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☆ UK mortgage rates surge to 15-year high after surpassing 'mini-budget' peak
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate climbed to 6.66%, narrowly exceeding the 6.65% touched on Oct. 20 and the highest since August 2008 when it stood at 6.94%, according to data provider Moneyfacts. Governor Andrew Bailey said last month there were signs of more persistent underlying inflation pressures after the BoE unexpectedly raised its Bank Rate to 5% in an effort to tame the highest inflation rate among the world's big rich economies. Swap rates, a key measure lenders use to determine the cost of mortgage borrowing, have also soared. The surge has prompted major mortgage lenders to repeatedly reprice home loan offerings. British homebuyers typically take out mortgages with an interest rate that is fixed for two or five years, and then remortgage on to a new fixed rate or accept a variable rate.

Persons: Liz Truss, Andrew Bailey, BoE, reprice, Andrew Asaam, Suban Adbulla, Sachin Ravikumar, William Schomberg, Kate Holton, Andy Bruce Organizations: Bank of England, Nationwide, Lloyds Bank, Santander, Tuesday, Treasury, Lloyds Banking Group, Thomson Locations: Britain's, British, Halifax

☆ UK house prices post biggest annual drop since 2011: Halifax
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Andy Bruce | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

House prices dropped 2.6% year-on-year in June, after a 1.1% fall in May, Halifax said. On the month, prices fell 0.1% after a 0.2% monthly drop in May. "How deep or persistent the downturn in house prices will be remains hard to predict," Kinnaird said, adding that falling inflation could offer some support. Halifax said the drop in house prices was largest in the south east of England. In London, prices fell in annual terms by 2.6%, the biggest decline since October 2009.

Persons: Kim Kinnaird, Kinnaird, Andy Bruce, Kate Holton Organizations: Halifax, Bank of, Bank of England, Lloyds Bank, Thomson Locations: Halifax, London, May, Bank of England, England

☆ UK banks asked by lawmakers if they're 'exploiting' savers with low rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Iain Withers | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - British banks faced fresh criticism on Monday for the savings rates they offer to cash-strapped customers, in the latest intervention by parliament's influential Treasury Select Committee. British banks have come under pressure from lawmakers and consumer campaigners for not passing on the extent of higher Bank of England rates to savings customers. Finance minister Jeremy Hunt also said last week banks were too slow to pass on increases in central bank rates to savers and that the problem needed to be resolved. Top executives from the banks were grilled by the Treasury committee on savings rates during a session in February. "Savings rates have increased and we always encourage people to shop around for the product and interest rate that is suited to their needs," the spokesperson added.

Persons: Harriett Baldwin, Jeremy Hunt, Baldwin, Iain Withers, Jason Neely, David Holmes Organizations: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Bank of, Treasury, Finance, Financial, Authority, Thomson

☆ UK's Barratt looks to boost revenue with $212.6 mln homes sale deal with Citra
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 30 (Reuters) - Barratt Developments (BDEV.L) on Friday said it had agreed to sell 604 homes to Lloyds' (LLOY.L) private rental subsidiary Citra Living for 168.4 million pounds ($212.57 million) in cash, as Britain's largest housebuilder looks to diversify revenue. About 500 of the homes will be transferred to Citra's ownership by June 2024, while the remaining homes will be transferred the following year, Barratt said. The sale comes as the UK housing sector braces for a slower recovery due to persistent interest rate hikes which are set to hurt demand. Britain's biggest mortgage lender Lloyds launched its private rental business, Citra Living, in 2021 in a bid to find new revenue sources. "Our goal at Citra is to bring much needed high quality homes to the UK rental market ... Our partnership with Barratt helps us achieve that goal," Citra Managing Director Andy Hutchinson said in a statement on Friday.

Persons: Barratt, David Thomas, Andy Hutchinson, Eva Mathews, Rashmi Aich, Jason Neely Organizations: Barratt, Lloyds, Bank of England, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ UK banks are appropriate airbag for mortgage crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( George Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Last year this was 2.9% on average for Lloyds, NatWest and Barclays. Hunt may be able to get banks to hike their savings rates merely by veiled threats. After all, the government would only be getting banks to do what they should be doing anyway. “It is taking too long for the increase in interest rates to be passed on to savers, particularly with instant access accounts,” Hunt told parliament. Around 60% of household deposits are held in instant access accounts, the committee said.

