The latest revelations and fines for Barclays on their alleged manipulation of interest rates and potential selling of protection against interest rate rises, could lead to another banking crisis. Some commentators have stated this could be the “tip of the iceberg” with possibly all the major UK and some overseas banks being involved in similar [...]

It appears that the UK economy is going around in circles. Remember Woolworths demise and now we have Clintons/Birthdays. There was a private sector led recession in 2009 and now a public sector led one in 2012 – the predicted double dip. Banks with problems still abound, low growth and record low interest rates for [...]

The UK appears to be showing the signs of a possible second recessionary phase with a retail malaise and consumer confidence shaky at best. Consistently high fuel price rises, increases in utility costs around the corner and food inflation forcing households to review their weekly spend. Interest rates’ remaining static has become the “norm” over [...]

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, (OECD), warned that the UK austerity measures pose “headwinds” to growth, and has significantly cut its forecast for the UK in 2011, to only 1.7%, down from 2.5%. They also stated that the housing market is at risk of a double-dip downturn that poses significant risks to recovery, [...]

This week leaders of some of Britain’s biggest businesses gave an emphatic endorsement of the coalition Government’s decision to cut spending immediately in order to pay down the UK deficit. That of course is the private sector view, however the suggested 25% cuts in the public sector have not engendered the same reaction from those [...]

With no clear majority after the UK election, in essence a “hung parliament”, the country awaits the outcome of discussions between the main political parties on how a coalition government could optimise a strategy that would some positive impact on the economy. The Bank of England also has held the UK base rate at 0.5% [...]

The Bank of England kept interest rates at a record low of 0.5% for the 12th consecutive month on Thursday, a decision widely expected as any rise in the cost of borrowing could damage the UK’s fragile economic recovery. The bank has not pumped any more money into the economy under its quantitative easing (QE) [...]