Palisade Corporation is adding to the debate on the banking crisis by urging the financial sector to “evolve to embrace risk”. The company, which specialises in risk and decision making analysis software, believes that over the past two years warnings have gone unheeded because of the pursuit of wealth and a booming economy. Palisade also [...]
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has followed up this month’s 0.5% cut in the base rate by reducing rates on its variable savings accounts by up to 0.75%. Meanwhile, new customers opting for its Government-backed fixed-rate offerings will lose out by up to 1.35%. According to a spokesman, rates on fixed products are down as [...]
UBS has agreed to hand over the names of certain American customers to US authorities investigating cases of tax evasion. In June of last year, prosecutors began examining the possibility that US nationals had been helped to evade tax by staff at UBS. In November, the bank admitted to having colluded in the fraud and [...]
Nationwide has been judged as having the “Most Responsible Credit Card Lending Practices” at the annual Card Awards. The UK’s biggest building society has received the accolade for the second consecutive year and was applauded for both the transparency and clarity of its credit card information and its “Trust Us, Trust You” campaign. The campaign [...]
A recent survey suggests that almost half of UK savers have been forced dip into their cash reserves since the credit crisis began last autumn. According to data from financial website, Fairinvestment.co.uk, 47% of Britons have relied on savings to make ends meet in recent months, while 14% have either stopped saving or reduced the [...]
The UK Pensions Regulator is warning companies that they must put the health of their pension funds before shareholders’ dividends. In a letter to employers with defined benefit and final salary schemes, the chairman of watchdog, David Norgrove, has stated: “There is no reason why a pension scheme deficit should push an otherwise viable employer [...]
Apacs, the body that represents UK payment service providers, has reported December figures for debit and credit card expenditure. Consumers spent £10.8 billion on credit cards during the month and £21.6 billion on debit cards. Online spending accounted for £4.7 billion of total expenditure. Credit card spending for the period fell by 4.8% compared to [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is limiting its bonus pot for 2008 to £340 million. The majority state-owned group paid £2.5 billion in bonuses last year but since absorbing £20 billion of taxpayer cash in the Government’s October bail-out, must answer to ministers. The settlement reflects mounting public concern that members of staff who have [...]
Recession hit Britons have left millions of pounds unclaimed in Premium Bond Prizes. National Savings & Investments (NS&I) is seeking 550,000 bond holders who have not yet received their winnings, most probably because they have moved house and not updated their address details, or forgotten about their premium bond investment. According to reports, the largest [...]
Banks have been accused of taking money from customers’ current accounts to pay off credit card debts or loans, without obtaining permission. Cases of such transfers have been brought to light by BBC Radio 4′s Money Box programme and are confirmed by the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). The charity claims to have seen a 25% [...]
Lloyds Banking Group is defending plans to pay staff bonuses this year, alongside an announcement that it expects its HBOS business to post a larger than expected loss of over £10 billion, for 2008. The bank is 43% state-owned and the losses at HBOS could mean that further government money will be needed to prop [...]
Lloyds Banking Group has reported that losses at its merger partner, HBOS, will be £1.6 billion higher than expected for 2008 because of worse than expected trading in December. HBOS is therefore expected to post a loss of £10 billion for the year, with most of its troubles blamed on a £7 billion writedown at [...]
A High Court case brought by compensation-seeking former shareholders of Northern Rock has failed to challenge the terms under which the mortgage lender was nationalised in February of last year. The action was brought by hedge funds SRM Global and RAB Capital, two former large shareholders of the bank, and around 150,000 private investors. The [...]
Birmingham Midshires has been researching the savings habits of Britons and claims that radical changes are taking place. According to the lender’s latest Saving Britain report, the average amount withdrawn from savings in the past three months fell by 40% (to £204) compared with the same period of 2007/08. Only 9% of respondents had made [...]
ING Direct is making offers to customers that were transferred to the Dutch e-savings provider from Kaupthing, when the Icelandic bank collapsed last October. Around £2.5 billion in savings with Kaupthing Edge and 160,000 customers were rescued by ING which says it has now fully integrated the accounts. ING is therefore making two offers to [...]
The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) is demanding that NatWest withdraw a national TV advertisement campaign for the bank’s MoneySense financial advice service. The AMI represents independent mortgages advisers across the UK and is following up on recent research by The Times newspaper, which claimed that some NatWest branches in London were more interested in [...]
