Current Account Exodus At Troubled Co-op Bank

The troubled Co-op Bank has revealed it lost almost 30,000 current account customers in the first half of its financial year.

The bank, which was forced to raise almost £2bn to plug a capital black hole last year, reported significantly lower losses of £75.8m for the period compared to the same time during 2013 and said its wider financial position was improving despite "deep-rooted" problems remaining.

It shed 13% of its permanent staff, closed 46 branches over the six month period and said it lost 28,199 current account holders, although its net customer number losses has since slowed, it said.

It blamed "negative publicity and significant competitor activity" for the near-2% fall.

Sky News reported on Thursday night that the bank was facing demands from some of its biggest shareholders to accelerate an overhaul of its operations and commercial strategy - as losses were expected to continue for two years.

But in its results statement, chief executive Niall Booker said Co-op Bank had made progress since its rescue from near-collapse - a deal that saw the supposedly ethical bank give up control to US hedge funds.

The bank said its capital position had been strengthened following a £400m capital-raising.

Mr Booker said: "Considering the scale of the challenge we faced a year ago, we are encouraged by the progress made to ensure the stability of the bank.

"The core bank continues to remain stable. In the first half of the year more people switched into the bank than in the second half of 2013.

"Although we have also seen an increase in the number of people switching out of the bank, the net numbers remain small relative to our total number of current account customers whose continuing loyalty is deeply appreciated.

"Recent trends suggest this net outflow of retail customers has slowed."

The bank's problems have been at the centre of a wider crisis for the Co-operative Group, which reported a £2.5bn loss for 2013 as its exposure to the bank hit earnings.

A report on the bank's near collapse and subsequent rescue, which saw the group's stake reduced to just 20%, pinned the blame on toxic loans inherited from its disastrous merger with the Britannia building society in 2009 amid a series of management and cultural failures.

In May, the Co-op Group's members backed radical plans by the former City minister Lord Myners to sweep away its existing 20-strong board and replace it with a more plc-style structure, staffed by professionally-trained directors.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Draghi: ECB Ready To Spur On Euro Economy

The boss of the European Central Bank (ECB) has revealed it is ready to do more to boost a shaky recovery in Europe.

But Mario Draghi warned EU member governments they must still join in efforts to reduce high unemployment, which remains stubbornly high.

Mr Draghi said: "I am confident that the package of measures we announced in June will indeed provide the intended boost to demand, and we stand ready to adjust our policy stance further."

So far the ECB has cut interest rates, offered cheap loans to banks and is weighing up asset purchases to help stimulate the 18-member eurozone.

The ECB has already pumped unprecedented amounts of liquidity into the banking system back in 2011 and 2012, but instead of lending the money on to businesses banks tended to park the cash with the ECB instead.

In June, the ECB created a negative interest rate to encourage banks to lend more.

Mr Draghi also said certain longstanding practices in some countries are helping to keep unemployment high.

He said freer wage adjustments and workforce levels would encourage companies to hire.

Mr Draghi made the comments as part of his speech at the US Federal Reserve conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Meanwhile, US shares eased on Friday after the Jackson Hole speech by Fed boss Janet Yellen left investors unsure on the possibility of a rate rise in coming months.

She said the financial crash complicated the Fed's ability to assess the US job market and made it harder to determine when to adjust interest rates.

Ms Yellen's remarks failed to offer strong signs that indicate she is moving away from the view of support through ultra-low interest rates.

The timing of a Fed rate increase remains unclear, though many economists foresee an increase by mid-2015.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bank of America $17bn Record Penalty Confirmed

A record settlement of almost $17bn has been officially confirmed between the US Justice Dept and Bank of America.

The $16.65bn (£10bn) deal, which followed numerous federal and state inquiries, relates to the bank's role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis of 2008.

It demands that America's second-largest bank pays a $5bn cash penalty and provide at least $7bn of relief to struggling homeowners.

Bank of America said its cash payouts would total $9.65bn under the agreement and result in a $5.3bn hit on its third-quarter earnings.

The deal was expected to resolve the vast majority of the bank's remaining liabilities tied to its purchases of Countrywide Financial, once the nation's largest mortgage lender, and Merrill Lynch.

It bought both operations in 2008 as the credit crunch spiralled. 

The settlement is by far the largest deal the justice department has reached with a bank over the 2008 mortgage meltdown.

In the last year, JPMorgan Chase agreed a $13bn settlement while Citigroup reached a separate $7bn deal.

