UK house prices: The best and worst areas for buy-to-let investments in the UK revealed June 15, 2017 Luton is the best place for buy-to-let investments in the UK, according to a new study. The Bedfordshire area has enjoyed a 7.37 per cent increase in rental price growth, according to a research by specialist mortgage lender LendInvest which looked at each postcode area around England and Wales. The research looked at a combination [...]
RBS closes in on £3.6bn settlement over US mortgage bond mis-selling June 12, 2017 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is close to agreeing a multi-billion pound fine with US authorities over the mis-selling of mortgage bonds, according to reports. Discussions are understood to be at an advanced stage between the state-backed lender and the US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), according to reports by Sky News. A settlement is [...]
Big four UK banks on the mend after racking up £66bn of charges in six years, says S&P Global report June 8, 2017 The UK’s big four banking groups have racked up £66bn of conduct and litigation charges in the last six years, a new report out today has estimated. But analysts at S&P Global Ratings expect 2016 will “prove to be the last year in which charges remain at the outsized levels we have seen recently”. The [...]
ING’s rolling out its fintech app Yolt more widely in the UK after beta testing, taking on homegrown startups June 1, 2017 Dutch bank ING is making more waves in the UK market with the wider roll out of its smartphone app Yolt. Launching today on Andorid and Apple after several months in beta which signalled the return of ING to the UK market, the lender is taking on fintech startups with the money management app. Yolt [...]
London house price growth grinds to a halt as the capital becomes the second slowest region in England and Wales May 15, 2017 London was the region with the second slowest house price growth in England and Wales last month, a survey out today shows. Although up 1.4 per cent annually, average house prices in Greater London fell 0.1 per cent month-on-month in April. Prices decreased by £750 to £610,418, according to the latest England and Wales House [...]
British banks threatened by rise in consumer credit the Bank of England warns April 4, 2017 The rapid growth of lending to consumers risks weakening the resilience of British banks, according to the Bank of England body tasked with maintaining the UK’s financial stability. Weaker underwriting standards could “reduce the resilience of lenders to shocks”, the Financial Policy Committee said, according to the minutes from its latest meeting. The FPC said [...]
Secure Trust Bank launches into UK mortgage market, focusing on those working in the gig economy March 20, 2017 Secure Trust Bank is today launching a UK mortgage offering focusing on those individuals who might struggle to bag a loan from a high street lender. The Solihull-headquartered challenger is honing in on the self-employed and the gig economy. Those people working in these fashions might struggle to prove their income to a bank and therefore [...]
Revealed: Hampshire Trust Bank more than doubles new lending in 2016, after it launches commercial mortgages business March 19, 2017 Hampshire Trust Bank more than doubled the value of the new loans it wrote in 2016, City A.M. can reveal. The challenger bank racked up loan originations of £393m in its 2016 financial year, up 132 per cent compared with £169m at the end of 2015. The boost is partly thanks to the lender launching a commercial mortgages [...]
Bank of England steps up to push along Co-op Bank rescue plans, amid worries buyers might be shying away from the struggling lender March 19, 2017 The Bank of England's regulatory team has begun making plans of its own for Co-op Bank, as they become increasingly impatient with the troubled lender's sale. The Co-op Bank, which is currently 20 per cent owned by the wider Co-operative Group, revealed last month it was looking for a buyer for the whole of the business. [...]
Deutsche Bank kicks off its €8bn rights issue on Tuesday as German lender attempts to bolster its capital March 19, 2017 Deutsche Bank announced today it is due to press go on its €8bn (£6.9bn) rights issue on Tuesday, as the German banking giant tries to shore up its capital. The Frankfurt-headquartered lender announced a slew of plans to improve its capital position earlier this month, including, in addition to the rights issue, holding onto its Postbank division, streamlining [...]