Archive for January, 2010

UK Banks credit profile

UK Banks credit profile tumbles somewhat

LONDON (Standard & Poor's) Jan. 28, 2010--We no longer classify the United
Kingdom (AAA/Negative/A-1+) among the most stable and low-risk banking systems
globally, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services noted in a report titled "Banking
Industry Country Risk Assessment: United Kingdom" published today on
RatingsDirect. This is due to our view of the country's weak economic
environment, the reputational damage we believe has been experienced by the
banking industry, and what we see as the high dependence on state-support
programs of a significant proportion of the industry.

We placed the U.K.'s banking system in Group 3 out of our 10 Banking Industry
Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) groups on Dec. 21, 2009, which primarily
reflects our view of relatively high leverage in the U.K. economy and the
losses the industry could bear during the deleveraging process. (For more
information, see "U.K. BICRA Revised Downward To Group 3 From Group 2 Due To
High Leverage In The Economy And Weak Earnings Prospects".) The scale ranges
from Group 1 (strongest) to Group 10 (weakest). The macroeconomic and banking
industrywide factors that affect the BICRA influence all bank counterparty
credit ratings in the U.K. Read more...

Darling reform

Darling pushes for reform

Switzerland (Reuters) - Chancellor Alistair Darling urged regulators, politicians and the world's leading banks to reach a swift agreement on regulatory changes to keep up momentum generated after the credit crunch.

Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum after two hours of talks between dozens of financial sector heavyweights on Saturday, Darling said some common ground had been reached.

"What has changed is there is an acceptance on the part of banks that they need to make changes and they need to make changes quickly," Darling said in the Swiss resort of Davos.

He said areas of agreement between the sides include the need to increase capital adequacy and living wills.

Referring to a weekend press report that some top bankers had agreed on the need for a wind-down levy, Darling said this was "one of a number of ideas," but said there was no agreement: "This was a discussion forum, no agreement has been reached. Agreements of this nature have to be reached by regulators, it has go to be reached by governments, and banks."

From reuters

uk recession over

UK Recession over

The 26th january 2010 was the date that the uk recession was officially declared over.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have release the latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the final three months of 2009.
These figures show that the uk economy grew by 0.1%. Not a big figure but enough to bring us out of recession.

Recently, when Treasury minister Lord Myners was asked if recovery can be maintained at a time of huge cuts in public spending, he said: "We have a strategy for growth going forward, as growth will play an important part in reducing the deficit. "At the same time, we acknowledge that decisions will have to be made about public expenditure."

Hard times for companies

Hard times for companies

UK companies should brace themselves for "a bumpy recovery", despite a fall in the number of profit warnings in the final quarter of 2009, a report says.

Accountancy company Ernst and Young says only 50 companies issued profit warnings in the fourth quarter, the lowest level in six years. The firm said the economy had picked up quicker than expected but "2010 is when we start paying [for the recovery]".

Figures due out Tuesday are expected to show Britain has exited recession. Experts predict the data will show the UK economy grew at about 0.4% in the three months to December 2009

In January of last year the UK entered recession for the first time since 1991, after experiencing two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. It is one of the last major economies still in recession, with the French and German economies exiting recession last summer. Read more...

Uk recession cities report

How are uk cities coping with the recession

A report has been made public showing how different uk cities are coping with the uk recession. The report also outlines the future for different uk cities on recovery. cities report

universities following the recession today

Universities following the uk recession

Today we thought it would be an idea to show just some of the interest the uk recession has in universities. In the uk and abroad students are looking up various information on and about the uk recession. The entries below are just some of the visits to uk recession.com on the 18th january 2010. There are many more universities and colleges logged for this day but we will show just a few.

University of Brighton

Hi brighton uni, we hope you found what you were looking for.

Edinburgh university

A direct visit from the edinburgh university

Liverpool university

Another direct visit from liverpool uni.

De Montfort university

Searched for "recession depression" Read more...

housing market 2010

2010 housing market recovery ?

The begining of 2010 has seen some improvement in the uk housing market. People's confidence seems to have returned to pre uk recession levels.

Recent figures show that around 81% of people expect house prices to rise during the coming six months, predicting average house prices to increases 5.4%, according to property website Zoopla.co.uk.
 

uk recession debate

UK Recession debate

Lets not bury our heads in the sand about where the uk recession originated from. It was a global recession that was started by bad moves (call it greed) between governments and bankers. These guys were using our money to play monopoly on a big scale. At the end of the day we will pay heavily for it.

An example quote to pick the bones out of: Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein told the us financial crisis panel that US government support was critical in the crisis. "We benefited from it," he said.

And we in the uk suffered for it.

Greed.

Do you agree?

good news

Good news on the uk recession

 Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. economy emerged from the worst recession on record in the fourth quarter, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said.

Gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent after shrinking 0.2 percent in the third quarter, the institute, whose clients include the Bank of England and the Treasury, said in an e- mailed statement today in London. The economy shrank 4.8 percent in 2009, more than any year of the Great Depression and the most since 1921, the report said.

Bank of England policy maker Andrew Sentance told the Guardian newspaper in an interview published today that the early months of recovery may “feel fragile and uncertain.” Government data today showed U.K. manufacturing unexpectedly stalled for a second month in November, suggesting the economy is struggling to shake off the slump. Read more...

tax debt

Tax debt problems

The uk recession and the reverberations the uk recession has had on businesses in the uk has caused some companies problems with tax debt to the hrmc.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HM RC) has been pretty ruthless in recovering tax arrears from companies that have struggled in the uk recession. The government is behind almost half of all court petitions seeking to push companies into failure, despite repeated calls from ministers for other creditor groups, such as banks, to do everything they can to help struggling businesses keep trading. Read more...