Persons: Banks, Jeremy Hunt, shouldn’t, it’s, Hunt, ” Hunt, “, Neil Unmack, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Monday, Banking Group, NatWest, Barclays, Lloyds, JPMorgan, NatWest –, Alpha, Treasury, Bank of England, Labour Party, National Savings and Investments, of, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Barclays –, Thomson

☆ HSBC is downsizing its headquarters and leaving London’s Canary Wharf
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —HSBC is halving the size of its global headquarters and moving out of Canary Wharf, a business district built in the abandoned docklands of east London in the 1980s. It follows similar moves by other big companies to get rid of expensive office space in cities around the world. The bank has long been a mainstay of Canary Wharf, where it occupies 1.1 million square feet of office space. HSBC is a key tenant in Canary Wharf, and its planned departure raises questions about whether other companies will also think about leaving. Canary Wharf Group, which manages real estate in the area, declined to comment when asked about the matter Monday.

Persons: San Francisco —, Knight Frank, Noel Quinn, Quinn, Jones Lang, Elizabeth, — Hanna Ziady Organizations: CNN, HSBC, Europe’s, Panorama St, City of, San, Canary, Canary Wharf Group, Lloyds, Standard Chartered, Barclays, BCS, Jones Locations: Canary Wharf, London, Panorama, City, City of London, Asia, Wharf, Canada, San Francisco, Canary, Jones Lang LaSalle .

☆ London stocks hit three-month low dragged by defence stocks; Aston Martin surges
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Shashwat Chauhan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) slipped 0.4%, hitting a three month low as the aerospace and defence sector (.FTNMX502010) lost 2.1% after fighters of the Wagner group attempted a mutiny in Russia over the weekend. "Defence stocks tend to benefit from bad news in terms of geopolitical tensions," said Christopher Peters, trading floor manager at Accendo Markets. Britain's biggest defence company BAE Systems (BAES.L) slumped 3.1%, dropping to the bottom of the FTSE 100. The more domestically-focussed FTSE 250 midcap index (.FTMC) also fell 0.5%, touching a three-month low. Among individual stocks, Cineworld Group (CINE.L) dropped 28.9% after the cinema chain operator said it will file for administration as part of a proposed restructuring plan.

Persons: Russia Cineworld, Aston Martin, carmaker Aston Martin, Wagner, Christopher Peters, JP Morgan, Shashwat Chauhan, Sherry Jacob, Phillips Organizations: Defence, U.S, EV, Lucid, carmaker, Accendo, BAE Systems, Lloyds, Bank of England, Bank for International, Cineworld, Thomson Locations: Russia, Bengaluru

☆ Britain is facing a mortgage crisis. There are no easy answers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Mortgage painThe announcement comes a day after the Bank of England raised interest rates by half a percentage point to help bring down stubborn inflation. More than 2 million UK mortgage holders paying a fixed interest rate are facing an increase of hundreds of pounds in monthly repayments when they are forced to refinance this year and next. Many borrowers bought their homes when mortgage rates were closer to 1% or 2%. That sets the country apart from other major economies, including the United States, where on both measures inflation has started to ease. After the latest rise in interest rates Thursday, Hunt said the government would “stick to [its] guns” on keeping rates high to tame high prices.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, Sarah Coles, Hargreaves Lansdown, ”, Matt Hammerstein, David Duffy, Debbie Crosby, James Manning, ” Max Mosley, Jake Berry, Sunak, Liz Truss, Brexit, Mark Carney, Charlie Bean, Hunt, ” — Hanna Ziady Organizations: London CNN, UK Treasury, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, BCS, CNN, Bank of England, National Institute of Economic, Social Research, Virgin Money, Conservative Party, Institute for Fiscal Studies, European Union, Bank of, Daily Telegraph, BBC Radio Locations: United Kingdom, United States, Britain

The two pilots, however, would allow extensive information sharing between banks on large-scale financial crime, expand public-private data sharing initiatives and set up a similar platform to Britain's national fraud database for serious economic crime. The pilots could be formally launched by October when Britain's economic crime and corporate transparency bill, currently on its way through parliament, is expected to become law. This legislation aims to protect regulated firms from confidentiality rules if they share information to tackle economic crime, giving them the leeway to ramp up data sharing. One financial crime investigations lawyer, who declined to be named because of client sensitivities, said that information-sharing needed appropriate safeguards. The NCA told Reuters it was discussing the data sharing pilot with a number of banks to try and identify "actionable intelligence".

