Banking
Interest rate cut of 0.5% - 'More needs to be done'
Director at Fairinvestment.co.uk, James Caldwell comments on the Bank of England's decision to cut the base rate by a further 0.5 per cent - to the lowest level since the Bank was formed in 1694.
NatWest and RBS announce £3 billion extra funding for SMEs
NatWest and RBS announce that they are to make an additional £3bn funding available to SMEs in 2009. This further commitment to the SME sector will be delivered through twelve Regional SME Funds in England, Wales and Scotland.
UK interest rates cut to 1%
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to reduce interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 1.0%.
Banks must come clean on assets before creation of bad bank
Commenting on reports that the Government is considering creating a ‘bad bank' to take assets from the British banks, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable said: "Before a bad bank can become viable, the banks must first come clean on the value of their assets.
Lloyds makes joint base rate pledge to small businesses
Lloyds Banking Group has announced it will pass on, in full, any Bank of England base rate cut, resulting from this month's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, to all its small business customers with variable rate loans and overdrafts.
Santander: Takeover of A&L and B&B
2008 was the year which saw the Santander Group consolidate its presence in the UK savings and mortgage market through the acquisition of the Alliance and Leicester Group, and the branches and deposit business of Bradford and Bingley.
Nationwide International announces new savings rates
Nationwide International, the offshore subsidiary of Nationwide Building Society, has announced details of its new savings rates on its Sterling and Euro savings accounts following changes to the UK and Eurozone base rates.
Further rate cuts will damage savers and new borrowers
The Building Societies Association has today called for the Bank of England not to cut the base rate further on Thursday.
The Co-operative Bank unveils radical new Ethical Policy
The value of business turned away since launching its ethical stance in 1992 has now passed the £1 billion mark; however, over the same period, the Bank's total commercial lending has grown from £571 million in 1992 to £4.4 billion in 2008, an average of 14% per annum.
A ray of light for sterling?
David Lamb at No1 Currency: This week has seen pound pull away from multi year lows against the US$ as a degree of risk appetite has returned to financial markets.
The Co-operative Bank and smile top on customer satisfaction
The first annual People's Choice report from Which? Money has revealed that The Co-operative Bank and smile are among the top three overall winners when it comes to customer satisfaction.
Nationwide announces new savings and banking rates
Nationwide Building Society has announced details of its new savings and banking rates, which come into effect on Sunday 1 February 2009.
Unbiased.co.uk re-launches as ‘the professional advice website'
Unbiased.co.uk has re-launched as ‘the professional advice website', bringing together its hugely popular ‘Find an independent financial adviser' (IFA) and ‘Find a mortgage adviser' online searches plus a soon-to-launch ‘Find a solicitor' search, all on one portal.
Banks are still open for business, just don’t expect it to be easy
The Government has already bailed the UK banking system out to the tune of £37 billion and is now poised to inject hundreds of billions more in an attempt to get banks lending again so it's no surprise that region's SMEs have all but given up hope of getting the credit they need from local banks.
Sliding Sterling bucks the trend rallying against the US Dollar
Sterling has today rallied back to its highest against the US Dollar in over a week - having hit $1.43 this morning – with this pattern set to prevail for the next few days, according to foreign currency specialists FC Exchange.