Regulator block NAB’s $12bn bid for Axa Asia September 9, 2010 Australia’s competition regulator blocked National Australia Bank’s $12bn (£7.8bn) bid for AXA Asia Pacific for a second time, dashing NAB’s efforts to cement its dominance in the world’s fourth-largest wealth management market. The decision clears the decks for Australia’s second-biggest fund manager, AMP, to take another tilt at AXA Asia Pacific after its cash and [...]
BP and energy peers propel the FTSE while banks drag September 8, 2010 EENERGY stocks led by BP pushed Britain’s top shares higher yesterday, outpacing falls in banks that were weighed down by European recovery concerns. The FTSE 100 closed up 21.92 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,429.74, after breaking a seven-session winning streak to close down 0.6 per cent on Tuesday at 5,407.82. Meanwhile the FTSE [...]
Barratt beats forecasts but warns of dip September 8, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments said concerns about the economy and the lack of mortgage finance meant the market for new housing was still challenging as it reported better-than-expected full-year profits. “It’s early days in the autumn-selling season but so far private reservation rates are in line with expectations and prices are holding up,” chief executive Mark [...]
Halifax shocks bears with rise in house prices September 8, 2010 HOUSE prices rose for the second month running in August, mortgage lender Halifax said yesterday, confounding expectations for a fall though it still expected house prices to stagnate overall this year. House prices rose 0.2 per cent in August, Halifax said, which, coming after a 0.7 per cent rise in July, had helped to reverse [...]
House prices in slim rise in August September 8, 2010 House prices rose 0.2 per cent in August mortgage lender Halifax has said. Prices rose 4.6 per cent up in the three months to August compared with a year ago and took the average price of a home to £167,953 – nine per cent above its low in April 2009 but still 16 per cent [...]
Barratt warns of tough times despite profit rise September 8, 2010 Housebuilder Barratt Developments said wider economic fears and the lack of mortgage finance meant the market for new housing was still challenging as it reported a jump in profits. House prices fell much faster than expected last month, according to a monthly survey from mortgage lender Nationwide, stoking concerns that the country could be headed [...]
Surveys cast shadow over house pricesa September 2, 2010 HOUSE prices fell much faster than expected last month and construction activity slowed, industry surveys showed yesterday, reinforcing concerns that economic growth will fall off sharply. The strongest quarterly construction growth for decades pushed British economic growth to a nine-year high of 1.2 per cent in the second quarter, but the Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index [...]
FSA fines and censures two mortgage brokers for fraud August 31, 2010 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority (FSA) has banned one mortgage broker and fined another for committing “reckless business practices”, which it said led to false and misleading mortgage applications made to lenders. Ngozika Louise Ogboru, who ran Harrow based JN Finance UK, has been banned by the financial watchdog after it found that advisers at her [...]
Brazil government boosts bank August 31, 2010 Brazil’s federal government yesterday injected 1.4bn reais (£523m) into the capital base of state-controlled development bank BNDES, which is poised to lend a record amount this year. The government will cede shares in state-controlled electricity utility Eletrobras to Rio de Janeiro-based BNDES as part of the plan, according to a post in the official government [...]
Irish Life shares up as losses shrink August 31, 2010 Irish Life & Permanent shrank first-half losses, defying expectations for a bigger shortfall, and said it expected Irish mortgage arrears to peak this year, sending its shares up 12 per cent at one point. Irish Life’s stock was the only bright spot on the country’s financial index on as investors were prepared for yet more [...]