HSBC: UK homeowners are losing £29bn a year by not remortgaging November 19, 2015 Brits are losing a massive £29bn by not remortgaging onto better deals, a leading lender has said. With mortgage rates currently hovering around record lows, HSBC has calculated that homeowners who have not remortgaged onto a lower fixed rate from their standard variable rate (SVR) are losing an average of £4,000 a year. The SVRs [...]
UK house prices: Mortgage lending is steaming ahead at its fastest pace since 2008, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders November 19, 2015 Mortgage lending is in full recovery mode. The amount of mortgage lending shot up eight per cent in October compared with September to £21.8bn, according to figures published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) today. October was the biggest month for mortgage lending since July 2008 and takes annual mortgage lending growth to a whopping [...]
Buy-to-let is booming with more mortgage deals for landlords than ever but George Osborne’s tax changes will bite November 19, 2015 Buy to let is booming. Banks’ mortgage lending hit a post-crisis peak of £200bn last year so that “mortgage lending is currently enjoying its best spell since 2008,” says Bob Pannell of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Although mortgage lending figures remain well below their pre-crisis highs of £350bn in 2007, the number of [...]
Fintech Lookahead 2016: The disruptors you should be looking out for November 19, 2015 What can we expect to see from the fintech industry over the coming year? And what kinds of companies are leading the charge? In its 2015 Global Banking Annual Review, McKinsey said that “banks are under attack from new technology companies and others seeking to poach their customers. To date, banks’ losses to attackers have [...]
Challenger bank Aldermore looking as safe as houses in third quarter results, as residential mortgages push up lending, but share price drops November 12, 2015 Aldermore has today reported loan growth of about £1bn over the last nine months, bringing total net loans to customers to £5.8bn, an increase of 20 per cent from the end of December. In its third-quarter results for 2015, the challenger bank, which was set up by former Barclays executive Phillip Monks, said it was on [...]
Co-Op Bank given breathing space on capital requirements by Bank of England body Prudential Regulation Authority November 12, 2015 The Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has said the Co-Operative Bank does not need to issue more debt to cover its capital requirements this year. The Co-Op Bank was the only UK lender to fail the BoE's stress tests last year. The minimum capital ratio needed to pass the test was 4.5 per cent; [...]
House purchase lending jumps to seven-year for October November 12, 2015 Mortgage lending reached its highest level for the month of October in seven years, new data released today shows, as low inflation rates and rising wages helped keep consumer confidence levels high. Overall house purchase lending approvals reached 72,409 in October, up by 5.1 per cent on the previous month and 21.9 per cent ahead [...]
First-time buyers fuel rise in mortgage lending in September November 11, 2015 Mortgage lending rose year-on-year in September, new data shows, driven by a jump in first time buyers taking out new loans. The month saw 28,600 first-time buyers take out mortgages, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which was up four per cent on the previous month and by 8.7 per cent year-on-year. By value, [...]
Vocalink is reportedly in talks to merge with rival Sia November 5, 2015 Payments infrastructure company Vocalink is reportedly in talks for a £2bn merger with Italian counterpart Sia. According to Sky News the discussions are said to be at a preliminary stage, and could take several months before an agreement is reached. Vocalink declined to comment. VocaLink runs the Faster Payments Service and BACs which handle trillions [...]
UK house prices: Persimmon share price falls despite jump in sales November 4, 2015 Are housebuilders finally feeling the heat? FTSE-listed builder Persimmon reported a 12 per cent sales hike in the third quarter this morning – but shares continued to slide after the sector had a spot of bother with a broker yesterday. The figures Sales were 12 per cent higher in the period since it reported its half year results on [...]