Alternative Investment news articles

FSA Puts Common Sense At The Heart Of Mortgage Lending

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) announced on monday 26th december, plans to prevent a return of the risky mortgage lending seen in boom times, by ensuring that common sense standards continue to apply in future. The Mortgage Market Review aims to prevent a recurrence of the irresponsible lending which resulted in some borrowers taking on mortgages which only seemed affordable on the assumption that house prices would always rise. Many of those borrowers ended up struggling to repay their mortgage and in danger of losing their home. The proposals will see prospective borrowers - wh... [more]

Ukrainian Agriculture, Energy, Finance, Consumer Goods are the most Attractive for Foreign Investment

The President of the American Chamber of Commerce (ACC) in Ukraine Jorge Zukoski in his interview with the Ukrainian Week predicted that Ukrainian agriculture, fuel and energy complex, financial services, and production of consumer goods will become the most appealing sectors of national economy for foreign investments in 2012. Ukrainian businesses look for ways to turn the country into a platform for exporting goods and services to Europe, according to the ACC President. The agricultural sector of Ukrainian economy is most likely to become the most profitable in the country. Within the ne... [more]

Credit Action published December debt statistics and urges people to make a Christmas budget

Money education charity Credit Action has published its Debt Statistics for December, a monthly release detailing the level of debt in the UK. Key statistics from the release, which shows month-by-month trends, include: £55,808 is the average household debt (including mortgages) £29,539 is the average amount owed by every UK adult (including mortgages) £174m is the personal interest paid in UK daily £15.68m of loans are written-off every day by banks & building societies Every 14.28 minutes a property is repossessed 1,611 people are made redundant daily 868,000 people have been une... [more]

Investment Update On Co-Ordinated Action From The Central Banks

Last week, the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, Bank of Canada and Swiss National Bank announced that they would cut the rate charged to other central banks for access to US dollars, from 100 basis points over the base rate to just 50 basis points. A reciprocal agreement has been set up for a similar arrangement with regard to the domestic currencies of the other central banks. A joint statement from the banks said that the move was aimed to "ease strains in financial markets and thereby mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit ... [more]

Since privatisation British Gas shares have increased by 12 times in the 25 years

Next week, the 8st December marks the 25th anniversary of the controversial privatisation of British Gas, when many people from in the UK took advantage of the opportunity to buy shares. Following a long “Tell Sid” campaign, 425.5 million shares were put up for sale, creating millions of first time shareholders in the UK. In fact the Thatcher era produced over twenty million new shareholders through its intensive programme of privatisations, employee share ownership schemes and demutualisations. By 1987 20% of the UK population were shareholders, a significant increase from the 7% in 1976. It... [more]