Nationwide to triple deposits for first-time buyers June 17, 2020 Nationwide is to triple its minimum required deposit from first time buyers for mortgages, as it steadies itself to avoid a crisis should the economy worsen. The country’s second largest mortgage lender said it would be increasing its minimum deposit from five per cent to 15 per cent, withdrawing loan deals for new customers. “The [...]
Bank of England asks banks for pandemic loan loss estimates June 4, 2020 The Bank of England has asked banks to provide information on their likely loan losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, its deputy governor Sam Woods said today. The Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority will gather the data ahead of banks’ second quarter earnings to compare the timing and amount of losses with those it modelled last [...]
BoE’s Andrew Bailey tells UK banks to up preparations for no-deal Brexit June 3, 2020 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has reportedly told UK banks to ramp up their preparations for a no-deal Brexit as the UK sticks to its target to strike a deal before the end of the year. Bailey told British lenders to accelerate their planning for a no-deal Brexit scenario in a call yesterday, according [...]
Profit nearly halves at Nationwide as it books expected coronavirus losses May 29, 2020 Building society Nationwide’s annual profit nearly halved it said today as it warned of rising loan losses due to the coronavirus pandemic. The lender also said it was abandoning some of its member benefit targets in response to the crisis. Nationwide booked a £101m hit from expected credit losses and said it will focus on [...]
What are negative interest rates and will the UK turn to them? May 22, 2020 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey this week said he has changed his mind on negative interest rates, saying the BoE is keeping them under “active review”. President Donald Trump has repeatedly made clear that he is a fan of negative rates, and wants the US to have them as it deals with the coronavirus [...]
Mortgage payment holidays extended until October May 22, 2020 The financial watchdog has today extended payment holidays to support those struggling to pay their mortgage due to coronavirus. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said banks can extend the mortgage holidays for a further three months up to the end of October. It comes after chancellor Rishi Sunak extended the furlough scheme to October to [...]
Treasury mulling plans for ‘bad bank’ to manage stakes in bailed-out firms May 17, 2020 The Treasury is considering plans to develop a so-called “bad bank” in order to hold stake in bailed out companies, the Sunday Times reported, amid fears that key firms could fail due to the coronavirus pandemic. The initiative reflects similar steps taken by the Labour party during the 2008 financial crisis, when it set up [...]
Co-operative Bank takes £12m hit from coronavirus as losses continue May 6, 2020 The Co-operative Bank booked a loss in the first quarter as it took a £12m hit from coronavirus, it has said in a trading update. The challenger bank said today that it made an underlying loss of £14.2m in the first three months of the year. This was down from a loss of £5.1m in [...]
UK house prices: Experts predict sharp recovery after coronavirus lockdown May 1, 2020 UK house prices could rebound after the coronavirus lockdown eases, after they grew at the fastest pace since 2017 before the crisis, Nationwide said today. The value of British homes grew at their fastest rate since February 2017 before the coronavirus lockdown brought the market crashing to a halt, Nationwide data released today showed. UK [...]
Lloyds first quarter profit crashes 95 per cent on coronavirus April 30, 2020 Lloyds Banking Group posted a huge 95 per cent fall in profit for the first quarter of 2020 today as the coronavirus crisis took hold in the UK. Profit before tax slumped to £74m from £1.6bn the previous year as Lloyds took a massive impairment charge of £1.43bn as it expects bad loans to mount [...]