Banking
Countdown to Payment Services Directive
There are only eight months remaining for payment service providers to prepare for the Payment Services Directive (PSD), a new European law that will impact UK payments, particularly those made into and out of current accounts.
Holiday makers enjoy cheap deals
British holidaymakers are taking advantage of a huge range of last-minute travel deals and discounts, and are fleeing the UK in response to the coldest winter weather conditions experienced in over a decade believes Sainsbury's Finance.
Citizens Advice: OFT action on look-alike debt advice websites
Citizens Advice Director of Public Policy, Teresa Perchard said: "We are really pleased that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has taken action to close these websites which have been misleading the public by marketing themselves on the back of extremely well known and well trusted charities and government information services.
New OCR Diploma offers money management know-how
Having the knowledge to manage your money effectively has never been more important, especially in today's economic climate. Accordingly, OCR, a leading UK awarding body, has included a unit - Learning to manage your personal finances - as part of its new Business, Administration and Finance Diploma.
£1bn processed in a single day through Faster Payments Service
The Faster Payments Service has beaten its previous daily record, announced in December 2008, of processing nearly four million payments, to a value of nearly £730 million, Chaps Co confirms today (6 March 2009).
Santander to develop UK SME business
As part of Santander's plans to develop its UK SME business, Alliance & Leicester will join the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme from 6 March and Abbey has applied to participate in the European Investment Bank's (EIB) €15 billion fund, which it has set aside to help SMEs throughout Europe, at an initial level of £100 million.
RBS and NatWest balance the needs of borrowers and savers
Following the Bank of England's announcement to reduce base rate to 0.50%, NatWest and RBS will ensure they balance the need of borrowers and savers.
HSBC lowers interest rates by 0.50% for majority of borrowers
HSBC can confirm that the vast majority of its consumer mortgage and small to medium sized business customers will fully benefit from today's base rate cut of 0.50 per cent by the Monetary Policy Committee.
Another record low for UK rates: next stop “quantitative easing”
Paul Niven, Head of Asset Allocation at F&C, comments on interest rate cut by the Bank of England: "As widely anticipated the Bank of England has cut interest rates to a record low in a half point move, to 0.5%.
Barclays pledges base rate help to savers and borrowers
Following the announcement today from the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee that the base rate will be reduced by 0.5 percentage points to a new historic low of 0.5 per cent, Barclays announces that it will be protecting all of its savings customers by holding their rates unchanged, whilst the vast majority of its mortgage and Local Business customers will benefit from the reduction.
Savers and borrowers will suffer from rate cut
The Building Societies Association (BSA) has criticised the decision by the Bank of England to cut the Bank Rate - today's decision will harm savers and will further restrict funds available to borrowers.
Rate cut will 'do little to ease the economy'
Director at Fairinvestment.co.uk, James Caldwell comments on today's announcement from the Bank of England that base rate has been cut to 0.5%.
UK interest rates cut to 0.5%
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to reduce interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 0.5%, and to undertake a programme of asset purchases of £75 billion financed by the issuance of central bank reserves.
Bank lending to small businesses rises in January
The level of banks' lending to small businesses rose by £235mn to £54.2bn in January, according to new figures from the British Bankers' Association.
Bank accounts "all black" for British expats
At a time when record numbers of Brits are emigrating to Australia to escape the UK's gloomy weather, and even gloomier economic climate, new research by Foreign Currency Direct reveals that Poms living "Down Under" are enjoying a far lower cost of living than Brits who have settled in the other top 10 expat hot spots.