Brokers urged to ‘add value’ to survive crunch

Mortgage advisers need to refocus their business in order to survive the tough mortgage market, according to Positive Solutions. Paul Rignall, mortgage manager at Positive Solutions, says firms need to increase the value of their business by offering complimentary services and advice.
“Over the last few years advisers may have been focusing purely on the mortgage [...]

UCC claims large rise in intermediary applications

The Unsecured Credit Company (UCC) has claimed a 25% increase in applications from intermediaries since the beginning of the year.
The company believes that the credit crunch has meant that client requirements are forcing advisers to look further afield for funding solutions and that more advisers are recognising the importance of unsecured loans.
According to managing director, [...]

Lenders look to title insurance as crunch bites

London & European is predicting a surge in the uptake of title insurance policies by prime lenders, and in particular building societies.
Christian Bearman, director at London & European said: “We’ve experienced a 116% increase over the past year in inquiries from this community as its focus has shifted from growth or market share to risk. [...]

Clive Briault given more than £500,000 in compensation after leaving FSA

Ex-FSA retail markets managing director Clive Briault received £528,952 in compensation for loss of office after he stepped down from his role following the Northern Rock debacle.
It was reported that Briault, who left the regulator by “mutual consent” in April, would receive a £380,000 payout. But the FSA’s Annual Report, released today, shows that figure [...]

John Charcol to lose 69 staff

John Charcol is set to lose 69 staff and will close offices in Birmingham, Guildford and Manchester, after finishing a strategic review.
The company will be making 39 people redundant across various locations, accounting for 14% of the workforce.
A further 30 staff will leave the company as a result of a programme of performance management in [...]

Fear driving pension savings according to Widows report

Fear is one of the main factors prompting people to increase their pension savings, according to the Scottish Widows Pensions Report 2008. The Report uses two key measures to monitor pensions savings behaviour in the UK: the Scottish Widows Pensions Index and the Scottish Widows Average Savings Ratio. They are based on those who could [...]

LV= launches flexible lifetime mortgage

LV= has launched a flexible lifetime mortgage product that will allow customers to draw down funds from their property. The LV= Flexible Lifetime Mortgage is available to those aged 60 to 95 with a minimum drawdown of £10,000.
The mortgage offers homeowners a 15-year guarantee on how much can be drawn down, which is not affected [...]

Mortgage approvals sink to new low

The number of new mortgage approvals for house purchase has fallen to a record low, according to the Bank of England. Last week, statistics from the British Bankers Association (BBA) revealed mortgage approvals by banks had fallen 20% during May to less than 30,000.
The Bank of England’s figures, which include lending by all types of [...]

Fifth of firms will fail December TCF deadline

The FSA says it anticipates 20% of larger firms will fail to meet its December deadline for demonstrating they are treating customers fairly (TCF). In its latest progress update, the regulator says only 80% of relationship-managed firms are “still capable” of meeting the deadline after examining the management information (MI) progress at 96 firms.
However, it [...]

Study shows that life insurers hit hardest by credit crunch

The life insurance sector is suffering the biggest fallout from the credit crunch, Confederation of British Industry (CBI) research suggests. According to the study, carried out with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), business volumes, income and profitability have all fallen steeply while operating costs have also taken a hit.
PWC says UK financial services as a whole, with the [...]