UK mortgage lending hits five year high November 20, 2013 Gross mortgage lending in October has risen to £17.6bn according to Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) data. This represents an increase of 36.6 per cent year-on-year and nine per cent month-on-month and was the highest monthly gross mortgage lending seen since October 2008. The housing market is being supported by improving consumer confidence, increasing employment [...]
$13bn fine for JP Morgan over mortgage sales November 19, 2013 JP MORGAN last night confirmed it would pay the biggest ever fine levied on a firm, as part of a $13bn (£8bn) settlement with the Department of Justice (DoJ). The giant bank is paying up after admitting selling toxic mortgage-backed securities in the boom years, and is accepting responsibility for the actions of Washington Mutual [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 20 November 2013 November 19, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Investors attack BoA settlement Bank of America’s plan to pay $8.5bn to compensate 22 institutional investors for soured mortgage-backed securities is a “Frankenstein settlement”, and should be rejected, a lawyer for a dissenting group of investors told a New York judge Tuesday. The claim came as lawyers for investors locked in combat over [...]
Payday lenders lobby banks to ease off on credit punishment November 19, 2013 PAYDAY lenders are pushing for banks to treat their borrowers more fairly when they apply for mortgages, City A.M. has learned, arguing some users of the short term loans are unfairly treated. Some lenders will not give mortgages to anyone who has recently used a payday loan as they fear the borrower is often short [...]
Banks urged to cut premium rate phone bills for customers November 18, 2013 CONSUMERS are being ripped off by high rate phone charges used by their banks and credit card providers, said consumer group Which?, in a new drive to cut or end the premium rate bills. It comes at Barclays and RBS announced they will offer free or basic-rate phone lines to customers. “With two of the [...]
UK’s bad banks pay another £3bn back to the government November 14, 2013 THE REMAINING chunk of Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley is paying the government increasingly quickly, UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) said yesterday. It paid £3.8bn to the government in the first nine months of the year, £3.1bn of which were loan repayments. That compares with payments of £2.6bn in the same period of 2012 and [...]
Santander fears tough leverage rules could make banks riskier November 12, 2013 THE TOUGHER cap on leverage favoured by politicians could make banks riskier, not safer as intended, Santander’s UK retail boss warned yesterday. A group of MPs and peers has been pushing for a four per cent leverage cap, a tighter limit than the three per cent currently in place. Lenders like Nationwide, which specialises in mortgages, [...]
Banks say over 2,000 applied for Help to Buy November 11, 2013 HALIFAX and RBS reported strong interest in the first phase of the government’s Help To Buy scheme this morning, saying they had received more than 2,000 applications in the first month of the programme. Halifax recorded 1,309 applications under the scheme in its first month, while state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland also said today it [...]
UK must build 1.5m new homes November 6, 2013 Think tank calls for huge construction drive over next five years THE NEXT government must commit to build 1.5m homes by 2020 to stem an emerging social and economic crisis, according to a report released today. Westminster think tank Policy Exchange has calculated that the UK desperately needs to build 300,000 houses every year between [...]
Lloyds hopes for a 2013 dividend October 29, 2013 LLOYDS hopes to pay a dividend for this year after returning to profit, chief executive Antonio Horta Osorio revealed yesterday. The bailed out bank began its privatisation last month when the government sold a £3.2bn stake in the lender, and resuming dividend payments would be another key step on the return to normality for Lloyds. [...]