Hunt and big banks vow to ease mortgage pain with repossessions grace period June 23, 2023 Mortgage holders will get a 12-month grace period before banks begin repossessions on their homes, Jeremy Hunt has announced, after a crunch meeting with lenders at No11. The Chancellor said ministers were “particularly worried” about people falling behind on payments or having to switch deals at the end of a fixed rate mortgage. He announced [...]
NatWest, Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays and Santander leaders meet Jeremy Hunt in ‘productive’ mortgage crisis talks June 23, 2023 Bank bosses held a “productive” meeting with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt as the rates increase worsens the mortgage crisis. Natwest chief executive Alison Rose, speaking to reporters as she left Downing Street, said lenders were “doing everything we can” and were “very keen” to help customers. Lloyds Banking Group boss Charlie Nunn described the meeting as [...]
Credit fears send bank shares lower after Bank of England lifts rates by 50bps June 22, 2023 Shares in the UK’s biggest banks today fell after the Bank of England raised interest rates by 50 basis points, heaping more pain onto borrowers. The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee reverted to a larger rate hike after inflation remained stuck at 8.7 per cent last month. It was the 13th rate hike in a row [...]
UK banks to ramp up data sharing in dirty money crackdown June 22, 2023 British banks are gearing up to share more data with their peers on suspected serious economic crime as part of wider efforts to stem dirty money flows into the country from Russia and elsewhere, four sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. More than half a dozen banks are in advanced talks with British [...]
FTSE 100 close: Interest rate concerns linger as NatWest heads lower June 20, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 struggled for gains today as investors took a cautious approach before the Bank of England’s expected 13th straight interest rate rise on Thursday. The capital’s premier index shed 0.25 per cent to close at 7,569.30 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the [...]
Sadiq Khan to address ‘cost of doing business’ crisis at summit with Uber and Natwest June 20, 2023 Sadiq Khan is set to address the “cost of doing business crisis” at a crunch summit with firms including Uber, Natwest and KPMG. The mayor of London will welcome more than 200 CEOs to his annual City Hall business reception at the Crystal in east London today. He is expected to tell firms the “cost-of-doing-business [...]
TSB becomes latest bank to press pause on some mortgage lending June 19, 2023 TSB has become the latest lender to press pause on sales of some of its mortgages. The bank said it was removing some mortgages from sale as of 4pm on Monday. The changes apply to products sold both direct and via brokers and TSB is expecting to reintroduce residential deals on Wednesday. For residential mortgages, [...]
House prices drop for first time this year as Bank of England interest rate hikes take hold June 19, 2023 House prices have dropped for the first time this year, sparked by the property market being whacked by the Bank of England’s 12 successive interest rate hikes to quash inflation, new figures out today show. The average price of a home coming to market fell £82 over the last month to £372,812, the first drop [...]
FTSE 100 close: London index reverses losses as Bunzl struggles June 15, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 was dragged lower today by investors piling out of outsourcer Bunzl despite the firm this morning raising its revenue forecast before reversing losses in the afternoon session. The capital’s premier index jumped 0.34 per cent to 7,628.27 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health [...]
Natwest boss: We’re managing loan book ‘very very closely’ as rates spike June 15, 2023 Natwest boss Dame Alison Rose said the bank was seeing “no material signs of distress” in its loan book despite the impact of rising interest rates. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs financial conference, Rose said: “We have seen no increase in defaults or impairments and the same on the business side… What we’ve actually seen [...]