ING Pulls Out
I heard this story from a friend, who used to broke deals for the Dutch bank.
The effect is summed up in this paragraph from the article.
Last year, the leasing business provided £22bn to help keep British industry running – many of the deals being done direct between banks and large companies. On that measure, ING Lease accounted for 5% of the market.
However, it specialised in the smaller end of the business – farms and young firms that got in touch via specialist brokers.
It is these customers, wanting essentials such as tractor attachments, computers, desks and commercial vehicles, which will bear the brunt of the loss.
It left lots of my friend’s clients without finance, as he deals very much at the smaller end. Last time, I spoke to him, he was thinking of retiring, so leaving his clients further up the river without a paddle.
I think, it shows that we need to get alternative methods of finance in place. This is Funding Circle territory, but at the moment they are not big enough to replace much of ING’s portfolio.
It also illustrates a rule of my friend, David. Never bank with a bank head-quartered outside of the UK.
Bad Karma
My financial advisor has just left on his bicycle to go home to South West London. I did suggest as it was raining that he cycle to Canonbury station and get the North London line most of the way.
He didn’t as he said that was Bad Karma.
Zopa Start Processing Early
I check my Zopa account every morning when I get up.
At 6:30 this morning, I had £121.91 on offer, with 27 offers totally £2630 being processed.
Now at 7:30, it’s £221.91 and 26 (£2530)
So someone has already said, that a proposed loan shouldn’t be approved.
I Missed This One
I was searching for innovative financial ideas and found this article by Anthony Hilton in the Standard. He says this about Castle Trust.
But the prize for creativity and innovation this week undoubtedly goes to Castle Trust, with a totally new approach to the housing market. On the one hand, it has created investment funds that will track the Halifax house price index. On the other, it will use these monies raised from investors to offer a new form of mortgage finance whereby it will fund 20% of the cost of a house in return for a share of the profits (or indeed or a portion of the losses) when the house is sold.
I’ve never heard of Castle Trust before, but it does show how people in the City are having ideas, that benefit both investors and borrowers.
Long may they think!
Booking At The BFI
I’ve just booked a film tonight at the BFI.
Their web site annoyed me, as it insisted on having a password with at least one capital letter and a number. I find the shift unreliable because of my gammy hand, so it usually takes several goes to make certain I’ve got it right.
All password entry should have a checkbox to display what you’ve actually typed.
Two websites I use regularly are Zopa and Nationwide. Neither relies on case being needed and Zopa allows you to check a box to show what has been typed. I would assume that neither have security problems as otherwise it would be all over the Internet.
The only site I use which insists on at least one capital is Betfair. But I seldom use it these days, as I always forget and have difficulty logging on.
A Building Firm With Foundations
I thought this was an article from the BBC’s web site, that needed reposting.
R Durtnell and Sons are now in the hands of the 13th generation of the family.
To contrast, the builder who supposedly built my house is unnamed and untraceable.
Did The Government Dither Over Northern Rock?
Sir Nicholas Macpherson was the senior civil servant in the Treasury, when Northern Rock ran into difficulties. He has just appeared before the Treasury Select Committee and there is a report here. This is the first paragraph.
The Treasury’s most senior civil servant has told MPs the government should have been quicker to nationalise Northern Rock following its collapse.
It doesn’t appear to me, that the government appeared to act quickly at all.
Perhaps, Gordon Brown was just being too prudent!
On the other hand, I’ve done financial modelling with loan companies and know that if you decide to run them down collecting all the payments aggressively, you can often retrieve a bad situation.
So perhaps, they were hoping Northern Rock would all come good! It didn’t!
Remember though, the bank did employ a lot of people in Labour’s heartland. So liquidation would have been a bad option for NuLabor.
Zopa Simplifies The Markets
Zopa has today announced that instead of having five markets; A*, A, B, C and Youth, this will soon be simplified to just three, with C and Y being discarded.
Effectively this will bring it in line with what I do, as I don’t invest in the Youth market and although I’ve recently added the C market to my offer, I haven’t lent anything there yet. All market rates of late have been very stable, so my control engineering theory says hat everything should be in balance.
I think they are right to do this.
- They would now be appearing to be making a much better offer to younger borrowers with a good credit rating.
- The simplified structure makes it easier to decide your lending strategy.
- It also makes it less important to get it right on the optimum.
We shall see if they are right and business and returns improve.
Steph McGovern Wears A Bustle
The BBC breakfast’s business reporter, Steph McGovern, looked like she was wearing a bustle. The black of her black and white dress. this morning was the same shade as the chair she was sitting on. From some angles, it looked like she was wearing an enormous Victorian bustle.
Or was it just a simple case of a “My bum does look big in this” picture.
Where Can I Buy Ipswich Town Mugs In London?
As you can see from the pictures on this site, I have an Ipswich Town football mug. I have friends, who support other teams and now that I get my coffee across the road, it would be nice to be able to get their coffee in an appropriate mug.
So I thought, it would be nice to purchase some mugs. I searched for a place to buy an Ipswich one in London and there doesn’t appear to be any shop selling football mugs. Except of course, those for the Premiershits.
It looks like a business opportunity to me! It could also make a nice themed cafe.
I can at least get another Ipswich one today, but I’m in desperate need for one for Brighton, Hull and Sheffield United. Failing that, how about an official nPower mug, listing all the clubs in the Championship and Divisions One and Two!
The Anonymous Widower 