For those of you who think times are more than a little tough at the moment, the news that there are still major fears about the strength of the European Banking System, is not really what you will want to hear.
However, this week sees the release of a major report involving the “stress-testing” on a range of European Banks to determine their health and, perhaps more importantly, whether they are in a position to cope if anything goes seriously wrong again. These “detailed” tests have been undertaken on 91 banks, including names such as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in Germany, HSBC and Barclays in the UK, as well as Societe Generale and BNP Paribas in France.
Also posted in Coreco, Credit Crunch, Economic Recovery, Inflation, Interest Rates, Mortgage Market | Tagged Bank of England, Credit Crunch, Economy, House Prices, London Mortgage Broker, Mortgage Market, mortgage products |
The first week of campaigning is almost over and I have already tried to ban myself from shouting at the TV! The issue with our politics today and a reason why many are switching off is that whatever idea, good or bad a party has, the opposition automatically criticises and opposes it. Idealism and political passions have given way to a brand of PR Playground Politics.
In the Property and Mortgage Industries there has already been some wild debate around what effect, if any, a brand new Government would have. It is becoming apparent that there are only two realistic outcomes, a slight majority either way or a Hung Parliament, neither of which will really give anyone a decisive mandate to actually govern, so uncertainty could unfortunately be around for a while yet.
As with many things in life, it is good to get a range of views on, well just about everything really, so to this end I am welcoming some guest bloggers to this spot every month so if you want to apply just drop me a line. To kick us off I’ll hand over to our MD Matt Lowndes…
“So last night, along with what seemed every other person I know, I decided to sit down at 8 o’clock and watch the Ask The Chancellors debate on Channel 4. I was even twittering and following the debate online – yes my wife does think I’m mad.
As I sat watching the Chancellor yesterday on TV, headphones on listening to the radio coverage to drown out the howls of derision hurled at the screen by some of my colleagues, something interesting happened.
It wasn’t the fact that the Labour front bench had made a fashion statement in purple rather than traditional red, nor was it that I started to nod off during a speech that was long on politicism and short on content. Actually it was the sudden realisation that maybe I have finally fallen out of love with politics, something I have always been passionate about.
With apologies to The Blow Monkeys for lifting the title of their debut album, (I love a music link), for some reason this phrase popped into my head when the latest quarterly GDP figures were released showing that we have just about limped out of recession.
The political soothsayers have been having a field day showing how we were the first into recession and the last out, and that the road ahead is going to be a frankly tortuous affair. Even Alistair Darling could not rule out the possibility of a dip back into the negative almost on the eve of the election.
Andrew Montlake, Communications Director at Coreco and ‘Mortgage Personality of the Year 2008’, gives his views — honest and no holds barred — on the latest developments within the mortgage and property markets.
