Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
Metro Bank will - hopefully - be a name to reckon with before too long. Its first branch opens in London's Southampton Row on 29th July, with Earl's Court a week later. 12 more London branches and a total...
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
Will Cash soon no longer be "King"? Card transactions could seize the UK "payments throne" within 5 years. In its 'The Way We Pay 2010' report, the UK Payments Council notes that cash, on the face of it, still appears...
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
The upper amount for contactless card payments has been increased from £10 to £15. This is a big boost to the card industry's drive for wider acceptance of the payment method and brings the UK into line with the eurozone, where the limit is...
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
A survey of 55 analysts from UK financiers suggests a rise in base rate to 1% in Q4 this year, followed by 0.5% increases each subsequent quarter; seeing 2.5% by Q3 2011. The survey was conducted by Reuters on 7th January...
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Companies must get used to higher borrowing margins as Standard & Poors' (S&P) downgrade the UK banking system to be on a par with Chile and Portugal. That's worse than Italy (!!) and Belgium and a far cry from our former...
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Banks are continuing to significantly increase margins. The Bank of England reported yesterday that the effective interest rate on all new or refinanced corporate lending has risen from 2 per cent in August to 2.4 per cent in November, even...
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
UK banks have voted to stop the cheque clearing system in 2018. If a viable alternative exists at that time. The press are having a field day, but most of them ignore the stated proviso of a working alternative. Its...
Saturday, November 14th, 2009
How long before the UK has a 20% VAT rate? Most of the major EEC economies do already! Stefano Pessina, executive chairman of Alliance Boots anticipates a crippling rise in VAT after the general election. He said this week in a newspaper...
Retailers gearing up for “Wave and Pay”
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
The "Contactless" card payment acceptance market is set for step growth. A recent independent report suggests the number of retail locations that accept contactless payments is set to surge by more than 12.5 million within 5 years. The report by IMS...
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Quantative Easing .... just what is it? In "Quantitative Easing Explained" the Bank of England says that direct injections of money into the economy, which they do mainly by buying gilts, is planned so:- "... sellers of the assets have...