The average UK house price fell by £5,222 or 1.7 per cent in November, according to Rightmove. The property website tracks asking prices of properties coming on to the market and says prices are falling fastest in Britain’s wealthiest towns as Brexit uncertainty grips the property market. Rightmove reports that the biggest falls are in […]
The pound has edged higher on the news prime minister Theresa May might achieve a breakthrough Brexit deal. Yesterday the story broke that a draft deal between UK and EU negotiators was in the pipeline and the pound rose 1.4%, trading at $1.3036 against the dollar and reaching €1.1542, a near seven-month high, against the Euro. The […]
Two dozen City firms including Schroders and Legal and General have endorsed a network to help young professionals combat the stigma of mental health. The ‘”Thriving from the Start” initiative, launched today, will be run by people in their early careers and aims to create a supportive community for recent joiners to companies in the […]
The personal allowance will rise to £12,500 from April 2019, chancellor Philip Hammond has announced in today’s Budget. This means a basic-rate taxpayer will pay £1,205 less tax in 2019-20 than in 2010-11. The higher rate tax threshold will also increase to £50,000 in April 2019, a year before expected. It was announced 1m fewer […]
In the 2018 Budget, the chancellor has confirmed that from April 2020, the rules regarding private residence relief will be tightened. Private residence relief is designed to protect taxpayers from capital gains tax when selling their homes Talking in the House of Commons, chancellor Philip Hammond said that, “Mr Deputy Speaker, we recommit today to […]
GDP for Britain has been revised to 1.6 per cent for 2019, chancellor Philip Hammond has announced in his Budget today. Growth predictions dip to 1.4 per cent for 2020 and 2021 while returning to 1.6 per cent by 2023. The OBR’s forecast in the March Spring Statement was set at 1.3 per cent for […]
Chancellor Philip Hammond has increased Brexit preparation funding by another £500m in the 2018 Budget today. After allocating an initial £2.2bn to a new Brexit preparations department, Hammond noted said in last year’s Budget that a further £1.5bn for the purposes in last year’s budget. Today he announced that figure will rise to £2.0bn. Hanmond says […]
Treasury committee chairwoman Nicky Morgan has reiterated her request for the FCA, Bank of England and chancellor to publish a Brexit withdrawal agreement impact analysis before MPs vote on the deal. She initially wrote to to the FCA’s chief executive Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England’s governor Mark Carney and chancellor Philip Hammond in June […]
The Royal Bank of Scotland may look to rebrand after continued reputational damage stemming from a difficult decade since the Global Financial Crisis, according to the Times. RBS chair Howard Davies told the Times the name of the bank is now under review as it looks to move focus away to investing in its other […]
The nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee have voted unanimously to maintain the base rate at 0.75 per cent. The meeting minutes reveal that the committee believes that, “there have been indications, most prominently in financial markets, of greater uncertainty about future developments in the [EU] withdrawal process,” before adding that, “any future increases […]
Chancellor Philip Hammond has asked Mark Carney to stay on as Bank of England governor until 31 January 2020 to ensure a smooth exit from the EU. The extension was agreed in an exchange of letters between the governor and the chancellor published this morning. Bank of England deputy governor with responsibility for financial stability Jon Cunliffe […]
The Royal Bank of Scotland is closing a further 54 branches in England and Wales, cutting some 258 jobs in the process. This cuts are the third round of branch closures for RBS in less than a year. The previous round was announced in May, which saw 162 branches shut and 792 jobs lost, following […]
The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has announced it is one of 33 new signatories that has signed up to HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter today. This has pushed up the number of firms that have joined the initiative to improve gender diversity within financial services to 300. These range from global banks to […]
The British have an obsession with residential property shared by few other Europeans. In many places on the continent, you rent city centre flats until you retire, when you buy or build a home in the country. Europeans devote around 15 per cent of spendable income to housing compared with a typical 30 per cent […]
UK Finance’s latest data reveals a softening mortgage market in terms of first-time buyers, home movers and buy-to-let borrowers on a monthly and yearly basis. The report shows that FTB completions were down 4.5 per cent on an annual basis, consisting of 29,400 new completions in September as compared to 30,800 a year ago. However, […]
Firms believe the crime consumers are most at risk of is pension liberation fraud, according to the FCA’s first annual financial crime survey published today. The study of over 2,000 UK firms in 2017 gives a collective view of the activity being undertaken by firms to combat financial crime across the industry for the first […]
Property investors are looking at the lull in the sector which followed the UK’s vote to leave the EU and are preparing for a similar scenario after Brexit. Speaking at an Association of Investment Companies round-table on prospects for the property sector, Ediston Property’s investment manager Calum Bruce says: “There is no consensus view as […]
Data that shows the appetite for UK equities is back has left analysts and investors wondering whether the asset class has pulled through its Brexit slump. UK equity funds saw net retail sales of £114m in November, their first inflow of 2016. They had suffered £5.1bn outflows since the previous January, £3.8bn of which followed […]
From endless trade disputes to long drawn out speeches from unelected bureaucrats clinging desperately to power – there are some stark similarities between the Star Wars saga and the EU. But as Disney’s latest instalment cleans up at the box office, Prime Minister May has her own cabinet rogues to keep under control. Whether its […]
At the Conservative party conference last week, Theresa May announced she will trigger Article 50 by the end of March 2017 and that a Great Repeal Bill will be brought forward at the next Queen’s Speech. While some were calling for more time before pressing the big red Article 50 button (notably one Mr George […]
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Changes in the way long-term care is paid for was the dog that did not bark in Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Statement. It failed to get even a mention, despite many telling us there is a crisis in long-term care for older people. There have been calls for tax subsidies for those who save […]
The UK will be living the consequences of Brexit for years to come – yet the rest of the world seems to have moved on. At least that is the conclusion you would draw when observing recent moves in global stock markets. That said, there is no getting away from the fact the global recovery […]