Lenders fear bubble if UK does not get more houses October 8, 2013 MORTGAGE lenders yesterday warned house building levels are still dangerously low, as the government’s new Help to Buy scheme launched with the backing of five banks, including HSBC. The scheme gives a government guarantee to buyers with a small deposit saved up, making banks more willing to lend and increasing the range of mortgages on [...]
Any Other Business – 12/08 August 11, 2013 ■ If you’ve ever fancied your own private jet, now would be the perfect time to buy. According to business aircraft manufacturer Beechcraft, 20.8 per cent of the light and midsized private jet market in the UK is currently up for sale, with 19 per cent on the market across Europe. Anything over 10 per [...]
There’s no point in a financial services Trip Advisor unless reputation matters August 22, 2013 ONCE again, a major mis-selling scandal has broken out, with 13 high street banks and credit card issuers facing a £1.3bn redress bill for mis-sold card protection policies. No amount of financial regulation seems to stop the flow. Until 1986, there were no mis-selling scandals. The sales of financial products were regulated by contract law [...]
Ignore the cranks: Orthodox economics can account for the 2008 financial crash October 30, 2013 ONE OF the more annoying false memes of recent years has been the notion that standard corporate finance models have not worked in or since the 2008 financial crisis, and that no orthodox economics account of that crisis has been offered. As someone who implements standard finance models, and has written orthodox economics accounts of [...]
Ignore the cranks: Orthodox economics can account for the 2008 financial crash October 28, 2013 ONE OF the more annoying false memes of recent years has been the notion that standard corporate finance models have not worked in or since the 2008 financial crisis, and that no orthodox economics account of that crisis has been offered. As someone who implements standard finance models, and has written orthodox economics accounts of [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 09 September 2013 September 8, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Capital warning from bank reformer The chief architect of Britain’s post-crisis regulatory reforms believes banks’ capital levels should be double the level recommended two years ago by the government-appointed commission that he led. Sir John Vickers told the Financial Times that in a “blue-skies” world banks’ core tier one capital ratios would now [...]
The business built to help customers outsource their chores September 15, 2013 Annabel Palmer meets Raj Singh, co-founder of the online marketplace Sooqini, who shunned job security for a career as an entrepreneur ACCORDING to Raj Singh, founder of online marketplace Sooqini, we are now living in a “gig economy”. His theory, albeit paraphrased from Michael Lewis’s The New New Thing, goes that people no longer want [...]
Inside Track: London is ready and waiting for the Royal Mail flotation September 24, 2013 THE FORTHCOMING privatisation of Royal Mail is the biggest post-financial crisis test so far of the market for new issues in London, which was virtually closed for business just a couple of years ago. In the years following the financial crisis, London became a notoriously difficult place on which to list shares in a new [...]
More first time buyer mortgages February 12, 2012 The number of mortgages offering 95 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) deals to first time buyers has hit its highest level since before the financial crisis, the Mortgage Advice Bureau claims this morning. The broker says there are currently 59 such deals open to people looking to make their first step onto the property ladder, offered [...]
Houses prices set to remain flat during 2013 December 6, 2012 HOUSE prices are set to remain flat in 2013, Halifax bank said yesterday, as weak economic growth and pressure on household finances continues to constrain demand. It also announced that the price of an average UK home rose by one per cent month-on-month to £160,879 in November. “We expect continuing broad stability in house prices nationally [...]