The value of money has plummeted by two-thirds since Prince William was born July 22, 2013 Inflation has caused the value of money to fall dramatically since the year of Prince William's birth, in 1982. £100 in 2012 would be worth as much as £299 back then, according to research by Lloyds TSB Private Banking. The Cambridges may be thankful that they aren't toying with the property ladder, as the average [...]
UK head of Credit Suisse to oversee bank sales at UKFI September 15, 2013 THE SALE of the government’s stake in Lloyds and RBS will be led by the UK boss of Credit Suisse, the Treasury will announce this morning. James Leigh-Pemberton, who has led the British arm of the Swiss investment bank since 2008, will join UK Financial Investments next month, taking over from outgoing chief executive Jim [...]
Phones 4u sells off UK’s biggest mobile phone insurer for $160m September 5, 2013 HIGH STREET retailer Phones 4u yesterday dialled up a £100m deal to sell the UK’s biggest mobile insurer to a Wall Street-listed insurance giant. The phone shop’s parent company, Phones 4u Finance, will sell Crewe-based Lifestyle Services Group (LSG) to Assurant for $160m (£107m) after being approached by Assurant to buy the business earlier this [...]
Broker pushes plan to split RBS into bad bank September 29, 2013 SWISS bank UBS believes RBS’ toxic assets should be split off from the bank to boost value for the taxpayer, according to a leaked report. The investment bank, which is RBS’ corporate broker, argues the state should take control of the bad bank of legacy assets while other minority shareholders would take one-third of the [...]
Errors must be punished – but US justice is becoming arbitrary November 19, 2013 IMAGINE the following scenario. It’s 2024 and we are in the middle of a major banking crisis caused by a political implosion in China. Banks are going bust left, right and centre, with the regulators trying to offload failed institutions to stronger ones to contain the chaos. If you were in charge of one of [...]
Consumer confidence rises as house market upswing unfolds August 22, 2013 CONSUMER spending power hit a fresh high in July, after steady gains through the year so far, according to a survey by Lloyds TSB. Optimism about the housing market drove the improvement, with sentiment ramping up around the UK, despite remaining concerns about financial pressure. Last month, 34 per cent of people had positive opinions [...]
Lloyds reprivatisation expected to raise over £3.2bn September 16, 2013 A statement from the government agency managing the state's stake in Lloyds has given the green light to the chancellor to begin reprivatising state-backed bank Lloyds. UK Financial Investments (UKFI) has given the nod shortly after the Office for Fair Trading said that TSB should be given more financial help by parent Lloyds. Our banking [...]
Almacantar buys offices July 16, 2013 ALMACANTAR, the property vehicle of former British Land director Mike Hussey, has snapped up 125 Shaftesbury Avenue in the West End from fund manager Blackrock, in a deal thought to be worth around £110m. The red brick 1980s building, is let to tenants including Gucci, Yahoo Europe and Lloyds TSB, and marks Almacantar’s fourth purchase [...]
Bottom Line: Don’t get greedy, chancellor – this bank is fixed so sell it now August 1, 2013 IT DID not always look like the taxpayer would make a profit on Lloyds’ bailout – in fact for many years, quite the opposite. Just a year ago the share price was 25p, less than half the 62p breakeven point for the UK’s stake. Now it has tripled, hitting 74p yesterday. Chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio [...]
New scheme set to make bank switching easier September 10, 2013 Liam Ward-Proud looks at the accounts offered by the bigger challenger banks FROM Monday, the Payments Council’s new seven-day switch guarantee scheme is set to make moving your bank account easier. It will ensure that bank account changes are completed smoothly and within a week, with transferring direct debits and incoming payments now the responsibility [...]