The City View: Bank of England hike rates once more May 5, 2022 Today Andy Silvester talks to Jack Barnett, City A.M.’s Economics and Markets reporter. Together they go through the thinking behind the Bank of England’s 25 basis point rate rise earlier today, which brought the UK’s interest rate to 1%. They take a look at the Bank’s forecasts, and explain why a recession is almost inevitable. [...]
UK mortgage approvals plunge to record low during lockdown June 2, 2020 UK household borrowing dried up at a record rate in April and mortgage approvals plunged to their lowest since 1993 as consumers drew in their horns while the economy was ravaged by coronavirus. Instead of borrowing, households repaid their debts at a record pace. They returned £7.4bn to banks in the largest net repayment since [...]
Credit Suisse to launch Revolut and N26 digital banking rival September 10, 2020 Credit Suisse is to launch a digital banking app to rival the likes of Revolut and N26, offering free foreign transactions and digital wealth management. The CSX app will challenge competitors on the Swiss bank’s home turf when it launches next month, before a potential expansion elsewhere. CSX will feature free online banking tools, including [...]
Profit nearly halves at Nationwide as it books expected coronavirus losses May 29, 2020 Building society Nationwide’s annual profit nearly halved it said today as it warned of rising loan losses due to the coronavirus pandemic. The lender also said it was abandoning some of its member benefit targets in response to the crisis. Nationwide booked a £101m hit from expected credit losses and said it will focus on [...]
Wall Street flat and FTSE 100 slips into the red as Archego default hits banks March 29, 2021 Wall Street closed flat and the FTSE 100 slipped into the red today as fears of potential losses from a major US hedge fund defaulting on margin calls held back stocks. While the Dow Jones gained 0.3 per cent, the S&P 500 was 0.09 per cent lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 0.6 per [...]
Sunday Sitdown: ‘Skittish’ banks need to up their game, says CEO of Ezbob April 25, 2021 Following a nightmare year that was hugely disrupted by the pandemic and three subsequent lockdowns, the City is slowly switching into recovery mode as the economy starts to re-open and many sectors are coming back to life. To discuss the way back up, City A.M. sits down with Tomer Guriel, chief executive of Marble Arch-based [...]
Before the bell: Equity sentiment slips while all eyes are on OPEC November 30, 2020 Equity markets had a positive run last week on the back of more progress being made with respect to developing a Covid-10 vaccine. In addition to that traders are more optimistic that President Trump will leave office quietly in January. The main story of the week was that the drug being developed by AstraZeneca and [...]
UK housing market remains buoyant but braces for downturn October 8, 2020 The UK housing market remained buoyant last month as the post-lockdown bounce continued, however experts have warned that sales are expected to weaken in the year ahead as unemployment rises. The latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) showed that buyer enquiries, agreed sales and new listings were strong in September. Research [...]
McLaren boss says operating costs now ‘break even’ following fundraising and redundancies, and downplays second wave fears October 19, 2020 McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt has described his “horrible” 2020 in an exclusive interview with City A.M., but says he is “cautiously optimistic” despite the second wave of coronavirus. Flewitt was forced to make 1,200 redundancies – almost a quarter of the company’s 4,000-strong workforce – and carry out a sale and lease-back of the McLaren [...]
The week ahead, 11-15 January: FTSE housebuilders, Asos, Tesco and UK GDP January 10, 2021 London’s markets started the new year in a frenzy last week, picking up over five per cent and closing the gap on their counterparts around the world. This week is set to be a busy one for the FTSE, with a raft of companies due to provide updates, as well as key economic data in [...]