Bank of England minutes add to signs rate hike on back burner
LONDON - Most Bank of England policymakers are firmly against raising interest rates, seeing little evidence of inflation pressures while the slowing euro zone poses growing risks, minutes of their latest meeting showed.
Handelsbanken, Metro Bank point way for UK challengers
LONDON - Sweden's Handelsbanken and Britain's Metro Bank reported a surge in lending to UK households and businesses on Tuesday in a sign of growing competition to Britain's established lenders.
Rising UK borrowing leaves no room for pre-election sweeteners
LONDON - British government borrowing rose more than 10 percent in the first half of the financial year, giving Chancellorp George Osborne little scope to offer sweeteners to voters before a parliamentary election in May.
Lloyds says UK needs to build extra 60,000 homes a year
LONDON - Lloyds Banking Group said at least 60,000 new homes need to be built in Britain every year above the current level of supply to ease the country's housing shortage.
Bank of England payments system suffers lengthy outage
LONDON - A Bank of England payments system that handles more than 260 billion pounds a day suffered a major outage on Monday, forcing the central bank to extend its operating hours until late into the evening.
Bank of England may keep rates low for longer, says chief economist
LONDON - Britain's economic recovery might stall if interest rates rise too soon, the Bank of England's chief economist said on Friday as he offered the strongest signal yet that the bank is prepared to delay increases in borrowing costs.
Virgin Money postpones London stock market listing
LONDON - UK lender Virgin Money has postponed its London stock market listing, the company said on Friday, delaying plans to raise around 150 million pounds in a float that could have valued the firm at 1.5-2 billion pounds.
First UK rate hike still expected in Q1 2015 despite low inflation
LONDON - Falling inflation, stock markets and growth rates have virtually wiped out lingering expectations for a Bank of England interest rate hike this year though the consensus for a rise early in 2015 has not budged, a Reuters poll found on Thursday.
RBS CEO plans customer study on impact of rate rises
LONDON - Royal Bank of Scotland will talk to concerned customers ahead of a future rise in interest rates and release a study on findings to help ensure they don't get into financial difficulties, Chief Executive Ross McEwan said on Thursday.
UK jobless rate falls again, recovery shows signs of cooling
LONDON - Britain's strong labour market recovery is showing signs of cooling, even as the unemployment rate once again fell more than expected in the three months to August.
UK construction output slumps in August, lower imports help trade gap
LONDON - British construction fell sharply in August, hit by a fall in house-building and adding to signs of a slowdown in other areas of the economy, official figures showed on Friday.
EU court says UK guarantee on BT pension fund is illegal
BRUSSELS/LONDON - The British government's guarantee on former state monopoly BT's pension obligations is illegal state aid, Europe's top court said on Wednesday, backing an EU regulatory decision issued five years ago.
HSBC rapped for UK small business lending breach
LONDON - Britain's competition watchdog said HSBC had forced some small businesses to open an account with the bank to obtain a loan, breaking commitments made by banks to end the practice.
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