First digital mortgage deed signed for house in Rotherhithe London April 5, 2018 The first digitally-signed mortgage deed has been successfully entered into the national database, for a house in London. HM Land Registry said today that it was part of a process to improve the use of technology in transactions making them “instantaneous where possible”. Instead of requiring the homeowner to sign a pen-and-paper contract in the [...]
The lessons of the financial crisis have not been learned March 19, 2018 Last week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned that household debt levels are very close to their 2008 peak and, more worryingly, that many households have borrowed so much that they may be out of their depth. "There are a significant number of households that are in so deep that the slightest sign of rough [...]
Woodford-backed Atom Bank grabs £149m as Spanish bank BBVA ups its stake March 7, 2018 Challenger bank Atom, which counts rapper Will.i.am as a board adviser, has today grabbed £149m in its latest capital raising. Atom, which has previously secured backing from investors including Neil Woodford and Toscafund, has already brought in £1.3bn in deposits and lent £1.2bn in residential mortgages and business loans. BBVA, which invested £85.4m and has [...]
More job cuts “inevitable” says Royal Bank of Scotland finance boss March 1, 2018 It is "inevitable" that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will cut jobs in the coming years, according to the lender's chief financial officer. Ewen Stevenson today said the the cuts would focus on slimming down head office functions, as well as legacy data centres, but refused to address the size of the redundancies expected. Speaking [...]
Barclays Techstars accelerator adds Anthony Browne , ex-head of banking industry body BBA, as entrepreneur in residence February 14, 2018 The former boss of the British Bankers’ Association; the industry body which last year became UK Finance, has resurfaced at the tech accelerator of one of Britain’s biggest banks. Anthony Browne is joining Barclays Techstars as entrepreneur in residence where he will help advise fintech startups. “Financial technology is one of the most exciting and [...]
First-time buyers at 10-year high in 2017 but the mortgage market weakened in December February 13, 2018 The number of mortgages taken out by first-time buyers boomed last year to its highest level since 2006, buoyed by the Help to Buy subsidy. Banks lent money to 365,000 first-time buyers in 2017, an increase on the year before of 7.4 per cent, according to UK Finance, the lenders’ industry body. However, the December [...]
Winter chill on house prices after second consecutive fall says Halifax February 7, 2018 House prices in the UK fell for the second successive month at the start of the year, pulling annual growth to its lowest level since June last year. The 0.6 per cent fall in house prices reported by Halifax came as a surprise to analysts, who had expected the index to edge up in January. [...]
What is the Vollged Initiative and does it spell the end of fractional reserve banking? February 5, 2018 The 2008 financial crisis jolted many of us out of our comfort zones, leading to the argument for a complete overhaul of the monetary and banking system. This very concept has recently been petitioned in Switzerland. Switzerland, that scion of banking, may vote to end the bedrock philosophy underlying modern finance. More than 100,000 Swiss [...]
London startup Ahauz is helping millennials buy a home with an innovative new Help to Buy-style scheme January 31, 2018 Forget ditching coffee and avocados, a new startup which describes itself as the “bank of mum and dad for everyone” is aiming to help more young people get on the property ladder with an innovative take on the Help to Buy scheme. Ahauz is set to start offering first-time buyers help by offering a loan [...]
Challenger bank Paragon boosts mortgage lending despite crackdown on buy-to-let loans January 23, 2018 Mortgage specialist Paragon has pulled a rabbit out of the hat once more, as it has boosted mortgage lending by 84 per cent year-on-year despite a government crackdown in its core buy-to-let market. The challenger bank increased its buy-to-let mortgage book by 85 per cent to £342.9m, battling through stricter underwriting rules introduced by the [...]