Insurance sector readies for soaring M&A (merger and acquisition) activity as firms look to spend surplus capital following Solvency II Directive June 12, 2017 A surge in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and share buybacks could sweep Europe’s insurance sector this year, as firms look to put surplus capital to work. According to a survey of chief financial officers conducted by Moody’s Investors Service, low interest rates remained the single biggest worry in the sector. The results gathered opinion in [...]
Big four UK banks on the mend after racking up £66bn of charges in six years, says S&P Global report June 8, 2017 The UK’s big four banking groups have racked up £66bn of conduct and litigation charges in the last six years, a new report out today has estimated. But analysts at S&P Global Ratings expect 2016 will “prove to be the last year in which charges remain at the outsized levels we have seen recently”. The [...]
The UK’s buy-to-let hotspots: Liverpool and Nottingham named best areas for buy-to-let investments while Southwark and Newham among top 20 May 31, 2017 London areas including Southwark, Newham and Tower Hamlets are among the top 20 buy-to-let hotspots in the UK, according to a study by mortgage brokers Private Finance. However, the capital lagged behind Liverpool, Nottingham and Coventry which were named the three best cities for buy-to-let investments. Liverpool offers rental yields of eight per cent once [...]
London house price growth grinds to a halt as the capital becomes the second slowest region in England and Wales May 15, 2017 London was the region with the second slowest house price growth in England and Wales last month, a survey out today shows. Although up 1.4 per cent annually, average house prices in Greater London fell 0.1 per cent month-on-month in April. Prices decreased by £750 to £610,418, according to the latest England and Wales House [...]
London is now one of the five cities with the lowest house price growth in the UK April 28, 2017 London is now one of the five cities with the lowest house price growth in the UK, and has been overtaken by a slew of regional cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Portsmouth and Leicester. In March, house price growth in London was just 4.9 per cent, according to Hometrack. Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, the top [...]
UK house prices: Property transactions have fallen to their lowest since 2013 April 21, 2017 The number of homes bought in the UK fell to its lowest since 2013 last year, new figures have shown. Some 1.15m homes were bought between April last year and March this year, compared with 1.32m the year before, and 2m in 2014-15. The figures also showed the number of homes bought fell 40 per [...]
UK and London house prices: The disastrous new tax on buy to let landlords is really a tax on tenants April 6, 2017 Theresa May stood on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street last summer and pledged to help those “just about managing” families and build “a country that works for everyone”. After a divisive referendum campaign and a period of political turmoil, it was a reassuring message. Tackling Britain’s housing crisis was quickly identified as one [...]
Here’s how much house prices grew this month March 20, 2017 Annual house price growth was slashed in March, failing to keep pace with the inflation seen when buy to let landlords were rushing to close property deals before the stamp duty tax hike. Asking prices were up 1.3 per cent (£3,877) in March as compared to the month before, according to Rightmove. Read more: House [...]
Secure Trust Bank launches into UK mortgage market, focusing on those working in the gig economy March 20, 2017 Secure Trust Bank is today launching a UK mortgage offering focusing on those individuals who might struggle to bag a loan from a high street lender. The Solihull-headquartered challenger is honing in on the self-employed and the gig economy. Those people working in these fashions might struggle to prove their income to a bank and therefore [...]
Revealed: Hampshire Trust Bank more than doubles new lending in 2016, after it launches commercial mortgages business March 19, 2017 Hampshire Trust Bank more than doubled the value of the new loans it wrote in 2016, City A.M. can reveal. The challenger bank racked up loan originations of £393m in its 2016 financial year, up 132 per cent compared with £169m at the end of 2015. The boost is partly thanks to the lender launching a commercial mortgages [...]