US mortgage lending rebounds May 9, 2012 US mortgage applications jumped 1.7 per cent last week, industry data showed yesterday, after a 0.1 per cent rise the week before. The Mortgage Bankers’ Association (MBA) data showed a 1.3 per cent rise in refinancing activity, in part boosted by low borrowing costs. Interest rates on 30-year fixed loans fell to 4.01 per cent [...]
These politicians are wrong – a tax on wealth would be bad for Britain September 9, 2012 A NUMBER of leading political figures – including Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and Ed Balls – have recently voiced their support for a new wealth tax. It is easy to see why this idea is attractive to politicians. In the UK, personal wealth totals around £7 trillion – around 5 times GDP – even after [...]
Fed poised to offer stuttering economy monetary support July 17, 2012 The Federal Reserve stands ready to offer additional monetary support to a US economy that has slowed significantly in recent months, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers. He told the Senate Banking Committee the recovery was being held back by tighter financial conditions due to Europe’s debt crisis and uncertainty surrounding US fiscal policy. Financial [...]
Avoid exchange-rate pain in Spain January 18, 2012 DIRECTOR OF FX ADVISORY SERVICES, HIFX I F YOU had invested £100,000 in euros this time last year, it would have bought you €120,000 – almost exactly the same amount of euros as today. Less than four months later you would have only received €111,000. Yes, there are major problems within Europe, but the outlook [...]
Banks snap up £5bn of cheap loans in auction June 20, 2012 THE BANK of England injected £5bn of emergency liquidity into banks yesterday in an attempt to mitigate the costs of unexpected shocks from the Eurozone. Sir Mervyn King announced last week that the Extended Collateral Term Repo (ECTR) Facility would be activated to counter “market-wide stress of an exceptional nature”. All successful bidders will pay [...]
Julius Baer in talks for BAML wealth division June 19, 2012 JULIUS Baer is in talks with Bank of America about buying Merrill Lynch’s non-US wealth management unit, valued at up to $2bn (£1.3bn), in what would be a massive deal for the acquisition-hungry Swiss private bank. Consolidation in the wealth management industry has been a major theme since the 2008 financial crisis, as an increase [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 22, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES EU PLANS RAISE HOME FORECLOSURE RISK UK homeowners could face higher mortgage costs and find themselves at greater risk of foreclosure as early as next year because of an obscure clause in the bank capital directive being worked on by the European parliament. US FUNDS RETURN TO EUROPEAN BANK PAPER US money market [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 22, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES EU PLANS RAISE HOME FORECLOSURE RISK UK homeowners could face higher mortgage costs and find themselves at greater risk of foreclosure as early as next year because of an obscure clause in the bank capital directive being worked on by the European parliament. US FUNDS RETURN TO EUROPEAN BANK PAPER US money market [...]
NAB’s British business drags down profits May 10, 2012 NATIONAL Australia Bank (NAB), the country’s top lender by assets, yesterday posted record first half earnings as higher trading, fee income and a rising share of the mortgage market countered losses in its UK operations. While NAB and rivals ANZ and Westpac have reported strong headline numbers for the half-year, all saw margins squeezed as [...]
Libor: the vital number for every banker June 27, 2012 Q What is Libor? A The London interbank offered rate (Libor) is set daily for 10 major currencies and for 15 borrowing periods, ranging from overnight loans to 12 months. It is set by the British Bankers’ Association, after speaking to 16 banks and studying their data on the cost and price of lending to [...]