Will the FSA’s new mortgage lending rules help to improve the UK’s housing market? October 24, 2012 YES Tony Ward At last, we can stop speculating about what may come out of the mortgage market review, and get on with the business of mortgage lending. Much has been carried over from previous consultation papers and the FSA has gone out of its way to incorporate industry feedback. There is an argument that [...]
No shortage of literature for banking bookworms this month October 23, 2012 RECENT City A.M. award winner and property giant Westfield welcomed the Prime Minister’s wife to their Shepherd’s Bush store yesterday. Samantha Cameron, ambassador of Save the Children, gave a special reading of The Snail and the Whale at Foyles Bookstore to a group of children from Larmenier & Sacred Heart primary school. But for grown-up [...]
Small lenders fear new rules only aid giants October 22, 2012 FINANCIAL regulators are failing to promote competition in the banking sector and perpetuating the “too big to fail” problem, a small bank claimed yesterday, by favouring big lenders under new capital requirements. Paul Lynam, chief executive of Secure Trust Bank, pointed to Sir John Vickers’ proposals allowing a large bank to risk-weight mortgages at five [...]
Bank data reveals loans drop despite Funding for Lending October 18, 2012 NET lending was negative in August, statistics showed yesterday, with more businesses paying off debt than taking more out. The net monthly flow of lending to businesses was minus £2.2bn in the month, according to Bank of England data. The total stock of lending shrunk 2.2 per cent at an annualised rate in the three months to [...]
Wheatley’s new City watchdog shows its teeth October 16, 2012 THE FINANCIAL Conduct Authority (FCA) yesterday unveiled its plan to regulate behaviour in the City, pledging to force companies to “put consumers at the heart of their business”. Martin Wheatley, who will be chief executive of the FCA when it is spawned from the disbanding Financial Services Authority (FSA) next year, outlined its approach. New [...]
It might be prime time to refinance October 14, 2012 HISTORICALLY low interest rates and government schemes mean that it may make sense, for some borrowers at least, to remortgage their homes. But data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders serves as a stark reminder as to how tight conditions still are. In 2011, £46.6bn worth of remortgages were taken out by borrowers in 375,000 [...]
BBA’s Browne set to face MPs October 11, 2012 THE NEW head of the British Bankers’ Association will tell MPs next week what the industry body thinks of new powers set to be handed to the Bank of England. A new committee within the Bank could soon be able to impose capital rules for lenders and set charges to dampen lending in overheated parts [...]
What the other papers say this Morning October 9, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Channel Islands unite over deficits Guernsey and Jersey are setting aside centuries of rivalry to defeat a common foe: the budget deficit. Senior politicians on the two islands, which have struggled to balance their books since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, are considering radical moves to combine public services, including [...]
Boost for mortgage lending October 8, 2012 The number of mortgages available to prospective home-buyers has started to expand, according to the Moneysupermarket website. The group also claimed that lenders are offering high loan to value (LTV) ratio deals. “Since April, there has been a 14 per cent increase in the number of 75 per cent LTV mortgages available, rising from 636 [...]
Nationwide to scrap interest-only loans October 4, 2012 ONE of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders yesterday said it would withdraw interest-only mortgages to future homeowners from next week, in a further sign of the squeeze on higher risk lending. Nationwide Building Society, the third biggest mortgage lender in the country, wrote to brokers yesterday saying it would stop offering the mortgage on 11 [...]