"The Treasury will have the power from next year to take charge in any future banking crisis, including being able to tell the Bank of England (BoE) to pump money into the financial system. Chancellor George Osborne published a draft law on Friday reforming the way Britain's financial system is regulated and setting out who has ultimate authority in a crisis" (It wasn't me Guv!)

Hester has seen the RBS share price tumble but he's got his bonus on top of his £1.2m salary and his Long-term Incentive Plan (not mentioned in the article), which will be worth millions. All the talking heads are saying pretty much what you'd expect them to say, but no analysis of what particular skills he brings that would be difficult to acquire without the big bucks.

Posted by icarus @ 03:41 PM 8 Comments

Outsourcing group Serco has announced it is to cut 500 jobs, mostly at its UK head office in Hampshire.

Root cause of housing problems is hard to grasp even for Occupiers let alone banks who effectively own most of the land through mortgage assets. The founding social organisations today are privatisation of the commons: virtually tax free private property in land. And socialisation of private property: taxation of wages, salaries and investment. Is this the right way around? We’ve been taught this is economically sustainable so never question it. Yet everyone wants property because it always rises in value for free. So through each business cycle, property prices are bid upwards by expected future selling price, fuelled by limitless credit and a speculative bubble develops. The ability of people to pay the rising price for a home to live in diminishes...

Posted by mark wadsworth @ 10:19 AM 9 Comments

Respondents “complain about the difficulty of getting hold of assets, strong competition and bubble-like pricing,” PwC said in the report

Title says it all and highlights the sums of money involved in this lucrative sector of the 'service' economy.

Mme Lagarde reiterated the gravity of the situation in saying, "The IMF, being an international institution, will appeal to its members to make their contributions. European partners will also have to do more".

Residential property prices in Ireland fell by 1.7% in December, indicating that there is still no sign of the country’s real estate market bottoming out. The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office also show that the annual rate of decline was 16.7% in December. Overall, the national index is 47% lower than its highest level in 2007.

Posted by ontheotherhand @ 05:08 PM 11 Comments

"DESPERATE Birmingham families face a 99 YEAR wait for the largest council houses, the Birmingham Mail can reveal." "The average waiting time for all housing types – including flats, maisonettes and two and three-bedroom houses – is an estimated six years." "The crisis is fuelled by the fact that 70 per cent of city residents can not afford to buy the average-sized home on their income. GOSH! Could there be a solution to all this? Hmmm . . . I wonder if it would help if house prices fell?

British buy-to-let mortgage lender Paragon said it is exploring acquisition opportunities after posting a rise in quarterly profits. The company saw operating profits rise 12pc to £20.3m during the three months ending December 31, compared to a year earlier.