MPs to probe banking practices
An influential group of MPs is to investigate claims the country's banking sector is overcharging consumers. The Treasury committee plans to probe competition in the industry as well as the perceived end of 'free' banking. Last year First Direct became the first bank to announced fees for its current accounts. There have been suggestions that banks are looking to new ways to charge customers to compensate for a crackdown on overdraft and late payment fees, with the Office of Fair Trading currently investigating. The MPs' investigation, which is expected to call for written evidence in the coming weeks, comes seven years after Don Cruickshank published his review into competition in the banking sector. Last month Britain's eight largest banks announced collective profits for 2006 of some £40 billion. In separate news, the committee also aims to probe private equity funds following the Financial Services Authority's recent paper on risk and regulatory engagement. Welcoming the announcement, the GMB union said it hoped MPs would make a "positive contribution to the accountability and scrutiny of this industry". "GMB is calling on MPs to investigate the practises in the private equity business and to look carefully at the tax regimes involved. GMB, if asked, will submit detailed evidence that should cause MPs to take a very close look at how this industry operates in practice," said the union's general secretary Paul Kenny.
Share this..
Related stories
80% of pension transfer requests fraudulent
13/07/2015 Research from Aegon, the retirement specialist, shows that 80% of all requests for overseas pension transfers it receives are scams, designed to defraud savers out of their pensions. Throughout 2015 so far, Aegon has prevented around 80% of transfers to Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QOPS), which customers had unwittingly authorised, as they were discovered to be...
Read MoreEuropean bank hit by cyber criminals
25/06/2014 Internet security company, Kaspersky Lab, has claimed to have found evidence of cyber-criminals stealing over £400,000 from 190 customers of a European bank. The attack is thought to have happened in January 2014, mainly affecting Turkish and Italian banking customers, who are believed to have lost between 1,700 euros and 39,000 euros each. However, whilst the authorities have...
Read MoreLord Kirkham sells DFS
Sofa retailer DFS has today confirmed a sale to private equity firm Advent International in a deal said to be worth £500 million. It is believed that Lord Kirkham, the founder and owner of DFS, will walk away with around £300 after debts are repaid and there is no doubt he has done very well out of the transaction. Only two weeks ago it appeared that a sale of DFS was not on the cards with Lord...
Read MoreIs the Eurozone recovery now wobbling?
Today we saw confirmation that the recovery in the Eurozone economy may not be as robust and strong as many people had assumed. Unemployment in the third quarter in the Eurozone fell by 0.5% quarter on quarter and by 2.1% year on year. There was also a reduction in industrial output of 0.6% month on month and 11.1% year-on-year. So what does this mean for the future of the Eurozone economy? The...
Read MoreHouse Prices Close in on 2007 Peak
The Nationwide has today reported that house prices are now getting close to the peak of 2007, after the average property price jumped 6pc in the last month. The figure now stands at £177,846, which is 9.4pc higher than in February 2013, showing signs of aggressive growth. This data has been derived from the Nationwide’s own House Price Index, and is based around mortgages that have been...
Read More