The settlements are part of the ongoing efforts of President Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force and its Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) Working Group, which has recovered $36.65bn to date.

The agreement with Bank of America resolves a number of cases brought by various regulators and state jurisdictions, including those in California, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland and New York. 

US Attorney Paul J. Fishman for the District of New Jersey said: "In the run-up to the financial crisis, Merrill Lynch bought more and more mortgage loans, packaged them together, and sold them off in securities - even when the bank knew a substantial number of those loans were defective.

"The failure to disclose known risks undermines investor confidence in our financial institutions.

"Today's record-breaking settlement, which includes the resolution of our office's imminent multibillion-dollar suit ..., reflects the seriousness of the lapses that caused staggering losses and wider economic damage."

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

First-Time Buyers 'Getting A Shot At Long Last'

By Poppy Trowbridge, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

The number of first time buyer sales has hit a seven year high, according to new figures from LSL Property Services.

There were 30,000 first-time buyer sales in July, up by 25% on a year before and the highest number of monthly first-time buyers since August 2007.

At the same time, the data reveal average first-time buyer deposits are 10% lower than this time last year.

Downpayments averaged £26,642 in June, a decrease from £29,609 12 months ago.

David Newnes, from LSL Property Services, said: "A whole generation of young buyers were trapped on the side-lines of the property market as the economy recovered from the recession, struggling to save for a deposit whilst inflation remained stubbornly high, savings rates were stuck at a historic low, and real wages fell.

"But the recent increase in high LTV (loan to value) lending options - enabled by Help to Buy - has allowed them a shot at getting on the ladder at long last."

Yet purchase prices are on the rise, and mortgage rates are climbing, meaning buyers could still struggle with debt and repayments.

First time buyers paid 8% more over the last year, with the average price paid for a new home now £155,844, according to LSL Property Services.

Simultaneously, average mortgage rates climbed for the fourth consecutive month in July to 4.19%.

So more of us may now have a shot at getting on the property ladder - but with mortgage rates slowing rising, buying a home remains a very big step.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Two BoE Members Wanted Interest Rate Rise

Looking Into the Interest Rate Crystal Ball

Updated: 12:43pm UK, Wednesday 20 August 2014

By Ian King, Business Presenter

It is certainly dramatic news, on the face of it, that two members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) have voted to raise interest rates.

After all, no MPC member has voted to tighten monetary policy since July 2011.

Yet the development is not as startling as it might have seemed. Many market commentators had been speculating, in advance of the minutes being published at 9.30am on Wednesday, that this would be the month in which the MPC's unanimity finally disappeared.

That the two MPC members who did vote to raise Bank rate were Martin Weale and Ian McCafferty also came as no surprise.

The hugely respected Mr Weale, in particular, is a fiercely independent soul. For example, he was a dissenting voice when the Bank, under its then-new Governor Mark Carney, introduced a policy of 'forward guidance' last year.

Moreover, as recently as June, Mr Weale gave a speech during which he indicated that he thought there was less slack in the economy - the key measure that Mr Carney has said will now guide interest rate policy - than the 1% to 1.5%of GDP that the Bank's quarterly inflation report in May was suggesting.

Since then, there has been further evidence that slack in the economy has fallen away, most notably with the continued fall in unemployment at a rate that continues to surprise.

Mr Weale has also previously indicated that he favours raising the Bank rate this year because - as he stated in an interview with Sky News in February this year - it would be difficult to do so during the run-up to the General Election.

So his vote ought to have come as no shock.

Mr McCafferty, meanwhile, also nailed his colours to the mast during a speech in June in which he said that an early rise in interest rates would enable the MPC to move more gradually and in a way that would minimise disruption to households and businesses.

So his vote should really be no surprise either.

What will confuse some, though, is that details of the vote come just days after the Bank's latest quarterly inflation report struck a markedly more dovish tone.

This is not the first time that the MPC minutes have appeared to be at odds with the way in which Mr Carney has presented the inflation report.

The big question households and businesses will now be asking is whether this makes an early rise in Bank rate more likely. The answer is - only slightly.

There is an outside chance that the committee will raise the base rate before Christmas - November would be the likeliest month as Mr Carney would then be able to explain the move at that month's quarterly inflation report press conference - but more likely is that the MPC will wait until February next year.

These latest minutes note that, for most MPC members, there is "insufficient evidence of inflationary pressures to justify an immediate rise in Bank rate".

