Coronavirus: A third of small firms fear collapse amid redundancy plans May 13, 2020 A third of small firms are considering redundancies while thousands fear they will never reopen as the Covid-19 crisis devastates the UK economy. Roughly 40 per cent of small businesses have been forced to close their doors since the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown in March. Of those that have closed, more than a third [...]
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 [...]
Credit card lending fell for the first time in March May 1, 2020 UK consumers’ credit card debt fell for the first time since records began in March, as lockdown measures froze spending. The annual growth rate of credit card lending fell to minus 0.3 per cent, the first negative annual growth since the Bank of England (BoE) started tracking the data. The annual growth rate of other [...]
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 [...]
HSBC first quarter profit halves on coronavirus pandemic April 28, 2020 HSBC saw coronavirus rip its first quarter profit in half today as it counted a huge $2.4bn jump in credit losses as a result of the pandemic. The bank’s share price declined 1.7 per cent to 409.3p in early trading as it revealed profit before tax sank 48 per cent year on year to $3.21bn. [...]
Coronavirus: Government must be more imaginative to save small businesses April 27, 2020 The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILs) was launched to much fanfare, with people lining up to praise the far-sighted, generous nature of the programme and proclaim how much it would do for small business. A staggering £330 billion was set aside for interest-free loans, with the Government willing to sit behind 80 per cent [...]
UK banks slammed by Tory backbencher for not acting in national interest April 22, 2020 The UK’s banking sector has been criticised for not working in the national interest as some banks move to rapidly raise overdraft interest fees. Tory backbencher Peter Bone slammed the nation’s banks at today’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) for hiking interest rates on overdrafts while many struggle during the coronavirus crisis. Some banks have increased [...]
Coronavirus: Knight Frank and Rightmove call for stamp duty holiday to reignite market April 20, 2020 Estate agent Knight Frank and property platform Rightmove have both backed a stamp duty holiday as part of a package of measures to reignite the housing market after the coronavirus lockdown is lifted. The companies have separately called for a stamp duty holiday to be among a range of measures designed to stimulate the market, [...]
FCA pushes car finance firms to halt repossessions amid coronavirus April 17, 2020 The UK’s financial watchdog has proposed a freeze on car finance repayments, ruling out repossessions of vehicles during the coronavirus crisis. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) told car leasing firms today to offer three-month repayment pauses for customers in financial difficulty as a result of coronavirus. “We are very aware of the continued struggle people [...]