With changes to buy-to-let and a falling Lifetime allowance, 2016 was the year when venture capital trusts and other alternative investments went mainstream December 21, 2016 When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, so the saying goes. This blend of optimism and pragmatism has been vital during 2016. And those qualities continue to serve the financial services industry well, given the rule changes that are keeping product providers, financial advisers – and investors – on their toes. Take the recent adjustments [...]
City Moves for 19 December 2016 | Who’s switching jobs December 19, 2016 Fitch Fitch has appointed Sean Costello as head of its EMEA corporates banker team. Sean joins from Commerzbank where he was head of loan capital markets within their leveraged finance group. Sean joined Commerzbank in August 2005 from the leveraged loan distribution team at Bank of Scotland and prior to that, NIBC Bank and NatWest Capital Markets. With [...]
Habito founder Daniel Hegarty talks fintech mortgages, bigamy and working above a kebab shop December 19, 2016 Many people have a career change. Before venturing into fintech, Daniel Hegarty, founder of digital mortgage broker Habito, was a professional musician, composing for TV and film and touring internationally. In 2007, he joined a few people trying to work out how to do loans on the internet in real time, in a pre-launch company [...]
Deutsche Bank mulls axing bonuses to pay loans fine December 18, 2016 Deutsche Bank could axe bonuses for some of its senior staff as scrambles to shore up cash to pay a potentially massive fine over toxic US loans. The bank, which has spooked investors in recent months with warnings over lower for longer interest rates and red tape pushing up costs, will not make a decision [...]
It’d be a Christmas miracle if the chancellor delivered on these three festive reforms December 16, 2016 While Philip Hammond hasn’t been chancellor for long, he has already adopted George Osborne’s style of giveaways – the gifts aren’t simply bought by taxpayers, but are often funded by taxpayer money that hasn’t been raised yet. Of course, this kind of gift-giving rarely places the goods in the hands of the people who need [...]
London house prices are growing at slowest rate for over three years December 16, 2016 Annual house price growth fell to 7.6 per cent in November, its lowest level for more than three years. The figures from Hometrack show how tax changes and the Brexit vote have been weighing on London property. In November 2015, house price growth was 11.8 per cent year-on-year. Read more: This is how far house prices will fall [...]
Loans to home buyers fell in October December 14, 2016 Loans to home buyers fell by eight per cent in October, despite the amount borrowers are paying towards interest rates hitting a historic low. First-time buyers borrowed £4.5bn, a monthly decrease of eight per cent, and a year-on-year drop of two per cent, according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Read more: [...]
This is what will happen to house prices in 2017 December 14, 2016 How will the UK's favourite asset fare in 2017? It's safe to say that the Brexit vote has not caused the immediate and catastrophic housing crash that former chancellor George Osborne was predicting before the referendum. But the outlook for property next year is not particularly rosy. Liberum analysts are expecting house prices to fall [...]
Bellway boosted by Help to Buy December 13, 2016 Bellway's share price was up two per cent this morning after the company said its sales grew by seven per cent, with reservations boosted by the government's Help to Buy scheme. The figures The housebuilder announced that its reservation rate was 176 per week for the 18 weeks from 1 August to 4 December, up from 165 per [...]
Financial watchdog wants to know if the mortgage system is working to the detriment of consumers December 12, 2016 Britain's financial regulator has put the competitiveness of the mortgage sector under the microscope and launched a sweeping review into industry practices. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today announced it wants to focus on whether or not customers are getting the best deal from the commercial arrangements between lenders, brokers and other players. Read more: Remortgaging valuations boom [...]