And that was before the latest figures published on Tuesday showed Consumer Price Index of inflation falling from 1.9% to 1.6% and further away from the Bank's 2% target rate.

Inflation is likely to remain benign in coming months and not least because of the current softness in oil prices.

So a rise in Bank rate early next year, rather than this side of Christmas, remains the way to bet.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bank Of America Agrees Record $17bn Settlement

Bank of America has agreed to a record $17bn (£10.2bn) settlement over its sale of mortgage-backed securities in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis.

The bank will pay $10bn in cash and provide consumer relief valued at $7bn, officials familiar with the deal told the AP news agency.

The settlement is the largest arising from the economic meltdown during which millions of Americans lost their homes to foreclosure.

It also marks the largest settlement in the history of corporate America.

An agreement in principle was reached earlier this month following a conversation between Attorney General Eric Holder and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, the AP reported.

The settlement requires that the bank acknowledge that it made misrepresentations about the quality of its residential mortgage-backed securities, officials said.

It also requires that Bank of America acknowledge similar misrepresentations by Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch, which the bank acquired in 2008.

Bank of America and the Department of Justice have declined to comment.

A formal announcement is expected on Thursday.

According to public records, Bank of America, Countrywide and Merrill Lynch issued $965bn (£581bn) in mortgage-backed securities from 2004 to 2008.

The firms promoted the securities as safe investments despite the fact that they contained residential mortgages from borrowers who were unlikely to be able to repay their loans.

The poor quality of the loans led to huge losses for investors and a slew of foreclosures, kicking off the recession that began in late 2007.

The Securities and Exchange Commission last year charged Bank of America and its two subsidiaries with defrauding investors by failing to disclose key risks and misrepresenting facts about the underlying mortgages.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lastminute Owner Eyes Sale Of UK Dotcom Icon

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Lastminute.com, one of the icons of the original dotcom boom, is being put up for sale nearly a decade after its takeover by an American technology giant.

Sky News has learnt that Sabre Holdings, which is listed in New York, is exploring plans to offload Lastminute.

Sabre has appointed bankers at Houlihan Lokey, an advisory firm, to oversee an auction, and has already begun sounding out potential buyers.

A sale of Lastminute could still be aborted if the terms of a deal are not sufficiently attractive to Sabre, but sources said on Saturday that the US company was prepared to accept a substantial loss on the roughly £600m it paid in 2005.

Prospective buyers could include private equity firms or rival online travel groups such as Expedia.

Sabre has itself listed on the public markets, floating on Nasdaq in April with a valuation of nearly $4bn.

It has four main divisions, with Lastminute operating as a subsidiary of Travelocity, Sabre's group of travel e-commerce businesses.

Lastminute was one of the darlings of the early UK internet industry, floating in 2000 two years after being founded by Brent Hoberman and Martha - now Baroness - Lane Fox.

However, Lastminute's performance has been underwhelming, despite it continuing to spend substantial sums on marketing and advertising.

Its biggest market shares are in the UK and France but it has struggled to make an impact elsewhere in Europe.

Analysts say that Travelocity failed to integrate Lastminute effectively or to build the network of hotels or other partners to which it has access during a period when some rivals have expanded aggressively.

Mr Hoberman has also criticised Sabre's exploitation of the Lastminute brand, calling it "an under-utilized asset" last year.

A Sabre spokeswoman said in a statement: "We are always reviewing options to make our technology company as successful, relevant and innovative as possible.

"If we have news to share, we commit to doing so quickly and transparently."

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Wall Street Giants Swoop On Sub-Prime Lender

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Two giants of Wall Street are in advanced talks to acquire Kensington, one of the UK's biggest sub-prime mortgage lenders.

Sky News has learnt that divisions of Blackstone and TPG, the US-based private equity groups, are close to securing a takeover of Kensington, which is owned by the Anglo-South African financial services provider Investec.

The sale of Kensington has not yet been finalised and could yet fall apart, but insiders said a deal was likely to be announced this week.

If completed, it will involve the business being taken over by Blackstone's Tactical Opportunities unit and TPG's TSSP special situations and credit platform.

Blackstone are thought to have seen off three other bidders

The two firms are understood to see significant opportunities to grow Kensington's business and are expected to make substantial amounts of capital available for it to do so.

They are said to have lined up a new management team to take the helm once the deal completes.

Investec's £283m takeover of Kensington in the summer of 2007 proved to be an ill-timed foray into the market for sub-prime mortgage lending, coming just as financial markets began to seize up.

