Banks bashed: Vickers hits UK lenders with a raft of new rules and limits September 12, 2011 THE UK yesterday took a radical step towards imposing new regulations that will cost banks billions and risk eroding the competitiveness of the City. The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) unveiled a report that its chair Sir John Vickers said “goes further” than international regulation. The ICB says that the reforms will cost banks between [...]
Economic uncertainty keeps housing market weighed down during August September 12, 2011 THE UNSTABLE economic outlook kept the UK’s housing market subdued last month, a survey published this morning suggests. The average number of house sales per surveyor fell to 14 in August, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has found – “taking transactions back to June 2009 levels”. Nearly eight in 10 surveyors reported “general [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS September 7, 2011 NEW MOBILE APP FOR INVESTORS Hargreaves Lansdown has released a new smartphone app, allowing investors to view their Isa, Sipp and other investments on both iPhone and Android systems. Ofcom figures show that 27 per cent of UK adults now own a smartphone.“The age of connected computing is with us,” says Richard Hunter, head of [...]
House prices fall more than expected in August September 7, 2011 UK house prices fell 1.2 per cent in August, mortgage lender Halifax has said, after an 0.5 per cent fall in the second quarter, reinforcing views that current prices cannot be sustained by cash-strapped UK buyers. The fall is about twice the 0.6 per cent fall posted in the rival Nationwide measure of house prices. [...]
How Washington created sub-prime September 4, 2011 AMERICANS love lawsuits. It’s the way they do business. But the news that the authorities supervising the US housing agencies are suing 17 banks over the sub-prime crisis was unintentionally hilarious. To see why, recall that the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (Freddie Mac) – government sponsored [...]
Banks face $200bn US subprime suit September 4, 2011 LENDERS were dealt a heavy blow on Friday as a US federal agency filed 17 lawsuits against banks for allegedly mis-selling securities based on mortgages in the run-up to the financial crisis. Shares in Bank of America, the worst-hit, tumbled more than eight per cent on the news. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees [...]
Aldermore to offer 100pc mortgages September 4, 2011 PRIVATE equity-backed Aldermore is set to be the first national lender to offer 100 per cent mortgages since the onset of the financial crisis. The mortgages, which were discarded for being too risky, will rely on certain stipulations, such as being partially guaranteed by a parent. Aldermore, which is owned by AnaCap, will offer the [...]
Goldman pays US homes fine September 1, 2011 GOLDMAN Sachs was hit by more US government action yesterday as it agreed to pay a fine and reform some of its mortgage management practices after wrongfully repossessing borrowers’ homes in 2009 and 2010. The Federal Reserve said Goldman, through its former subsidiary, US mortgage lender Litton, had agreed to pay the unspecified fine over [...]
House prices fall in August September 1, 2011 House prices suffered an unexpected fall last month, dropping at their fastest pace since October last year, data from mortgage lender Nationwide showed on Thursday, reinforcing the subdued outlook for the property market. Nationwide said that house prices fell by 0.6 per cent in August, reversing a revised 0.3 per cent rise in July, and [...]
Northern Rock owner to credit check clients August 31, 2011 THE administrator of failed lenders Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley is monitoring its 750,000 mortgage-holding customers for signs of financial stress and will offer advice to any it feels may be struggling, it emerged yesterday. UK Asset Resolution checked customers’ creditworthiness to identify those that may need to cut spending to continue paying their [...]