Don’t expect miracles in housing market June 11, 2009 IT is beginning to look as if house prices won’t be falling much further. This won’t be of any use to the one in ten Brits that have already been plunged into negative equity, however; and even if the market reaches bottom this year, it will struggle in 2010. We must hope, for the sake [...]
Rock appeal gathers pace June 10, 2009 INVESTORS in nationalised lender Northern Rock yesterday launched a legal bid to overturn a High Court decision which they claim will leave them with “derisory” compensation. Institutional investors RAB Capital, SRM Global and a collective of private shareholders numbering more than 200,000, who are backed by the UK Shareholders Association, say the government’s compensation scheme [...]
Lending for home loans rises in April June 2, 2009 MORTGAGE approvals for house purchase rose in April for the third consecutive month, according to data released yesterday by the Bank of England, providing further evidence that housing market activity was recovering. But approvals remained at a level that suggests further house price falls are still ahead. The Bank of England said that the number [...]
FSA fees to rise as City watchdog bares its teeth June 2, 2009 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) expects the fees it levies on regulated companies this year to rise by 35.8 per cent to £435.5m, just under its initial prediction of £437.7m. The increase is targeted at arming the City watchdog with sufficient resources to heighten its level of supervision, after it was accused of failing to [...]
B&B suffers on loan losses June 1, 2009 BRADFORD and Bingley will lose up to £700m on mortgage defaults this year and expects an increase in the rate of loan losses, its chief executive Richard Pym said yesterday. Pym said the number of borrowers more than three months behind on their mortgage had grown from the 4.6 per cent figure it announced in [...]
Nationwide in 69 per cent profit fall on protection fees May 27, 2009 NATIONWIDE, Britain’s largest building society, reported a 69 per cent drop in full-year pre-tax profits yesterday, blaming the decline on the costs of the government’s deposit protection scheme for savers. The mortgage provider and lender offered little sign of optimism in its outlook, warning of further loan loss provisions to come.The group said it was [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 26, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES CHEVRON EXPECTED TO COME UNDER FIRE OVER LAWSUIT IN ECUADORChevron is expected to come under fire from shareholders over its environmental record in Ecuador, which has left the world’s third-largest oil company facing potential liabilities of $27bn. Investors, as well as indigenous and farming communities from Ecuador’s Amazon, are set to attack Chevron [...]
REALITY CHECK AS UK DEFICIT SOARS May 21, 2009 TENTATIVE signs of a recovery in the UK economy were dramatically overshadowed yesterday when credit ratings agency S&P downgraded its outlook on UK debt and the scale of the crisis in the public finances was laid bare. S&P lowered its outlook on the UK’s prized AAA credit rating to “negative” from “stable”, giving a one [...]
British Land shares suffer as values cut May 21, 2009 SHARES in British Land took a battering yesterday after the company wrote down £3.2bn on the value of its property portfolio, reviving fears that banks will suffer huge losses from commercial mortgage lending. Announcing its annual results, the commercial property group said its net asset value tumbled 64 per cent to 398p a share, well [...]
West Brom denies it is in loans crisis May 17, 2009 WEST Bromwich Building Society yesterday denied that it is on the brink of failure after reports emerged that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was seeking a “white-knight” bidder in a last-ditch effort to save the 160-year-old mutual. The regulator was said yesterday to have been so alarmed after seeing an early version of the lender’s [...]