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Banks, Simon Fell, Iain Withers, Kirstin Ridley, Sinead Cruise, Jane Merriman Organizations: U.S, REUTERS, Lloyds, NatWest, Reuters, HSBC, Barclays, Crime Agency, UK Finance, Home Office, NCA, Thomson Locations: Russia, Britain, Ukraine

☆ UK food production costs fall for first time since 2016: Lloyds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - British food manufacturers reported the first drop in their production costs since 2016 in May as lower commodity and energy prices and cheaper shipping outweighed a jump in wage bills, a Lloyds Bank report showed on Tuesday. "It will still take some time before we see the benefit in terms of shelf prices," said Annabel Finlay, a managing director at Lloyds Bank. Food price inflation, as measured by Britain's Office for National Statistics, hit its highest since 1977 in April at 19.1% and only eased fractionally in May. Last week Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket chain, said food price inflation had peaked and it and others have said they are cutting the prices of some foodstuffs and freezing others. The Lloyds Bank report is based on an analysis of S&P Purchasing Managers' Index data covering around 1,300 companies.

Persons: Annabel Finlay, Andrew Bailey, David Milliken, William Schomberg Organizations: Lloyds Bank, Manufacturers, United Nations, Britain's, National Statistics, Tesco, Bank of England, P, Thomson Locations: British

☆ Telegraph’s $750 million price implies vanity contest
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Pamela Barbaglia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

That’s the only way to explain a possible 600 million pound ($748 million) price tag for the Britain’s Telegraph Media Group (TMG). EBITDA hit 40 million pounds, up 5%, based on UK filings, while borrowings were minimal. Lloyds reckons the price tag could be as high as 600 million pounds, according to media reports. On that basis, TMG’s value including debt would be just over 100 million pounds. Japanese media group Nikkei bought the Financial Times in 2015 for 2.5 times the previous year’s revenue.

Persons: Liz Truss, Hannah McKay, Nick Hugh, EBITDA, Barclay, Sir Frederick Barclay, David, TMG, AlixPartners, Italy’s Agnelli, B.UK, Liam Proud, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Sunday Telegraph, British, Conservative Party, REUTERS, Reuters, Britain’s Telegraph Media, Spectator, Lloyds Banking Group, Lloyds, Daily, Nikkei, Financial Times, Economist Group, Telegraph Media, Telegraph, Sky News, Thomson Locations: Birmingham, Britain, Bermuda

☆ Telegraph’s $750 mln price implies vanity contest
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Pamela Barbaglia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

That’s the only way to explain a possible 600 million pound ($748 million) price tag for the Britain’s Telegraph Media Group (TMG). EBITDA hit 40 million pounds, up 5%, based on UK filings, while borrowings were minimal. Lloyds reckons the price tag could be as high as 600 million pounds, according to media reports. Japanese media group Nikkei bought the Financial Times in 2015 for 2.5 times the previous year’s revenue. Follow @pamela_msg on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSReceivers chosen by Lloyds Banking Group could put the Telegraph Media Group up for sale after its Bermuda-based parent company B.UK failed to repay bank loans.

Persons: Nick Hugh, EBITDA, Barclay, Sir Frederick Barclay, David, TMG, AlixPartners, Italy’s Agnelli, B.UK, Liam Proud, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Britain’s Telegraph Media, Sunday Telegraph, Spectator, Lloyds Banking Group, Lloyds, Daily, Nikkei, Financial Times, Economist Group, Conservative Party, Telegraph Media, Telegraph, Sky News, Thomson Locations: Bermuda

☆ UK house prices post first annual drop since 2012, says Halifax
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - British house prices dropped on an annual basis in May for the first time in 11 years, and pressure on prospective buyers from higher mortgage rates could deepen the downturn, mortgage lender Halifax said on Wednesday. Kim Kinnaird, director of mortgages at Halifax, said demand was weakening and higher interest rates were likely to increase pressure on house prices. Halifax, part of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), on Tuesday said it would raise interest rates for its fixed home loans from Wednesday. The stronger-than-expected inflation data raised markets' bets interest rates will peak at 5.5% later this year. Nationwide, another lender, last week reported a steeper 0.5% month-on-month drop in house prices in April and a 3.4% annual decline - the biggest drop since 2009.

