Can the banking industry replace the cheque?
December 7, 2010
It has been reported today that the banking industry is still looking at ways to try and replace the cheque following its announcement last year that it wants to phase out the cheque by 2018. According to the reports the UK Payments Council is considering another paper based payment system to replace the cheque, as [...]
Savers having to dip into nest eggs
November 6, 2010
Recent research has shown that many people that may have been saving hard for years have been forced to raid their nest eggs in order to fund the spiralling cost of living. Research was carried out by ING Direct, and the figures suggest that the average person has taken just short of £280 from their [...]
Many people cannot survive on savings for one week
October 16, 2010
Since the onset of the global financial crisis and the recession many people have found it difficult or impossible to save any money, with financial commitment resulting in their budgets being overstretched. Many people that had savings have found that they have had to rely on them over the past year or two in order [...]
No change for UK base rate
October 7, 2010
It was announced following the October Monetary Policy Committee meeting that the base rate in the UK would remain at its current level, which is 0.5 percent and is the lowest it has ever been in the history of the Bank of England, which spans over three centuries.
The base rate has now been at this [...]
Tesco to launch current accounts and mortgages next year
October 5, 2010
Supermarket giant Tesco has announced that it will be launching current accounts and mortgages next year, which means that consumers will be able to enjoy more choice when it comes to providers. For some time the supermarket giant has been talking about its plans to launch a full service bank to go with the financial [...]
Five lenders take over 80 percent of mortgage lending
September 9, 2010
It has been revealed in a recent report that five of the UK’s largest mortgage lenders provided over 80 percent of mortgages in 2009. Figures were released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, with the figures showing that the five largest lenders took 82 percent of mortgage lending in total in 2009.
The figures also showed [...]
No change in interest rates
September 9, 2010
The base rate has remained at 0.5 percent following the September Monetary Policy Committee meeting. The Bank of England announced that the base rate would remain at its all time low for the eighteenth month in a row, which will have come as a relief to many homeowners who may have been worrying about their [...]
Sustained recovery of UK banks still uncertain
August 26, 2010
A recent report has claimed that whilst the banking and financial industries have seen some level of recovery since the end of the recession there is still a long way to go. In fact, industry experts have said that the sustained recovery of the UK’s banking industry is far from certain.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s [...]
Calls for bank to lend more following huge profits
August 5, 2010
It was announced by the Lloyds Banking Group recently that it had made £1.6 billion in profits in the first half of this year, showing how things had turned around since a year ago when the bank made losses of £4 billion in the same period. Lloyds was one of a number of banks that [...]
Low base rate having dangerous side effects
June 30, 2010
It has been claimed recently that the ultra-low base interest rate in the UK is resulting in dangerous side effects that will make it necessary to increase the base rate sooner rather than later. The base rate has been at just 0.5 percent since March of last year, and this is the lowest it has [...]
