Pressure rises on banks as they agree to publish local loan data July 23, 2013 BRITAIN’S biggest banks will face even more public pressure and scrutiny as they publish detailed lending figures every quarter starting next year, the Treasury will announce today. The seven largest lenders will make public their business, mortgage and unsecured consumer lending figures, listed by postcode. It is part of a long drive to put pressure [...]
UK mortgage approvals rise to a 17-month high as chancellor meets with lenders to discuss Help to Buy July 23, 2013 Some 37,278 home loans were approved in June 2013 – a 17-month high – according to a report from the British Banker’s Association. While this came in below analysts' expectations of a rise to 38,500, mortgage approvals were still up 32 per cent from June 2012 and 17 per cent from the 2012 average. It [...]
Funding for Lending isn’t working: Why the Bank is missing the point April 29, 2013 IN THE debate about why Britain’s monetary policy is not working, there has been too much focus on whether the Bank of England should buy more government bonds or move to negative interest rates. Both miss the point. The primary reason monetary policy is not working is that the transmission mechanism is broken. There is [...]
Political meddling into RBS will hurt the taxpayer April 8, 2013 82 per cent state owned RBS is coming under continued assault from chancellor George Osborne. Our banking reporter Tim Wallace: Good performance in RBS’ markets unit ( investment bank) boosted operating profits. Yet it is cutting the unit under pressure from Osborne. — Tim Wallace (@Tim_Wallace) February 28, 2013 Osborne’s political ambitions are clashing with [...]
FTSE 250 Results Round-up – 27/02 February 27, 2013 Barratt Developments, the residential property development company, released results for the six months to December (results) with profits increased by 113.4 per cent to £46.1m. Chief executive Mark Clare said that: Although we remain cautious as to whether the thaw in lending conditions will be sustained, improvements in mortgage lending and the success of the [...]
The hawk and the dove give their verdict February 21, 2013 Confusing Bank policy is failing to contain persistently high inflation MONETARY policy in the UK is becoming increasingly confusing. When the Bank of England assumed responsibility for setting interest rates in 1997, it was given a clear objective – keeping inflation on target at a low target level (retail price index, excluding mortgage interest payments [...]
HSBC to publish regional loan data in new transparency drive February 12, 2013 HSBC will become the first major bank to publish regional lending data on a regular basis, City A.M. has learned, after business ministers called for the industry to become more transparent over the allocation of credit. Despite several state schemes, lending to businesses is falling so ministers are trying to find new ways to put [...]
US stocks slide as downgrades pull back gains February 4, 2013 US stocks slid yesterday, giving the S&P 500 its worst day since November, as renewed worries about the Eurozone crisis caused the market to pull back from recent gains. Shares of McGraw-Hill shed 13.8 per cent to $50.30, their worst daily percentage decline since the October 1987 market crash, after news the US Justice Department [...]
Mortgage market is stagnating well below pre-crisis peak level January 21, 2013 MORTGAGE lending barely budged in 2012 despite hopes that the economy could be recovering and government-led efforts to improve credit conditions, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed. Total lending came in at an estimated £143bn for the year as a whole, hardly up on the £141bn recorded in 2011. But the industry body estimates [...]
Mortgage lending forecast to rise by nine per cent January 21, 2013 Mortgage lending will hit £156bn this year as lenders face fewer funding pressures, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said today. This marks a jump of nine per cent from last year’s £143bn total, and £141bn the year before that, according to figures released today. Bob Pannell, chief economist at the CML, said today that it [...]