the North Sea oil and gas industry is likely to “persist for some time”. An estimated 120,000 jobs will have been lost by the end of this year due to the oil price slide which began in mid-2014. Carney added that the turmoil was [...]
Carney’s Bank of England ally Minouche Shafik calls for further rate cuts September 28, 2016 A key Bank of England policymaker has said Threadneedle Street will need to loosen monetary policy again in the wake of the Brexit vote. Minouche Shafik, deputy governor of the Bank with responsibility for markets and banking, said this morning it was "likely" the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) would need to cut interest rates or [...]
Sam Allardyce: The FA were entitled to sack England manager for misconduct, says leading sports lawyer September 27, 2016 The Football Association [FA] would have been legally entitled to sack England manager Sam Allardyce after he was filmed appearing to advise how to circumvent transfer rules, according to a leading sports lawyer. Allardyce left his position tonight after just one game in charge after apologising for his alleged comments to undercover reporters from a national newspaper posing as Far East [...]
Bank of England’s quantitative easing is making the rich richer claims Osborne September 27, 2016 The UK's monetary policy has made "life difficult for savers" and has helped the rich become richer, former chancellor George Osborne has said. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Osborne said: “We need to offset the very necessary loose monetary policy and the distributional consequences that is having. Essentially it makes the rich richer and makes [...]
London SMEs have ranked as the second highest savers nationally, pipped only to the post by the east of England September 26, 2016 London SMEs are the second highest savers into business saving accounts, having an average of £829,000 stashed away, according to research released yesterday. However, the Hampshire Trust Bank study also found that SMEs in the east of England have overtaken London SMEs since last year to be named the biggest savers, with an average of [...]
The US is looking to formalise policy around blockchain technology September 26, 2016 The UK faces competition from across the pond in positioning itself as a world leader in blockchain technology. The fledgling technology that underpins bitcoin, but has far wider implications beyond digital currencies, is hitting the agenda of the US government with the creation of a cross-party working group to look at policies surrounding the technology as well as digital currencies such [...]