Mortgage lending subdued August 18, 2011 Mortgage lending shows no sign of picking up, according to the latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Gross new lending, for both house buyers and those remortgaging, fell by one per cent in July to £12.6bn. That was also six per cent down from the figure for July last year. The CML [...]
BofA in credit card arm sale to add capital August 15, 2011 MERRILL Lynch owner Bank of America is to shut down or sell off its credit card businesses in the UK, Ireland and Canada as it seeks to build a “fortress balance sheet” against legal claims, it said yesterday. Bank of America sold its $8.6bn (£5.3bn) Canadian credit card portfolio to local banking group TD Bank [...]
BofA to exit credit card businesses August 15, 2011 Bank of America is to exit its international credit card businesses, starting with the sale of its Canadian business, as it seeks to bolster its capital levels and de-risk its operations. America’s biggest bank by assets is selling its Canadian operation, an $8.6bn (£5.3bn) credit card portfolio, to TD Bank for an unspecified amount. TD [...]
Number of repossessions declines August 11, 2011 British mortgage lenders repossessed seven per cent fewer homes in the first half of 2011 than they did in the first half of 2010, their industry body said yesterday. The Council of Mortgage Lenders said 9,000 repossessions took place in the second quarter of 2011, down from 9,100 in the first quarter. Repossessions totalled 18,100 [...]
Mortgage lending rises in June August 10, 2011 Mortgage lending jumped in June according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). The total number of new home loans to house buyers jumped by 22 per cent from May, to 46,700. Loans to first-time buyers reached a 10-month high, up 24 per cent from May to 18,100. Although the level of lending [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 9, 2011 Baker & McKenzie The law firm has appointed Marc Fèvre as a partner in its energy, mining and infrastructure (EMI) group. Fèvre joins from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and is an expert in energy and infrastructure project development and finance. He also brings recent experience of the Middle East, having worked in Abu Dhabi since early [...]
S&P lowers more ratings August 8, 2011 A SWATHE of US institutions were stripped of their gold-plated credit ratings by Standard & Poor’s as the fall-out from the downgrade of the US rating agency continued yesterday. As Moody’s weighed its decision to hold the US at AAA, S&P cut the two giant US mortgage agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to AA+ [...]
House prices in slim rise August 5, 2011 House prices have gone up for the third month in a row, according to the Halifax mortgage lender. Its latest monthly survey says they rose in July by just 0.3 per cent, leaving them 2.6 per cent lower than a year ago at £163,981. The lender explained that over the last three months prices had [...]
Northern Rock narrows loss August 3, 2011 Nationalised lender Northern Rock posted a first-half loss of £78.8m and said it continues to work on plans for an eventual sale of the company back to the private sector. Last year it made a first-half loss of £140m, and the company said it now expects to start trading profitably some time in the second [...]
Bids roll in for the Rock July 28, 2011 THE government received at least two bids for Northern Rock yesterday, six weeks after it kicked off the privatisation of the lender bailed out during the financial crisis. Virgin Money and private equity firm JC Flowers are both understood to have made indicative offers for the Northern Rock “good bank” that is on sale, with [...]