Autumn Statement 2013

Today is Autumn Statement day, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer (George Osborne) outlines spending plans and related matters for the coming years.

By happenstance, Iain Duncan Smith has slipped out a statement that the Universal Credit programme may not meet its 2017 deadline. Ironically, in September, IDS had told MPs that the 2017 deadline remained in place.

Eight Banks Fined For Rate Rigging

As per the BBC, the European Commission has fined eight banks a total of 1.7bn euros for forming illegal cartels to rig interest rates.

UK Grows Whilst Eurozone Stagnates

According to a survey of 350 manufacturers carried out by the CBI, Britain's manufacturing sector is growing at its fastest rate for nearly two decades. The Telegraph reports that total order books relative to normal levels were at their strongest since March 1995.

The CBI survey's total order book balance rose to +11 this month to from -4 in October, well above expectations of 0 and the long-run average of -17. 

Meanwhile in the Eurozone things are somewhat different. Markit Economics said that its Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for November (published today) fell to a three-month low of 51.5 points from 51.9 points in October.

France, the Eurozone's second largest economy, is dragging the zone down whilst the other smaller economies are all but stagnant.

Such is the effect of using one economic policy (via the single currency) for multiple economies that face different problems.

Britain Is Booming?

The Telegraph reports that the Markit/CIPS UK Services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 62.5 in October from 60.3 in September. This was the highest level since May 1997.

As I noted the other week, it is the service sector that is driving the growth.

Now if the government could only bring itself to simplify the tax system, and indeed lower taxes, we might be assured that this growth can be maintained!

Some Royal Mail Share Certificates Issued In Error

The Telegraph reports that an employee of Equiniti, the firm handling Royal Mail shares bought via the Government's website, has admitted that a software error was responsible for investors being mistakenly issued with share certificates, according to one shareholder.

The shareholder contacted The Telegraph to say that a member of the company's call centre staff, had "spilt the beans" about the error on the Equiniti web page on which customers chose how they wanted to hold the shares.

The receipt of physical certificates can delay the speed at which an investor wishes to sell/receive the proceeds from the sale of his/her share allocation.

When asked previously about the large numbers of people who claimed to have received unwanted certificates, Equiniti said:

"We have investigated cases which have been brought to our attention and in these cases our records show that share certificates were opted for."

UK Economy Grows By 0.8%

ONS statistics published today show that Britain's economy grew by 0.8% between July and September of this year, that is the best performance since Q2 2010. The services sector accounted for the majority of the growth, itself growing by 0.7%.

It is encouraging to note that Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, has said that the Bank will not rush to raise interest rates or withdraw support for banks.

Now if the government could only bring itself to simplify the tax system, and indeed lower taxes, we might be assured that this growth can be maintained!

The Dangers of Contactless Cards

There has been some controversy over the security of "contactless" payment cards (which don't require Pin numbers, merely contact with a reader for payments of up to £20).

All well and good, so long as the right card makes the payment and the wrong one doesn't make a payment when it merely passes by a reader (primed to deduct a payment) because it is in someone's pocket/wallet.

The banking industry have denied there is such a problem.

However, First Direct has written to its customers, as per the Telegraph:

"We have made changes to clarify that if you have a contactless debit card you must remove it from your wallet or purse before using it to make a contactless payment."

A spokeswoman said:

"If you don't remove cards from your wallet there is a danger the payment may be taken from the wrong card. It could be a bit of a nightmare if it came from a card where there wasn't enough money."

In other words there is a potential problem with these cards, not least the possibility that a suitably well positioned felon (ie standing near a person who has a contactless card) with technical knowledge could electronically pick your pocket!

Greece's Budget Deficit Falls

Apparently, if statistics from eurostat can be believed, Greece's budget deficit for 2012 has been revised down from 10% of GDP to 9%

However, before popping the champagne corks, it should be remembered that debt stands at 156.9% of GDP.

Royal Mail Shares

Shares in Royal Mail closed at 489p on the company's first day of full trading on Tuesday, as at the time of writing they currently stand at 475p.

They were priced at 330p.

Royal Mail Bonanza

Conditional dealings in Royal Mail that began to day for City institutions produced an initial rise of 38% (456p on the offer price of 330p), this fell back to around 444p.

Private investors will receive 227 shares each, and official listing/trading will commence next Tuesday.

Back to the 1980's we come!
Tweets about "#royalmail"

Bank Rate and QE Unchanged

The Bank of England has left interest rates unchanged at 0.5% and QE untouched.

Royal Mail Sell Off

Sky News reports that over 100,000 members of the public have applied to buy shares in Royal Mail ahead of last night's deadline. This makes the £3.3BN sale one of the largest privatisations for decades.

Approximately 150,000 Royal Mail staff will receive about £2200 of free shares.

USA In Shutdown

The USA is in financial shutdown, as Congress has failed to find a solution to the ongoing financial impasse (ie increasing the debt ceiling).

As a result, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be put on leave without pay and all but the most critical government services will be halted for the first time in 17 years.

Methinks the voters of America will be less than impressed with the antics of their politicians.

Barclays Bank Error In Your Favour - Collect £100M

I see that Barclays is fond of playing Monopoly, and has managed to create a bank error (for once in its customers' favour) that will entail a refund to affected customers (estimated at being around 300,000) of around £100M.

Barclays customers are to receive compensation because it miscalculated the interest owed on personal loans, the errors date back to October 2008.

Other divisions (Barclaycard, Barclays Wealth and Barclays Corporate) are now undertaking a review to see if customers were short-changed by the errors ("technical documentary errors").

Barclays will write to customers in the coming weeks. Barclays is quoted by the Telegraph saying that said it had "identified certain issues with the information contained in historic statements and arrears notices relating to consumer loan accounts. It is therefore implementing a plan to return interest incorrectly charged to customers".

A spokesman for the bank said:

"Barclays has proactively reviewed information it has historically sent to its customers relating to interest charges, where we have found technical documentary errors. As a result Barclays has identified certain issues with the information contained in some statements and arrears notices relating to consumer loan accounts. 

Due to these notification errors, interest was not due on certain accounts during the period that Barclays made this mistake, and whilst no one has been mis-sold to, customers are entitled to have their interest payments returned. No customer will pay more than they were ever contractually expected to. 

Barclays has notified the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which is responsible for consumer credit issues, and is implementing a plan to return interest payments to customers as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Barclays is undertaking a review of all its businesses where similar issues could arise to assess any related issues. 

Any affected customer will be contacted by Barclays and customers do not need to take any action."

To add to Barclays shame, campaign group Move Your Money said that Barclays was the lowest scoring financial institution out of 70 assessed, scoring four out of 100 possible points for honesty and customer service.

Well done Barclays!

The TSB Goes From Strength To Strength

Following last week's website crash on its relaunch, the TSB has yet again managed to drop the ball; this time by mis-spelling Ashtead on a billboard advert aimed at the residents of Ashtead.

As per getSURREY:

"‘Welcome back to local banking’ was the message displayed to commuters on a TSB advertising board erected at Ashtead railway station this week.

But something rather important to local people got lost in translation - the spelling of the village they live in.

Now TSB bosses will be hoping that villagers can forgive their 'Hello Ashstead' howler.

A spokesman said on Thursday: 
“We apologise to local residents for the incorrect spelling.

"We are looking to rectify the poster as soon as possible.”

The company later tweeted an apology for the mistake."