Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Barclays, NatWest, and Lloyds are among seven banks collaborating with the National Crime Agency (NCA) in a groundbreaking project to tackle criminal gangs, money laundering, and dirty money flowing through the UK. The project, which went live in May and is overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority, has already identified eight new crime networks. The…
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Revolut, the global fintech with over nine million UK customers and 45 million globally, has announced today that it has received its UK banking licence with restrictions from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the regulator responsible for overseeing the UK banking sector. Revolut now enters the ‘mobilisation’ stage, sometimes referred to as ‘Authorisation with Restrictions’,…
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NatWest has agreed to buy a £2.5 billion portfolio of prime residential mortgages from Metro Bank. The deal will see around 10,000 customer accounts transfer to NatWest from Metro, although the accounts will continue to be serviced by the latter lender. NatWest says the mortgages have a weighted average current loan-to-value of around 62%, and…
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Four high street banks – HSBC, Lloyds, TSB and Allied Irish Bank (AIB) failed to comply with banking rules put in place by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to help their customers. Under the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017 – put in place by the CMA after it found competition concerns in the retail…
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More than half (58%) of UK adults going on holiday this summer estimate it will cost them almost £2,000 on average per person, new research from Aviva shows. Nearly three quarters (73%) say it is important to them to go on holiday. Almost two thirds (64%) of holidaymakers surveyed plan to travel overseas this summer,…
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A forecast from EY ITEM Club expects solid household income growth and a less cautious approach from consumers going forward, to result in 0.8% growth in consumer spending this year, and 2.5% in 2025. While prospects for consumer spending appear relatively positive, they are likely to be tempered by the lagged effect of past monetary…
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The total number of cash payments in the UK has decreased as more consumers opt for digital transactions using cards and phone apps like Apple Pay and Google Pay according to latest UK Finance data. The research showed that last year, the UK population made 6 billion cash payments, accounting for only 12% of the…
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Banks in the UK will be banned from shutting down too quickly under new rules aimed at helping people access cash. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has introduced a policy that requires banks to provide alternatives for customers affected by branch closures. While the changes cannot prevent the closure of bank branches, they will ensure…
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Soaring borrowing costs and strict lending rules have driven down the value of buy-to-let (BTL) mortgages to the lowest level in almost three decades according to latest UK Finance data. The reports showed that the number of outstanding mortgages to landlords had fallen for the first time since 1996, when bespoke loans for property investors…
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UK Finance has launched a new site including a step-by-step digital guide and FAQ to support charities and other voluntary organisations open and manage bank accounts. The new site also includes a free Account Finder tool, to help organisations in the voluntary sector find the best account for their needs. The launch of the site…
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Consumer confidence has seen a subdued increase, according to the latest figures from GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index. The index increased by one point to minus 13 in July. The major purchase index, which indicates confidence in buying big ticket items, saw a seven point uptick, potentially good news for retailers. However, confidence in personal finances…
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Latest UK Finance card spending data for April 2024 has shown that outstanding balances on credit card accounts have grown by 8.3 per cent over the twelve months to April and 49.4 per cent of outstanding balances incurred interest compared to 49.6 per cent in April 2023. There were 374.6 million credit card transactions in…
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New research conducted by Co-op Insurance has revealed the potentially large financial risk facing renters, as almost one in three admit to not having any form of insurance for their valuables, while a further one in ten said they simply ‘didn’t know’ when asked if they had cover. The survey of renters, conducted by Co-op Insurance,…
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