Banks facing squeezed margins? ‘Fetch me a smaller violin’, Treasury committee chair says February 1, 2024 Following pressure from the Treasury Committee, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) intervened over the summer, prompting high street banks to offer better rates. All over? Not exactly.
Even Russia’s central bank is ‘surprised’ as country’s lenders post record profits January 31, 2024 Russian banks posted record profits in 2023 in news that surprised even the country’s own central bank, showing how the state is weathering Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
Santander UK rides out interest rate peak but expects further mortgage weakness January 31, 2024 High street lender Santander UK has reported a jump in annual profits as it rode out the end of an interest rate spike, while weakness continued in the mortgage market.
House prices: Recovery speeds up as more than half of Brits now tap up parents to get on the ladder January 31, 2024 House prices rose 0.7 per cent in January as cooling mortgage rates are continuing to help repair the market, a new report from Nationwide said.
Housing: 60 per cent of first time buyers couple up to buy a home January 31, 2024 Nearly two-third of first time buyers are entering the property market with someone else, a new report by Halifax has found. Over 60 per cent of mortgages taken out by first time buyers between January and December last year were taken out in joint names. House prices for first-time buyers remain over £132k more expensive [...]
Rachel Reeves and Sadiq Khan tell City A.M. readers: ‘When you succeed, we all succeed’ January 31, 2024 Rachel Reeves and Sadiq Khan tell City A.M. that Labour will put the full weight of government behind the City and financial services
Labour: We’ll ‘unashamedly champion’ financial services as party plots rulebook reform January 31, 2024 Labour have promised to reform the City's rulebook to give financial services the support it needs to be competitive on the global stage
Mortgage approvals hit six month high in fresh boost for house buyers January 30, 2024 Mortgage approvals rose again last month and climbed to the highest level in six months, in the latest signal that lower borrowing costs are helping aid recovery in the property market. New figures from the Bank of England show the number of buyers receiving a green light grew from 49,300 in November to 50,500 in [...]
UK Finance boss: City’s post-Brexit ‘challenger’ role takes ‘some getting used to’ January 30, 2024 Postings noted that in the Brexit debates "there was probably more debates around fishing quotas than there was around financial services".
London house prices: Best time to buy since 2016, experts say, but it won’t last January 29, 2024 House prices in London are more affordable but the capital has been warned not to “get carried away” amid a frenzy of mortgage rates cuts.