News
Brown outlines savings plan
The Prime Minister has outlined a number of plans that he says will help save around £12 billion over the next four years - £3 billion more than was originally pledged as part of efficiency savings in the April Budget. In the speech, Gordon Brown...
8th December, 2009 • more >
Property firm failure leaves amateur investors out of pocket
Nearly 300 angry investors are at risk of losing of hundreds of thousands of pounds following the liquidation of a Sussex-based buy-to-let club. According to a report in the Guardian newspaper, Passive Investments helped amateur property...
8th December, 2009 • more >
SFO makes 6 arrests in £12m commercial fraud
The warnings that commercial fraud and advance fee fraud are on the rise have been repeated numerous times throughout the year, and now it looks like the crackdown has finally begun with the Serious Fraud Office making six arrests last...
8th December, 2009 • more >
House prices rise for fifth consecutive month: Halifax
Although house prices in November were 1.6% lower on an annual basis, prices from the period from September to November were 3.7% higher than in the previous three months. This is the biggest increase on a three monthly basis since November 2006. ...
8th December, 2009 • more >
Cheif Economist's Weekly Breif 07-12-2009
The run up to Christmas is the busiest time of year for retailers, but most of the presents we will buy were made and shipped earlier in the autumn. This might go some way to explaining the dip in the global manufacturing activity in November, with...
7th December, 2009 • more >
Big businesses crippling SMEs, says invoice financier
Big businesses are continuing to monopolise on their dominant market position and delay invoice payment to small and medium sized businesses, according to Bibby Financial Services. With the average length of time small and medium...
7th December, 2009 • more >
Skipton sells majority stake in Callcredit
Skipton Building Society has sold its majority stake in credit reference and marketing services subsidiary Callcredit Information Group (CIG) to private equity firm Vitruvian Partners for an undisclosed amount. The deal generates around £40 million...
7th December, 2009 • more >
Societies in merger talks
Yorkshire Building Society and Chelsea Building Society have announced they are in advanced talks regarding the possibility of a merger. The coming together of the UK's second and fifth largest societies respectively has the potential to create a...
2nd December, 2009 • more >
Where now for non-conforming borrowers?
It now seems like a lifetime ago but some former marketing, or more to the point statistic, from the now defunct Mortgages PLC used to suggest that one in five borrowers were classed as non-conforming. That figure still sits in my mind. Obviously...
1st December, 2009 • more >
Chief Economist's Weekly Brief - Investors remain jittery
Talk of a “standstill” on debt payments by a government sponsored company in Dubai spooked investors last week. The impact was amplified by the US Thanksgiving holiday and the festival Eid which made markets less liquid and information on the...
30th November, 2009 • more >