UK Finance News

The quarterly credit conditions survey by the Bank of England (BoE)  suggests that government initiatives to boost spending have enjoyed some success, showing an increase in secured credit to households for the second quarter of 2009 - the first increase since the end of 2007.

The Bank of England say that they expect lenders to make credit more easily available to both households and businesses during the next quarter although they are not expecting a massive pick up in demand during that time.

Lenders have indicated that while they expect a pick up in business loans they are not so optimistic when it comes to the personal mortgage market. Despite the housing market showing small signs of growth and mortgage approvals having picked up from the record lows of last year there is still a general pessimism from the UK public who remain concerned regarding employment and static income.

Lloyds Banking Group have said that they expect to make another 2,100 staff redundant as the bank seeks to cut out duplicate roles forced upon them through the takeover of rivals HBOS.

The news of further job losses at Lloyds means that the bank will have shed around 7,000 jobs since the takeover which was engineered by the UK government at the height of the financial crisis last year.

The takeover had created an organisation with 140,000 employees, with many roles duplicated throughout the two banks, ensuring that redundancies would be inevitable at some stage.

Lloyds say that the cuts will be made over the next three years and is hoping to achieve a third of the number through natural attrition and dispensing with some agency staff. The bank will also be creating around 350 places in it’s wholesale division.

The chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Adair Turner, has today told the parliamentary treasury committee that there will be no legal carve up of the industry in the wake of the biggest financial crisis in living memory.

However banks will be assessed on the level of risk they take and generally speaking, the bigger the risk, the more capital will be required to cover the risks.

Turner dismissed suggestions that banks should be limited by size, saying that he had warmed to the US treasury proposals where  “we should think about not an absolute limit on size, that would be very difficult to achieve, but a sliding scale of capital requirements which simply require higher capital requirements from large banks or from banks involved to a greater extent in risky trading.”

Royal Bank of Scotland are set to unveil a pay package for CEO Stephen Hester that has been accepted by the banks shareholders including UK Financial Investments , the body that manages the tax payers 70% of the business.

An agreement was reached with shareholders on Friday and today’s Financial Times believes the deal to be worth up to £9.6million for the new CEO, made up with a basic salary and performance related bonuses.

Hester will receive a basic salary of £1.2million, a projected £2million in annual non cash bonus payments and almost £6.6million in long term share options according to the FT report.

Hester was appointed last year to restructure the bank following the departure of Fred Goodwin who had led RBS to near collapse and in need of a £20billion bail out by the UK government.

A statement from UK Financial Investments says:

“In their discussions with the RBS board, UK Financial Investments have been very clear that the awards must be based on long-term sustainable performance and that is the case with this proposed package. Our objectives in relation to RBS are to ensure that the value of the business grows so that we can get the maximum possible return for the taxpayer”

As a young businessman in the seventies the launch of Barclaycard and it’s rival Access opened a whole new buying experience for me, the only other alternative to carrying cash in those days was American Express or Diners Card, neither of which offered credit facilities and both demanding a fee to join.

I have pretty much stuck with Barclaycard in it’s various Gold and Platinum guises ever since. Only recently with a change in my personal circumstances I found myself in need of a new credit card and was amazed at what is on offer. The comparison site CompareandSave tells me that there are currently more than 300 credit cards on offer and adds helpful advice in finding the right one for me.

Credit cards in most cases are chosen as a means of credit that can be spread over a period of time, the client looking to obtain credit in this way needs to compare the cost of credit or APR offered by each card.

Other’s who use the card to buy and then pay off their balance each month will possibly be looking at the other benefits or perks that a card can offer.

Once I know what I am looking for the site makes the job easier for me by offering to compare the top ten credit cards available in the UK, although it is possible to see the full list of 300 or so. From here it is possible to make a choice based on the information given and one click will take me to the providers web page and application form. It is really that simple.

This comparison site is well designed and easy to read, which is just as well given the wealth of information available on it’s pages, various sections of interest include recent credit card reviews, a history of articles and current news. The latter offering updates on the various credit card scams and fraud that are currently being used and advice on how to avoid becoming a victim of credit card fraud.

A brilliant and easy to use site that comes recommended.