Persons: Kim Kinnaird, Liz Truss's, Kinnaird, Myron Jobson, Suban Abdulla, Andy Bruce, Paul Sandle, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Halifax, Lloyds Banking Group, Interactive Investor, Capital Economics, Nationwide, Thomson Locations: Halifax

☆ Telegraph faces sale after UK lender takes control of owners
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 7 (Reuters) - The Telegraph group of newspapers could be sold after the Bank of Scotland appointed receivers for shares of the publisher's owners who failed to repay loans by the bank, restructuring group AlixPartners said on Wednesday. No operational changes are expected for the media businesses or their employees, and "neither the Telegraph Media Group (TMG) nor The Spectator are entering administration," AlixPartners added. The Barclay family owns shares of B.UK Ltd, a holding company within the Penultimate Investment Holdings Limited (PIHL) Group that indirectly owns Telegraph Media Group Limited (TMG) and The Spectator magazine. AlixPartners said the receivers may reach a resolution which could involve the Telegraph and Spectator businesses being sold. Sky News reported on Tuesday that Lloyds was set to launch a 600 million pound ($745.4 million) auction of the Telegraph newspapers and The Spectator magazine.

Persons: AlixPartners, Alastair Beveridge, Ben Browne, Barclay, Aidan Barclay, Howard Barclay, Philip Peters, Rigel Mowatt, Gokul Pisharody, Bharat Govind Gautam, Chiara Ellsei, Chris Reese, Richard Chang Organizations: Telegraph, Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, Telegraph Media, B.UK Ltd, Investment Holdings, Group, Telegraph Media Group, Spectator, The Spectator, Sky News, Lloyds, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Major UK lender Halifax pushes up mortgage rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Andy Bruce | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Britain's largest mortgage provider Halifax will ramp up interest rates for new home loans on Wednesday, according to pricing provided to brokers, the latest major lender to do so in response to soaring funding costs. The decision by Halifax, part of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), comes after rivals like Nationwide Building Society announced hefty increases to mortgage rates. Two-year deals rather than five-year deals are currently popular among borrowers who hope that rates will fall again soon. "This latest increase by the biggest mortgage lender in the UK will spook buyers and sellers alike not to mention those due to re-mortgage in the next few months," Lewis Shaw from broker Shaw Financial Services said. Property website Rightmove said on Tuesday this was the first week since January that rates have averaged 5% or more across all LTV brackets.

Persons: Liz Truss, Lewis Shaw, Rightmove, Andy Bruce, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Bank of England, Halifax, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, Shaw Financial Services, Thomson Locations: Halifax

Banks typically sold these perpetual bonds - known as AT1 bonds - with five years before an option to repay was triggered. In the past, investors got their money back, and banks replaced the bonds with new ones, but some are changing tack. The banks' actions show how the wipeout of billions of dollars of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds still reverberates around this market, which is estimated at roughly $275 billion. "The AT1 market is splitting," said Alessandro Cameroni, a portfolio manager at asset manager Lemanik. SHOCK ABSORBERThe AT1 bonds were designed to help banks absorb losses, and they count towards their capital buffers.

Persons: Kai Pfaffenbach, Banks, Alessandro Cameroni, Lemanik, Peter Harvey, Federated Hermes, Italy's, Morgan Stanley, Karsten Junius, J . Safra Sarasin, Chiara Elisei, Carlo Giovanni Boffa, Jane Merriman Organizations: REUTERS, Suisse, Raiffeisen Bank, Reuters, Deutsche, Aareal Bank, Credit Suisse, Investors, Federated, Lloyds, Societe Generale, UBS, Santander, J ., Thomson Locations: Frankfurt, Germany, Ukraine, Swiss, Schroders, Russia

☆ Mediobanca buys Arma Partners to boost tech advisory offer
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The acquisition, which Mediobanca expects to boost its fee income by 10%, comes ahead of a new three-year strategy CEO Alberto Nagel will unveil on May 24. In the same year, it advised Germany's Aareal Bank (ARLG.DE) on the sale of a stake in its $1.1 billion software unit Aareon to Advent International. The deal will boost earnings per share, based on last year's figures, Mediobanca said, without elaborating. With 86 staff and some $100 million in yearly revenue, Arma was founded in 2003 by Paul-Noël Guély, a former head of software and services investment banking at Goldman Sachs. Arma has offices also in Munich, a U.S. presence and a network of affiliated advisory firms in Japan, Australia, Israel, Turkey and Brazil.

