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UK

Mortgage lending slows in UK property market

by flabio5 2 June 2016

written by flabio5

LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) – British mortgage lending slowed to a crawl in April, increasing at the slowest pace since 2012 as a new tax on landlords took effect, while mortgage approvals also dropped, official data showed on Wednesday.

Mortgage lending slows in UK property market because only grew just 281 million pounds in April, a fraction of the 3.8 billion pounds increase forecast from a Reuters poll of economists and down sharply from a 7.411 billion pound rise in March.

This was the slowest rise since August 2012, while approvals for new mortgages in April – a bellwether for future property market activity – also dropped by more than forecast to 66,250, the lowest since May 2015.

British finance minister George Osborne announced in November that he would add a surcharge on the purchase of buy-to-let properties and second homes from April 1, in a move aimed to boost home ownership by first-time buyers.

Less comprehensive figures from the British Bankers’ Association last week showed the number of mortgages approved by British banks in April fell to its lowest number since March 2015, hit by the new tax.

The Bank of England said last month it expected property market activity to be volatile around the introduction of the new levy, while the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors saw a big fall in buyer interest that may presage a longer lull.

The BoE figures also showed lending to consumers lost pace, expanding by 1.287 billion pounds, the weakest monthly change since December 2015 and significantly less than the 1.6 billion pound rise expected by economists.

Britain’s economy slowed in the first three months of 2016 and the BoE expects weaker growth ahead of the June 23 referendum on the country’s European Union membership.

Earlier on Wednesday, figures from mortgage lender Nationwide showed house prices rose 0.2 percent in May from April, a bit slower than a forecast for an increase of 0.3 percent in a Reuters poll.

The increase matched the rise in April and was the joint weakest since November.

Britain’s economic recovery is still heavily reliant on spending by households many of which have been buoyed by strong growth in the value of their homes.

2 June 2016 0 comment

HSBC will cut 8,000 UK jobs

by flabio5 9 June 2015

written by flabio5

HSBC has confirmed that it is axing between 7,000 and 8,000 UK jobs – or one in six of its UK staff.

The group will also “trim” its number of branches in Britain as its retail arm undergoes a rebrand and its head office moves to Birmingham but is yet to decide on a new name. Options could include reviving the Midland Bank brand, which it bought in 1992, or adopting the name of its UK online bank, First Direct.

Reports have previously suggested that the bank, which employs 48,000 people in the UK, is considering moving its headquarters from Britain to Hong Kong.

Gulliver said that a decision on whether to move its headquarters from London will be made by the end of the year.

Up to 50,000 roles at the group are expected to be shed globally, boss Stuart Gulliver confirmed as he outlined cost-cutting and restructuring strategies to investors.

The cuts are part of a second attempt by Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver to boost profits since he took the helm at the start of 2011. The previous effort was foiled by high compliance costs, fines, low interest rates and sluggish growth.

“Slaughtering the staff is not necessarily the solution unless management makes the bank considerably less complex,” said James Antos, analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia.

HSBC shares in London opened 0.9 percent higher at 625 pence before slipping back to underperform both the FTSE 100 index .FTSE and European banking stocks .SX7P slightly.

HSBC said it will cut its assets on a risk adjusted basis (RWA) by $290 billion by 2017. That will include a reduction of a third, or $140 billion, in global banking and markets (GBM), its investment bank. That means GBM will account for less than a third of HSBC’s balance sheet, down from 40 percent now.

9 June 2015 0 comment

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UK Mobile payment will be 1.2 billion by 2020

by flabio5 4 June 2015

written by flabio5

British shoppers will spend over £1.2 billion a week using their mobile devices, such as smartphones and wearables, by 2020, according to projections released today by Visa Europe.

One in four of us believe we will be spending more than £50 a week on mobile by 2020, the survey found, fuelling a three-fold growth in mobile payments. Sixty percent admitting they expect to use their mobile devices for payments at least once a week by this time.

The average shopper expects to spend £27 on mobile each week by 2020, £10 more than is spent today and nearly a quarter of respondents (24 per cent) predict they will spend more than £50 a week using their mobile device by 2020.

The increasing publicity around m-commerce options, digital wallets and contactless payments, has led 43 per cent of shoppers to say they would be interested in using a mobile wallet service and nearly half (47 per cent) are interested in using their smartphone to make everyday contactless payments in a shop.

The report also found that while apps and music are still the items purchased most frequently via mobile devices today, a growing number of consumers are already buying higher value items, with electronics (23 per cent) and clothes (22 per cent) among their top-five most purchased m-commerce items.

When looking at the main concerns about mobile payments, a third of respondents admitted that they didn’t know enough about it. As with other new technologies, this has resulted in apprehension around issues such as privacy, fraud and security.

Overall, UK consumers spent over £19,000 every second using their cards last year as the number of purchases surged by more than a tenth, as total UK-issued debit, credit and charge card spending both domestically and overseas rose by 8.2 per cent in 2014 to reach a record £600.3bn.

4 June 2015 0 comment