‘The retail loan market has grown by over 100 per cent in the last two financial years — from Rs 44,100 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 100,000 crore in 2003-04 — and is expected to touch Rs 134,000 crore by March 2005.
A recent ICICI Bank-AC Nielson ORG Marg survey on retail spending says the composition […]
‘The number of mortgage approvals for home purchase plunged 20 per cent between October and November, the leading high street banks said.
The fall took the annual decline to 41 per cent compared with November 2003, according to the British Bankers’ Association.
It said the volume of remortgaging and equity withdrawal also fell, providing more evidence the […]
‘Almost two in three Britons (61 per cent) are planning to save more in 2005, Bradford & Bingley has found.
The theme of fiscal prudence continues with one in two people (48 per cent) planning to spend less and one in three looking to reduce their debts.
But, as with many New Year’s resolutions, Bradford & Bingley […]
‘The Federal Reserve on Tuesday raised interest rates for the fifth time since June and signaled it was likely to keep pushing them higher at a “measured” pace in the new year.
The latest quarter-point increase raised the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, to 2.25 percent, more than double the 46-year […]
‘SOARING borrowing on credit cards could threaten Britain’s financial stability, the Bank of England has warned. Its latest assessment will raise serious questions over the current record debt levels. The Bank says they may be building up ‘vulnerability for the long term’.
Its six-monthly Financial Stability Report coincides with the peak Christmas spending period, which poses […]
‘The word “offshore” has a certain mystique to those who have never been part of it. People often suppose that investing offshore is not only a bit naughty, but must necessarily be expensive. It can be both, but doesn’t have to be.
For most expats, offshore banking and investment offers opportunities for greater tax efficiency, confidentiality […]
‘Close to one in three Britons (32 per cent) are not taking their full holiday entitlement each year, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Moreover, two fifths of those who do manage to book winter travel plans have to accept a different option to the one they planned due to last minute bookings, research […]
‘HSBC today became the second major UK bank in as many days to point to a slowdown in consumer borrowing.
Britain’s biggest bank by market value said it was starting to see “some evidence of weaker consumer credit experience” in the domestic market following five interest rises since November last year.
Yesterday, Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland […]
‘The CML believes that housing market analysts who are predicting a crash are mistaken.
In its new forecasts for 2005-2007, published yesterday, the CML expects the recent slowdown to continue, but believes this will be felt mostly through lower numbers of transactions rather than in any widespread price reductions.
However, these predictions stand at odds with recent […]
‘America’s decadent ways and its desire to party like it’s 1999 _ literally _ has generated a skyrocketing national debt that many economists fear will burden the nation’s balance sheet in the near future.
After achieving a balanced budget in the latter years of the Clinton administration, the United States has seen the red ink steadily […]