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 [...]
Tax onslaught from Labour and Brussels will destroy jobs February 14, 2013 IF it moves, tax it; if it doesn’t, subsidise it; and above all make sure the tax system is as complicated as possible. That, and a nasty dose of class war and anti-finance prejudice, has become the new modus operandi for many in Britain and Europe. As a result, yesterday was one of the worst [...]
Buy to let loans grow to 12pc of market in 2012 February 14, 2013 THE BUY-TO-LET market enjoyed rapid expansion in 2012, ballooning back up towards its pre-recession peak, according to figures out yesterday. Buy-to let lending exploded 19 per cent between 2011 and last year, from £13.8bn to £16.4bn, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said. This boom saw it taking up 11.5 per cent of total gross [...]
Work placements for the unemployed make a lot of sense February 12, 2013 UNEMPLOYMENT remains obscenely high in today’s stagnant Britain, and far too many people – young and old – have been on the dole or on other out of work benefits for far too long. Anything that allows them to break out of their present predicament should be welcome. The government should be able to ask [...]
Jenkins slashes jobs and pay to shore up profit February 12, 2013 BARCLAYS shares soared as the bank announced a major cost-cutting plan yesterday, shutting four business units and shaking up another 32 of its 75 units to streamline the institution and shore up profits in the face of a weak economic outlook. Chief executive Antony Jenkins announced 3,700 job cuts – well above the 2,000 expected [...]
Credit scheme eats away rates on mortgages February 11, 2013 THE HOUSING market switched up a gear as 2013 began, several sets of data have revealed. Credit costs for a range of mortgage types plunged yet again, according to Bank of England data, suggesting that the government and Bank ’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) has driven funds back into the housing market. The average [...]
Retail banks aren’t safe: Politicians fool themselves to think otherwise February 11, 2013 YESTERDAY, RBS’s chief executive Stephen Hester appeared before the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, just days after his bank’s £390m fine for involvement in Libor manipulation. In the face of scandals like these, the political debate about structural banking reform has intensified. Last week, George Osborne committed to forcibly breaking up banks if they do [...]
Mortgage aid schemes help housebuilder Bellway grow February 7, 2013 HOUSEBUILDER Bellway said yesterday demand for its properties is rising, helped by new sales outlets and the government’s NewBuy mortgage scheme for first-time buyers. The firm said it completed sales on 2,597 homes in the six months to the end of January, a rise of 5.8 per cent on last year. The average price has [...]
Markets cheer bumper profits at Hargreaves February 6, 2013 FINANCIAL adviser Hargreaves Lansdown was the FTSE’s biggest blue chip riser yesterday after reporting record revenue and profit for the second half of last year. However it warned a new government initiative to boost lending would compress revenue margins for the outfit over the rest of this year. The company, co-founded by Peter Hargreaves and [...]
UK house prices propped up by lending scheme February 6, 2013 THE HOUSING market has sprung back to life in recent months, Halifax said yesterday, while citing the UK government’s lending initiative. Prices dipped 0.2 per cent in January when compared to December, the company said. Yet a three-monthly measure of house prices – used to iron out month by month fluctuations – rose at its [...]