Mortgage price war as interest rate hike prospects fade October 20, 2014 Banks slashed mortgage rates again this weekend as the prospect of monetary tightening from the Bank of England receded even further into 2015. Lenders had started increasing rates earlier this year as they believed the booming British economy would lead policymakers to raise interest rates. But the Bank’s monetary policy committee has resisted lifting rates [...]
Rodney Cook interview: Just Retirement rides out annuity storm September 18, 2014 In February this year, crisis management experts visited Just Retirement’s Surrey head office to give senior executives a crash course in coping with the unexpected. Managers didn’t have to wait long to put that advice to use. When George Osborne announced sweeping changes to pension arrangements within the March Budget, allowing retirees to withdraw their [...]
The financial A to Z of Scottish independence – CNBC Comment September 15, 2014 A new, independent Scotland might flummox a foreign visitor. So it’s lucky this financial A to Z has turned up – even if some say it’s a parody of the Better Together campaign. A: Alex – Scotland’s official unit of currency, though largely superseded by an informal bartering system, where one barrel of oil [...]
London Report: Economic data to show UK recovery on a steady course August 31, 2014 ECONOMIC data due this week appears to show continuing steady growth in the UK’s economy, with little chance of an interest rate rise when the Bank of England announces its latest decision on Thursday. Mortgage approvals data for July, due today, may have dipped slightly, but analysts expect this weakness to be temporary. Meanwhile manufacturing [...]
Interest rate hikes risk a household debt tragedy if we don’t act now July 23, 2014 Beware the economist bearing forecasts. The only thing that’s ever certain about economic predictions is that they’ll turn out to be wrong. But this one’s nailed on: interest rates are going to rise. Hardly the riskiest punt – the current emergency base rate of 0.5 per cent can’t be sustained forever and, as yesterday’s Monetary [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 02 July 2014 July 1, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Facebook faces experiment probe A UK data regulator is investigating whether Facebook broke data protection laws when it allowed researchers to conduct a psychological experiment on users of the social network. The Information Commissioner’s Office said it was probing the experiment and planned to ask Facebook questions after widespread outrage when it was [...]
Letters to the Editor – 30/06 – Bubble-mania, World Cup, Best of Twitter June 29, 2014 Bubble-mania [Re: Are the Bank of England’s mortgage lending restrictions likely to prove ineffective? Thursday] An interesting debate, but I’m unnerved by how casually commentators and economists throw the word “bubble” around without giving much thought to what they are actually saying. Would a rise in base rates cause the housing market in London to [...]
The ECB’s new interest rate policy – what does it all mean? June 5, 2014 The European Central Bank has taken the bold decision to push the deposit rate from zero to minus 0.1 per cent, essentially meaning that Eurozone banks must pay the central bank to make deposits there. But what does this decision from ECB president Mario Draghi mean for everyone? Funding For Business Lending [...]
It is high time voters were given the right to recall their MPs June 3, 2014 WE SHALL soon find out whether the coalition is serious about introducing a right of recall for Members of Parliament. The whole concept is revolutionary; embracing it in a proper way would transform British politics forever and help re-establish the bond between voters and those they elect to represent them. The basic idea is simple: [...]
What you need to know before the open June 2, 2014 European markets are expected to receive a boost this morning after postive Chinese manufacturing data lifted Asian markets Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA, a part-owner of Noway's largest offshore oil discovery in the last several decades, may move after agreeing to buy Marathon Oil Corp.’s local unit for $2.7bn. European equities rose 1.9 percent in May [...]