The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is losing patience with firms that are selling payment protection insurance (PPI) and not treating customers fairly in the process, and threatening to take tough action against them.
A recent survey of 150 firms undertaken by the regulator has revealed that providers are not giving customers enough information to decide on an informed […]

Northern Rock has scrapped plans to pay out its £59m interim dividend, following increasing pressure from both the Treasury and the FSA, says Kate O’Raghallaigh
The bank has been under intense scrutiny from MPs and regulators in recent days regarding its intention to reward shareholders, while it is currently staying afloat on taxpayer’s money.
The troubled bank’s […]

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL SAYS GARTMORE
Gartmore fund managers Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg discern plenty of “reasons to be cheerful” in the European investment sector - lowest ever recorded unemployment rate (6.9%) since 1993, growth of eurozone GDP of 0.3% in the second quarter of 2007 and fears of an interest rate hike receding. “Evidence […]

MERVYN KING, governor of the Bank of England, is facing a torrid time from MPs on a House of Commons Treasury Select Committee. He is answering questions about the ‘credit crunch’ that nearly sent Northern Rock to the bottom with all hands and fending off accusations that he did not take the matter urgently enough. […]

The Treasury has set strict limits on the protection it has extended to savers’ accounts in Northern Rock.
The unlimited support it has offered to deposits covers accounts that were in existence up to midnight on Wednesday 19th September. Any new savings accounts opened after that time will not be covered.
“This guarantee covers future interest payments, movements […]

Sectors of the financial Establishment - the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Bank of England (BoE) - have been confronting each other over the last-ditch rescue of Northern Rock, the Financial Times has reported.
According to the paper, FSA officials had made the BoE aware of the necessity of providing Northern Rock with an emergency loan weeks before […]

Up to eight million UK drivers could be taking risks equivalent to drink-driving by using hands-free mobiles, according to insurer yesinsurance.co.uk.
The company found that most of the country’s 33 million registered drivers have a mobile phone and almost a quarter (24%) occasionally uses it while they are driving - either legally with a hands-free kit or illegally by holding it.
“Research […]

Shares in Northern Rock have recovered 11% (11am Tuesday) after the Government promised to protect savers’ deposits.
Chancellor Alistair Darling made this pledge as a result of intense financial and political pressure, providing relief in the banking sector, especially amongst those banks like Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley considered vulnerable to the credit crunch.
Northern Rock chief executive […]