Kensington was previously a publicly-listed company whose former chief executives include John Maltby, who is now leading an investment consortium which is buying a stake in 315 Royal Bank of Scotland branches.

Investec, which is the main sponsor of the England cricket team, signalled its intention to sell Kensington in February.

Blackstone and TPG are understood to have seen off competition from at least three other bidders for the business, one of which was said to be Lonestar, a specialist US property investor.

"With the ongoing recovery in mortgage lending and wholesale funding markets we believe that Kensington is now well placed to continue growing and that this growth potential may be better realised under different ownership," Stephen Koseff, chief executive of Investec, said at the start of the auction process.

Analysts say the bank should recoup the majority of its initial outlay, with Kensington's recent performance aided by the strength of the UK housing market.

The auction of Kensington, which is being handled by Fenchurch Advisory, comes amid increasing signs of an overheating housing market in London and the south-east.

Some of the UK's biggest banks have imposed fresh limits on mortgage lending in the capital in recent months.

Blackstone, TPG and Investec declined to comment.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

UK Growth Hits Fastest Annual Pace Since 2007

The annual rate of UK economic growth has been revised upwards to 3.2% - its fastest pace since the end of 2007.

The announcement was made by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as it confirmed GDP growth of 0.8% in the second quarter of the year.

While that figure represented no change on its original estimate, the ONS said it had measured a stronger performance in the construction sector than previously calculated in its wider revisions.

It confirmed that the service sector - which makes up more than 75% of GDP - remained the main driver of Britain's economy between April and June, expanding by 1%.

Much of this has been attributed to consumer spending despite huge pressure on budgets because of weak wage growth - a situation that had been tipped to ease during 2014 but has worsened again in recent months.

The ONS confirmed on Wednesday that wages shrank at an annual rate of 0.2% in the second quarter while the main measure of inflation rose to 1.9%, meaning the gap between wages and price rises was widening further.

The Bank of England has now made the weak pay issue a core factor in its discussions over the timing of an interest rate rise.

The UK's resilient GDP growth is in sharp contrast to economic fortunes in the euro area.

It was confirmed on Thursday that Germany's GDP was in decline and French growth was stagnating.

Chief UK economist at Citigroup, Michael Saunders, told Sky News he was not overly concerned that the woes being experienced by the country's biggest trading partners would damage the UK's recovery.

He said the suro had been "in economic terms, something of a zombie for a number of years now" and backed calls from France for the European Central Bank (ECB) to provide stimulus.

"The ECB will eventually get around to QE (quantitative easing) - five years too late - I think they're going to do it in the next couple of quarters and that will give some boost but it really is a sad story of multiple policy failures in the euro area," he said.

"Even if it gets a bit better I don't think it will get a lot better in the euro area."

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lastminute Owner Eyes Sale Of UK Dotcom Icon

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Lastminute.com, one of the icons of the original dotcom boom, is being put up for sale nearly a decade after its takeover by an American technology giant.

Sky News has learnt that Sabre Holdings, which is listed in New York, is exploring plans to offload Lastminute.

Sabre has appointed bankers at Houlihan Lokey, an advisory firm, to oversee an auction, and has already begun sounding out potential buyers.

A sale of Lastminute could still be aborted if the terms of a deal are not sufficiently attractive to Sabre, but sources said on Saturday that the US company was prepared to accept a substantial loss on the roughly £600m it paid in 2005.

Prospective buyers could include private equity firms or rival online travel groups such as Expedia.

Sabre has itself listed on the public markets, floating on Nasdaq in April with a valuation of nearly $4bn.

It has four main divisions, with Lastminute operating as a subsidiary of Travelocity, Sabre's group of travel e-commerce businesses.

Lastminute was one of the darlings of the early UK internet industry, floating in 2000 two years after being founded by Brent Hoberman and Martha - now Baroness - Lane Fox.

However, Lastminute's performance has been underwhelming, despite it continuing to spend substantial sums on marketing and advertising.

Its biggest market shares are in the UK and France but it has struggled to make an impact elsewhere in Europe.

Analysts say that Travelocity failed to integrate Lastminute effectively or to build the network of hotels or other partners to which it has access during a period when some rivals have expanded aggressively.

Mr Hoberman has also criticised Sabre's exploitation of the Lastminute brand, calling it "an under-utilized asset" last year.

A Sabre spokeswoman said in a statement: "We are always reviewing options to make our technology company as successful, relevant and innovative as possible.

"If we have news to share, we commit to doing so quickly and transparently."

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More