UK mortgage debt swells to £7bn as interest rates rise May 4, 2022 Mortgage debt swelled in March, according to Bank of England data, with net borrowing climbing from £4.6bn to £7bn in March as interest rates rise. House purchase mortgage approvals slipped to 70.7k in March from 71.0k in February, slightly ahead of consensus but moving towards their 2015 to 2019 average of 66.5k – which analysts [...]
UK high street lenders whipsaw on muddled day of trading in the City April 27, 2022 The UK’s biggest high street lenders whipsawed in the City today after giving up morning gains that initially boosted London’s top indexes. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index closed 0.53 per cent higher at 7,425.61 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, dipped [...]
The City View: August CEO Mélie Dunod on rethinking holiday home co-ownership April 27, 2022 Today Andy Silvester talks to Mélie Dunod, CEO and co-founder of holiday home co-ownership firm August. She talks us through the company’s inception; why their equity purchase model allows for better and more transparent co-ownership; and the post-Covid re-examination of lifestyle purchases. And in the news: law giant Eversheds Sutherland has re-entered Russia, striking a [...]
Lloyds warns of looming defaults on cost of living shock April 27, 2022 The cost of living shock that is rippling throughout household finances is increasing the chances of borrowers defaulting on their debts, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender warned today. Worsening economic conditions triggered by inflation scaling to 30-year highs is likely to lead to greater financial distress among Brits, Lloyds Bank said today. The bleak assessment touches [...]
Starling bags £130.5m ‘war chest’ as it looks to snap up lenders April 26, 2022 Fintech lender Starling said it is on an acquisition warpath today as it bagged £130.5m fresh funding to snap up new firms.
HSBC profits slide on looming inflation default wave April 26, 2022 A deterioration in borrowers’ credit worthiness caused by a historic cost of living squeeze prompted Britain’s biggest lender HSBC to set aside millions of pounds to deal with a rise in defaults. The bank, which sources a large proportion of its profits from China and Asia, banked $600m (£470m) in reserves to cope with a [...]
The City View: Musk on cusp of Twitter buy, and global markets down April 25, 2022 Today Andy Silvester talks to Jack Barnett, City A.M.’s Economics and Markets reporter. They go through the global market dip and why China’s zero-Covid lockdowns are concerning investors; bank earnings for Q1; and new ONS data showing that 9 in 10 households have recorded an uptick in their cost of living. And in the news, [...]
Britain’s biggest banks in higher interest rate profit boost as earnings season kicks off April 24, 2022 Profits at Britain’s biggest high street lenders have been boosted by the Bank of England hiking interest rates to tame historic high inflation. That’s according to top City analysts who are forecasting the UK’s largest banks to have reaped the rewards of being able to charge borrowers more for loans. A higher interest rate environment [...]
Week ahead: City eyes cladding bill impact on house builders’ bottom lines April 24, 2022 Signs of the negative impact of the government turning to home builders to fix the cladding crisis is likely to draw City traders’ gaze in a week of jam packed corporate and economic announcements. London’s capital FTSE 100 index dipped 0.78 per cent to 7,521.68 over the last week, while the mid-cap domestically-focused FTSE 250 [...]
UK housing market shows signs of stability with Brits’ reluctant to spend April 21, 2022 The UK’s housing market could be returning to stability, say analysts, before deals pick up as warmer weather blankets the country. Residential transactions for March have plunged more than a third in comparison with the same month last year, according to the government’s latest figures, after a continued, pandemic-era, buying frenzy. Although deals have climbed [...]