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The proportion of homeowner mortgages in arrears in the first quarter of 2019, down from 0.45 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 (UK Finance Arrears and Possessions Update for Q1 2019).
Lord Andrew Tyrie, chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has called for tough new fines, bans and prosecutions to enforce competition rules and break open markets (Daily Telegraph, B3, £). In a speechyesterday at the Social Market Foundation, Tyrie said that the existing rules are outdated and need to be enhanced to meet the needs of the digital economy. He argues that many customers are currently at risk of getting bad deals because they are 'time poor?, adding that, ?we are all vulnerable now.? The speech concluded that if the CMA was given greater powers, competition would be strengthened to the benefit of ?millions of consumers? and that this would in turn bolster support for capitalism (Financial Times, p2, £).
The proportion of homeowner mortgages in arrears remains at historically low levels, UK Finance figures published today have revealed. There were 76,580 homeowner mortgages in arrears of 2.5 per cent or more in the first quarter of 2019, four per cent fewer than in the same quarter of 2018. Meanwhile, the number of homeowner mortgages with more significant arrears fell by three per cent year-on-year. 1,380 homeowner mortgaged properties were taken into possession in the first quarter of 2019, a slight increase on the previous year. This was driven in part by a backlog of historic cases which are being processed in line with the latest official guidance from the FCA.
Separate figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors? (RICS) have found that the number of properties put up for sale in April fell at the fastest rate since June 2016 (CityAM, p7). According to RICS, people putting their houses on the market are also becoming "increasingly realistic" over their asking prices, suggesting that homeowners have been lowering expectations about the sums which buyers are willing to pay for their property (Reuters, online only).
It comes as the government announces £200 million of funding today to replace cladding in private blocks with safer alternatives (BBC News, online only). While the government had previously agreed to underwrite the cost of replacing cladding in social housing, until now it had not offered to pay for the equivalent work for buildings in the private sector, leading to legal disputes between developers, freeholders and leaseholders over whose responsibility the work is (The Times, p2, £).
The prime minister Theresa May intends to hold another parliamentary vote on her proposed Brexit deal with the EU within the next two weeks, reports The Times (p18, £). The prime minister is expected to introduce legislation to ratify the Withdrawal Deal before the European elections on May 23, marking the fourth attempt to break the current Westminster deadlock. However, according to the Financial Times (p3, £) the chances of winning the backing of a majority of MPs currently looks minimal, as negotiations with the Labour Party to reach a deal over a customs union with the EU are reportedly close to collapse.
Meanwhile, analysis by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) has claimed that an agreement that only involved staying in a customs union would cause an £80 billion hit to the UK economy in ten years, compared to remaining in the EU (Reuters, online only). The Independent (online only) reports that such an arrangement would fail to prevent significant non-tariff barriers for firms that trade with the EU, particularly in services. It follows remarks yesterday from Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Andrew Bailey that staying in a customs union bring benefits for trade in goods but not for the financial services industry (Financial Times, online only, £).
Becky Clements, Director of Payments, and Vikesh Patel from Swift today's blog post on how firms need to be well acquainted with the FCA's regulatory priorities if they wish to start proactively driving change.
The government has responded to the Treasury Committee's recent report on economic crime, but did not endorse the committee's recommendation for the creation of a register of politically exposed persons (CityAM, online only). UK Finance continues to work closely with the government in the fight against economic crime, including throughsupporting law enforcement and Home Office expertsin reviewing and reforming the SARs anti-money laundering system.
Gambling laws should be radically overhauled, including a mandatory tax on the industry to fund addiction treatment, according to a paper by the British Medical Journal. The government is currently considering new legislation on the issue which could include a ban on the use of credit cards to gamble (The Guardian, p22).
Senior executives with access to sensitive information are now the biggest targets of corporate cyber crime, according to research by telecoms firm Verizon (CityAM, p12).
Rising seas may mean that people living in coastal communities across the UK have to abandon their homes, the chairwoman of the Environment Agency has warned (The Times, p4, £).
Increasing the volume of trades going through the European Central Bank's settlement system would reduce costs, according to its director general for market infrastructure and payments (Reuters, online only).
Tony Barber, Europe editor of the Financial Times (£, online only), believes that the UK's involvement in this month's European Parliament elections will disrupt EU policy making and cause havoc with long-term EU-UK relations. Anti-EU critics are predicted to do well in the elections, both in Britain and across the bloc, and will undermine the cross-party consensus in the current parliament towards Brexit. Barber concludes that this will make the outcome of a ?no-deal? or remaining more likely than a negotiated withdrawal.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph (B2, £), Nick McAlpine-Lee, chief executive of Heylo, argues that a part-buy, part-rent system of shared ownership could be a solution to the UK's housing crisis, particularly for low and moderate-income households. McAlpine-Lee believes that this system is 'significantly more affordable that Help to Buy? and is one which small and medium-sized builders can support. He concludes that supporting shared ownership would enable the government to hit the majority of its annual housing target, and calls for the renewal of the current Shared Ownership Grant programme.
For a full list of upcoming UK Finance statistics releases, please click here.
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