The demise of the final salary pension scheme has long been predicted but a recent survey by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) illustrates how this process could be speeded up by the credit crisis. According to the research, one-quarter of the UK’s leading private sector companies expect to close their final salary pension [...]
Recent research from Sainsbury’s Finance indicates that in the first three months of 2009, UK consumers could be involved in taking out 250,000 personal loans with a combined value of £2.93 billion, to consolidate debt. January marks the start of the busiest time of year for the take-up of personal loans for this purpose and [...]
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has announced that the Premium Bond prize fund is to stay at current levels, in February and March. The size of the prize fund is determined by the base rate and aggressive cuts in the rate have reduced the chance of a win for a person investing £1,000 from 43% [...]
Northern Rock has hit the headlines again, with the news that it has paid its staff a 10% bonus. The nationalised lender employs around 4,000 people and according to reports in the press, the total pay-out is in the region of £8.8 million. The bonus scheme was offered as an incentive to staff to achieve [...]
According to the 7th edition of the Eurofactor Barometer, SME business managers across Europe are forecasting a decline in activity during the course of this year. The European Barometer is a survey taken by managers of 3,000 businesses with six to 500 employees in Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, United Kingdom and Portugal. Optimism has [...]
The Britannia Building Society is pushing ahead with plans to merge with Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) which operates the Co-op’s insurance and banking arms, including Internet bank, Smile. The mutuals first discussed the idea in October of last year but cannot complete a merger until the passing of the Butterfill Bill which will remove legislation [...]
The Supervisory Board of Dresdner Bank has named Martin Blessing as Herbert Walter’s replacement as chairman of the bank’s Board of Managing Directors. Blessing, presently chairman of Commerzbank’s Board of Managing Directors, will become chairman of both banks’ MD boards. In addition, members of Commerzbank’s Board of Managing Directors Markus Beumer and Achim Kassow join [...]
From November to December the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plummeted from 4.1% to 3.1%. The figures, released today, were due largely to the government’s controversial temporary VAT reduction, according to the Office of National Statistics. The Retail Prices Index (RPI), which includes mortgage rates, recorded an even sharper fall, plunging by 2.1% to 0.9%, the [...]
In the wake of multi-billion dollar losses in the fourth quarter of last year, Citigroup has announced that it is to split in two. Citicorp and Citi Holdings, as the two businesses will be known, will focus on utilising the firm’s global universal bank in countries across the globe, and brokerage and retail asset management, [...]
HSBC is unlikely be taking advantage of the Government’s latest bank bail-out scheme, announced yesterday. The group says it cannot envisage circumstances where it would need help from the Treasury and hopefully its executives are not lacking in imagination. At the time of the October bank bail-out, HSBC’s chief executive, Michael Geoghegan, told Reuters that [...]
HSBC is introducing new technology to improve credit card security. Once fully rolled-out 100% of transactions will be checked, rather than the current 25%, and a decision on whether a transaction is legitimate will be made in real time and instantaneously, using technology provided by SAS UK. The new system is being applied to 10 [...]
Amid the Government’s announcement of a new bail-out package for the UK’s banking sector, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has reported that losses for 2008 are estimated at between £7 billion and £8 billion. This will be in addition to a charge of between £15 billion and £20 billion relating to its acquisition of Dutch [...]
