27 February 09 - 12:11Any hope left for savings?
The Royal Bank of Scotland just announced a staggering £28 billion loss.
While we’ve seen a number of banks declare billions in losses over the past year, and the process still continues, the RBS loss is going down as the biggest corporate loss in UK history.
It’s unbelievable what’s happened to the banks, and what’s even more unfair is that it’s the tax payer who is paying for all the mistakes of the banks.
We’re not just paying in terms of government funding and asset swaps with the Treasury, but also as customers. Interest rates on savings accounts are dead, but mortgage and loan interest rates remain a lot higher than the Bank of England’s base rate. ... (more)
08 February 09 - 21:13Why we pay for the banks twice
This week’s move by the Bank of England to cut the interest rate to an all time low of 1% is a bad move for all of us, especially those trying to save money.
It is an unfortunate double whammy, because while the tax payer is subsidising the banking system via RBS and Lloyds especially though part nationalisation, plus through government guarantees and debt swaps with its special liquidity scheme, the cut in interest rates especially benefits the banks by increasing their profit margins.
A major way banks make their profit is through arbitrage between savings rates on loan rates. In other words, the bank offers a relatively low interest rate to savers, a relatively higher rate to borrowers, and the ... (more)
08 February 09 - 20:37Starting out at MyBlogSite
Well, I've already been trying out blogging by myself at Richmond Way as part of trying to understand the online environment, not least with the current development of my A1 brand websites.Even still, I have to admit it feels sometimes isolating and lonsesome to blog without any real understanding of what audience may or may not be around.
I've therefore decided to start up blogging at a few online blogging communities, where perhaps it may be easier to engage with an online audience, and that's why I've set up this blog at MyBlogSite.
I'm not sure what to expect as yet, and perhaps lack of expectation is good. Nevertheless, it will be an interesting experiment.
MyBlogSite(more)
