February 25, 2009
Bank regulation was flawed
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The FSA have admitted that the regulation of banks recently have not been up to standard and in places, have been flawed.
Instead of looking at business strategies the FSA chose to look at the financial institutions organisational structure.
Giving evidence at the Treasury Select Committee this afternoon, Adair Turner, the chairman of the FSA said while there was competent execution, “in retrospect” the style of regulation was not.
Lord Turner said that prior to the banking crisis, there had been political pressure to be less intrusive when looking into banking organisations.
Pawn rights to future work
Story link: Pawn rights to future work
What needs to be done needs to be done I suppose and if she finds this is the best way to get around her finances, for the good of the business, then that seems a fairly feasible option. Take into account the size of the loans and I would expect banks to be asking for this as a minimum.
She is the world’s most famous celebrity photographer, whose portfolio contains some of the most iconic images of the past 30 years, not least the glamorous pictures of Michelle Obama on the latest cover of Vanity Fair. As such Annie Leibovitz is hardly the kind of person you would normally associate with going to a pawn-broker.
But it seems that in these unusual times even the likes of Leibovitz need to find cash in unusual places.
EU officials show concern to currency drop
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European Union officials are on their edge of their seats thanks to the slide in the UK currency, the Great British Pound!
The currency has seen its biggest fall and has hit a record low in comparison with the Euro, which could have a disastrous effect on the UK economy in the long term. European Union officials are looking at ways to stabilise the currency before the UK collapses!
EU officials show concern to currency drop
European Union officials are concerned that the pound’s slide to a record low against the euro could destabilize the British economy, according to a document prepared last month by European Commission and EU finance ministry officials.
The pound’s “very rapid” drop “raises questions about the financial stability of the British economy,” said the document, which was prepared ahead of the Feb. 14 Group of Seven meeting in Rome and obtained by Bloomberg News. The currency’s weakness “is a source of concern for the euro area.”
How low will they go!?
Story link: How low will they go!?
The stock market has almost become a suspicious place to be trading. The crash in 2008 basically replicated that of the 1929 crash and not just on an average basis. The crash in 2008 replicated the stock market crash with the same move happening day by day, which swayed quite a few players to predict the markets stabilisation, similar to that of 1929, which did not happen.
The stock market crash of 2008 played out like 1929 almost to the day. In fact the pattern was so uncannily close, that I became convinced the post-crash rebound would do the same and we would see a similar spring bounce.
That hasn’t happened. After a brief rally into 2009, the markets have ground lower. But now they are at key levels. A breakdown from here and things are going to get even nastier – if such a thing were possible…
UK economy continues to contract
Story link: UK economy continues to contract
The UK economy is constantly contracting, loosing more and more revenue each day, with latest figures suggesting that the last three months of 2008 showed a decrease in activity of around 1.5% in comparison with 2007.
UK economy continues to contract
The UK economy shrank by 1.5% in the last three months of 2008, official figures have confirmed, unrevised from the initial estimate issued in January.
However, the data also showed a 0.7% contraction in the July to September quarter, worse than the original estimate of a decline of 0.6%.
Barratt reports huge losses
Story link: Barratt reports huge losses
Barratt Developments are one of the major players within the construction industry, so it was very likely from the start that they would find them selves in major financial difficulty throughout the credit crunch.
That has been confimed when their £194m profit last year turned into a £600m loss for the last financial year.
UK housebuilder Barratt Developments has reported a loss of almost £600m in the second half of 2008 after having to write down the value of land it owns.
It saw a pre-tax loss of £592.4m, down from a £192.4m profit a year earlier.
£2m home and a squatter
Story link: £2m home and a squatter
The banks overlooked the fact that the property owner and of course the person who applied for the loan had no form of steady income, but still wanted take over repayments on a £1.2m loan. We wonder why the banks and the financial industry as a whole are in the current situation.
What makes me laugh, is a friend who earns a very respectable and steady wage, was refused an overdraft increase from £100 up to £200, due to the fact that he has to be out of his overdraft completely for three months, yet they will lend £1.2m to someone with no form of income.
Aged 71 and the daughter of a millionaire property tycoon, she’s not your average squatter. But Rosalie Reeves-Fisher says she has no choice.
The spinster inherited her £2.2million home from her mother, who bought it in 1973 after the death of her husband, a millionaire property developer.
It is a great time to buy!
Story link: It is a great time to buy!
Very good advice throughout this article.
While the market may continue to decline for some time, there are still some mega bargains to be had, which are worth getting hold of now rather than later. Once the crunch in the property market passes, then it will be a struggle to find a property that represents good value for money, as most sellers will hold out to recoup their losses.
Put out the bunting; Northern Rock has £14 billion in its piggy bank, and is ready to lend, lend, lend. If you have the deposit necessary to secure a mortgage, this is good news. It’s an excellent time to buy. What? With all the doom caused by tumbling prices, and the (US) sub-prime catastrophe, oughtn’t it be the reverse?
Shouldn’t buyers shrink away, as if the property monster’s very breath would turn them to stone? I think not. True, the market is still on the way down; but it is better to buy in a declining market than a rising one. Believe me, you won’t be the only one to spot a good deal when prices start to go up. It can be painful if the bargain someone else has snaffled happens to be the place you would really like to live.
Do you give £12,000 to each child?
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With banks tightening up on lending in all sectors, including the unsecured loan sector, it is only natural that parents will feel it is their duty to help out their children by offering them interest free loans or even cash gifts.
A lot of cash coming from parents is to aid house purchases, but in a lot of cases, it is to consolidate existing debts.
Do you give £12,000 to each child?
Scottish Widows said that adult children were sapping their parents and grandparents of large amounts of money, forcing them to cut back on daily spending and to take on more debt.
“When times are as tough as they currently are, this is the last extra burden parents need,” said Gordon Greig, head of Savings and Investments at Scottish Widows.
Pledge to increase mortgage lending
Story link: Pledge to increase mortgage lending
After the latest Government bail outs and with Northern Rock taking the lead in the mortgage markets, the likes of RBS needed to do something to take their control back.
Nothern Rock are putting pressure on other banks to increase lending as well as offering customers better deals, otherwise Nothern Rock are likely to take a huge amount of the total market.
Pledge to increase mortgage lending
The two banks have agreed to increase loans to homeowners and small businesses in return for about £500 billion of taxpayers’ assistance. The deal will be announced before the end of the week.
The commitment follows a similar pledge by Northern Rock earlier this week to boost lending by about £14 billion over the next two years.