UK Finance News

Having viewed the spectacle of the Financial Services Authority beating themselves up and wringing their hands over the Northern Rock it is perhaps time to give some thought to the nature of Self Regulation.
SROs [Self Regulatory Organisations] were it was felt, back in the 1980s, to be the safest and sanest way for public concerns about the [...]

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On the eighth day of the test case between the Office of Fair Trading and seven banks and one building society, Brian Doctor QC has been haranguing finance houses for their “strange language” and opposing QCs for their colourful albeit inappropriate analogies.
The bank’s are looking for a ruling on the legality of their overdraft charging structures, after shelling out [...]

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So far Northern Rock has not managed to pass on the Bank of England’s quarter
per cent base rate cut to variable rate customers - those on 7.59%.
Whilst the emperor’s clothes of interest rates have become apparent to the wider public - that banks base their borrowing on LIBOR, not the BoE base rate - and [...]

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In an attempt to head off the risk of pension buy-out firms removing scheme profits and thereby leaving members more heavily exposed to the chance of schemes falling into deficit, the Pension Regulator is planning tougher new powers. 
The trend towards companies outsourcing their pension schemes to “for profit” suppliers, allows surplus assets to be sold off, leaving members [...]

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Over a third of UK employers now offer Flexible Benefits packages as part of their
total reward package.
Flex schemes allow employees to select their own benefits, usually from a benefit allowance, dependent on their grade and salary. Schemes can offer a wide range of benefits - some with tax and NIC advantages such as childcare vouchers, pension [...]

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