Archive for the ‘Abbey’ Category
Friday, October 24th, 2008
British savers have rushed to withdraw money from foreign banks and many more are planning to steer clear of them in the wake of the Icelandic banking crash. British banking brands are expected to attract tens of millions in savers’ cash as a result. The irony however is that the top ‘British’ brand on interest rates, Bradford & Bingley, is not technically British following its recent acquisition by Spanish bank Santander.
It must be said however that Indian own ICICI and Nigerian own FBN are fully covered up to £50,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and do not operate under a foreign passport compensation system like Dutch bank ING Direct or the Turkish Akbank (or even the UK branch of the fallen Icelandic banks).
Tags: FBN, Financial Services Compensation Scheme, foreign banks, foreign passport compensation system, FSCS, icici, Savings
Posted in Abbey, Banking, Savings | No Comments »
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
The Chancellor yesterday morning announce his £500bn banks bailout plan which will see some of the banks part-nationalised. The plan consists of the following:
- At least £200bn for short-term lending to banks to replace funds they normally borrow through the inter-bank market.
- £25bn recapitalisation facility for Abbey, Barclays, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered to boost their balance sheet. However, Abbey, HSBC and Standard Chartered have already declined the offer.
- £25bn top-up fund if the first capitalisation proves inadequate.
- £250bn government guarantee of bank bond issues - again to help shore up the banks’ strained balance sheets.
Click here for more information.
Tags: Abbey, bailout plan, Barclays, Government bailout, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide, part-nationalisation, RBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered, £500 billion
Posted in Abbey, Banking, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Finance, Government, HSBC, Halifax, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide, Politics | No Comments »
Saturday, August 9th, 2008
Abbey has toppled Halifax as the UK’s biggest mortgage lender by taking more than a quarter of all business in the first six months of the year. Chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said that while other lenders were withdrawing from the market, it was increasing mortgage lending to low-risk customers. However, he warned Abbey is unlikely to continue at such a rate for the rest of the year as other lenders return to the market. It came as Abbey, which is owned by Spanish giant Santander, reported a 20% rise in first-half profits to £485m. Santander, which has agreed to buy struggling Abbey rival Alliance & Leicester, said group profits jumped 22% to €4.73bn (£3.73bn).
Tags: Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, Halifax, lender, mortgage, Santander, top lender
Posted in Abbey, Banking, Finance, Halifax, Home loans, Mortgages | 1 Comment »
Saturday, April 12th, 2008
The Bank of England cut its base rate by o.25% to 5% on Thursday to stop the economy’s slide towards recession. However, relief for home owners was instantly undermined by a new wave of mortgage rate increases from Britain’s biggest lenders. Many lenders are yet to pass on the recent base rate reductions - instead they are busy increasing rates, demanding larger deposits, tightening lending criteria and, in some cases, withdrawing deals from the market altogether. Most of the big lenders, including Halifax, Nationwide, the Woolwich, Cheltenham & Gloucester and First Direct also said within minutes of the Bank’s announcement that they will be cutting their standard variable mortgage rates by the full 0.25%. Both Nationwide and Alliance & Leicester are believed to have been overwhelmed by applications from borrowers coming off cheap fixed deals and want to choke off the demand with yet another big increase of upto 0.35% in less than two weeks. The increases followed similar moves from Woolwich, Halifax and Abbey.
Tags: Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, Bank of England, Cheltenham & Gloucester, First Direct, Halifax, mortages increases, Nationwide, Rate reduced, recession, the Woolwich
Posted in Abbey, Bank of England, Consumer, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Finance, First-time buyers, HSBC, Halifax, Home loans, Mortgages, Nationwide, Rate reduced | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
The last 100% mortgage on offer has been scrapped by Abbey following similar decisions by its rivals. Since the credit crunch began last summer, more than 70% of mortgage deals have disappeared. Before Christmas, 33% of lenders offered mortgages of 100% or more. Now the only remaining 100% deals, from Bristol & West and Bank of Ireland, do not qualify as ‘mainstream’ mortgages. They are aimed at first-time buyers and require a homeowner’s parents to guarantee the loan. Typically, today’s buyer must have a deposit of 5% or more. And to secure a competitive deal, 25% is needed, as lenders charge higher rates for those with smaller deposits.
Tags: 100% mortgage, Abbey, axed mortgage deal, last 100% home loan, mortgage deal
Posted in Abbey, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, First-time buyers, Home loans, Mortgages | No Comments »