There are some signs that the broader $275 billion AT1 market is recovering. Reuters GraphicsLast month, Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T) was the first major global bank to sell AT1s since the March rout. With time, analysts expect UBS to sell AT1s aplenty to meet its capital requirements. It has a 700 million Singapore dollar ($755 million) AT1 bond repayable in November followed by a heftier $2.5 billion bond in January. RATINGS GAMEInvestor appetite for a UBS AT1 could also hinge on its future credit profile.

Lenders wasted little time in charging more for loans when interest rates rapidly rose from an almost 15-year slumber around zero last year, but most have dragged their feet on boosting deposit rates paid to millions of their customers. Money market funds are proving popular among savers seeking bigger returns on their cash as high levels of inflation persist. Data from Refinitiv Lipper showed more than 34 billion euros ($37.6 billion) of net flows into European money market funds in March, the best-selling asset type that month. Fidelity International also reported an 8% year-on-year uplift in flows into money market funds on its investment platform between Jan. 1 and April 26. Some lawmakers have criticised banks for the mismatch between what they charge borrowers and the interest rates offered to savers.

LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) - Interest rate rises helped British bank Lloyds (LLOY.L) beat first quarter profit forecasts on Wednesday, but early signs of stress among some borrowers pointed to tougher times ahead. Lloyds reported pretax profit of 2.3 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) for the first three months of 2023, above the 1.95 billion pounds average of analyst forecasts compiled by the bank and up from 1.5 billion pounds the prior year. While earnings have exceeded expectations across the sector, Lloyds has echoed rivals in keeping full-year performance forecasts flat instead of upgrading them further as some analysts had anticipated. Lloyds is the last of Britain's 'Big Four' banks to post its quarterly results, after HSBC, NatWest and Barclays also reported profit jumps. But in common with others, Lloyds also reported deposit outflows of 2.2 billion pounds over the quarter as customers dipped into savings and moved money into alternative products.

While the Fed is widely expected to raise rates by 25 basis points at its policy rate announcement at 1800 GMT, the hopes of a pause in increases have grown after a banking crisis that has threatened to hurt economic growth. Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) edged down 0.8% despite beating quarterly profit estimates, as the bellwether lender echoed rivals in maintaining its full-year forecasts. However, energy stocks (.FTNMX601010) were a drag, down 1.2%, tracking weakness in crude prices. Haleon (HLN.L) lost 3.8% as the world's biggest standalone consumer health business reported first-quarter profit below analyst expectations. Luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda (AML.L) lost 2.2% after it reported a narrower quarterly pre-tax loss and maintained its 2023 outlook.

☆ Morning Bid: Wowed by tech, worried by banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

That makes investors wary of such provisions at the likes of HSBC (HSBA.L), Lloyds (LLOY.L) and NatWest Group (NWG.L), all of which are due to report earnings in the coming weeks. Across the Atlantic, First Republic Bank's (FRC.N) plunging deposits and tumbling shares are rippling through the U.S. regional banking sector. U.S. recession fears have also resurfaced after consumer confidence hit a nine-month low, alongside some weak earnings. In a week packed with tech sector earnings, the focus moves from artificial intelligence to advertising revenues as Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (META.O) and streaming device maker Roku Inc (ROKU.O) report. Key developments that could influence markets on Wednesday:U.S. durable goods orders, Germany and France consumer confidenceEarnings: Meta Platforms, Boeing, GSK, Deutsche Boerse, Roku IncEditing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Bischoff died on Tuesday of natural causes, a close relative, who asked not to be named, told Reuters on Wednesday. A former chairman of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), Citigroup (C.N) and more recently JP Morgan Securities (JPM.N), Bischoff had also been CEO of Schroders (SDR.L). Robert Swannell, former chairman of Marks & Spencer, who worked with Bischoff for 33 years at Schroders and later Citi, said he would profoundly mourn his friend and colleague. The deal was hailed as a huge success for Bischoff's leadership team, having started with a business worth just a fraction of the 1.3 billion pounds price Citi later paid. He returned to JP Morgan as chairman of JP Morgan Securities the same year.

The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 (.FTSE) edged 0.1% lower, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 (.FTMC) was flat as of 0814 GMT. "Gains in homebuilders is being counteracted by ex-dividend moves today," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group. Even as concerns over a potential U.S. recession have weighed on investor sentiment, defensive stocks such as pharmaceuticals as well as commodity-linked stocks have kept FTSE 100 afloat recently. Shares of Lloyds Group (LLOY.L), Unite Group (UTG.L) and Persimmon (PSN.L) among others were down between 1.7%-3% as the stocks traded ex-dividend. Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami and Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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