Buddah Lineage

This kind of cover is expensive and tends to be difficult, if not impossible, to claim on, meaning it is often a complete waste of money. The only people to benefit are the banks and other financial providers who make billions of pounds a year from selling it. PPI is supposed to help people with credit card debt, loans and other borrowing if they can't keep up their payments because of job- loss or illness. But many of those sold policies don't understand how costly it will be, or that they won't be able to claim if they are self- employed, part-time or contract worker, or if they have a pre- existing medical condition. Many who are eligible to claim think they will receive enough cash to clear their borrowing. In fact, PPI only covers their monthly payments for a maximum of a year. After that, the debt is their responsibility again, regardless of whether they can afford it. Other customers don't even know PPI has been added to their credit agreement until they spot it ...

They told home owners they were “not confident” that they could lower arrears and repossessions as successfully as last year. In 2010, the number of repossessions dropped to 36,300 compared with 47,700 the previous year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Measures taken by banks and the Government to ensure people were only evicted from their homes as ‘a last resort’ ensured levels for 2010 were lower than forecast amid the fallout from the recession. But lenders expect numbers to increase again this year to 40,000, the same level as 2008 during the height of the credit crisis. The CML blamed the expected rise on a weak economy, Government cuts, the rising cost of living and possible interest rate rises.  

Credit Suisse says a 130 million Swiss franc ($147.8 million) hit to pretax profit at its private banking unit, due to the Swiss franc’s strength, is hiding progress from the money-management unit, the growth of which is key to investors in the stock. The private bank is grappling with a Swiss franc which has been persistently strong against the euro and U.S. dollar, ultimately putting private bank targets set by Chief Executive Brady Dougan into question just a few short months after they were scaled back. While the franc was largely steady against the euro in the quarter, the Swiss currency strengthened roughly 5% against the U.S. dollar. That meant pain for Credit Suisse and other private banks. With a pretax unit margin of 26% in the first quarter, Credit Suisse’s private bank is far from its 30% target, which was lowered from 40% in February. The currency hit is one all Swiss private banks are taking, and Credit Suisse’s much smaller rival EFG International Wednes...

"Revenues are growing at a good pace throughout the group and in Spain reversed the downward trend of recent quarters. I am convinced that this change will continue in the coming months," Chairman Emilio Botin said in a statement. While analysts agreed that things looked better in Santander's home market, they said it would be a while before Spain is out of the woods. The country has been a focus of market attention since a property crash unleashed high personal debt levels and high unemployment. Santander's profit in Spain, which accounts for less than Brazil or Britain at the geographically diversified bank, fell 31 percent year-on-year but rose by 54.3 percent quarter-on-quarter. "These are basically solid results and I think this quarter will be the worst in terms of comparables because after the weakness of 2010, revenues will be more stable," said Arturo de Frias, analyst at Evolution Securities. "Spain will start to look better in terms of profit...

New chief executive Bob Diamond, is planning to sell assets, reshape the bank and slash costs to boost profitability. The bank said on Wednesday that it was on track to achieve £500m of cost savings this year. Barclays reported a pretax profit of £1.66bn for the January-March period, just below forecasts. Adjusted profit, stripping out movement in its own credit, was £2bn, up 10 per cent on the year. Its Barclays Capital investment bank arm contributed underlying profit of £1.3bn, down 15 per cent on a year ago, as top-line income came in at £3.3bn, down from £3.8bn a year ago and just below expectations. Income from its fixed income business fell 22 per cent from a bumper first quarter a year ago, offsetting an 11 per cent rise in equities and 10 per cent rise in advisory income. The bank said trading in April had been in line with first quarter trends and it was content with current forecasts for 2011, which expect profits to rise to about £7b...

Sir Fred Goodwin Backbench Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming has sent a copy of the injunction to the Treasury select  committee for consideration. Mr Hemming used parliamentary privilege to reveal the existence of the draconian gagging order on the floor of the Commons last month. Sir Fred led RBS to near collapse in 2008 when it was bailed out by the government in a move that has so far cost the taxpayer £45billion. He has obtained a super-injunction to stop the  reporting of a separate personal matter, the  details of which cannot currently be published. Mr Hemming said: ‘I recognise that there is an issue to be looked at and that the committee may feel that  questions need to be asked as to whether this is relevant in any way to the collapse of RBS.’ He told Metro: ‘They may want to publish it. It’s not up to me.’ On Tuesday, Liberal Democrat Lord Oakeshott used parliamentary privilege to put down a question in the House of Lord...

The downfall of Bahrain-based Charles Ridley, a private banker, and Ryan Cornelius, a hotelier, property developer and investor, has sent shock-waves through the expatriate community and cast a harsh light on the way Dubai handles financial crime. The two men, along with a Dubai-based British property developer, Arthur Fitzwilliam, who was acquitted, and two Pakistani officials of the Dubai Islamic Bank were arrested in mid-2008. Their first trial collapsed last year when the judge refused to give a verdict. Mr Ridley was accused of conspiring with the two bank officials to obtain a $501 million loan under false pretences. The money was to be lent to Mr Cornelius to invest in a variety of projects, including buying a Canadian oil refinery to rebuild it in Pakistan, and Mr Fitzwilliam's ambitious plans for a polo, equestrian, hotel and luxury villa complex in the desert outside Dubai. The two men were told to restructure the loan in 2007. Admissions made in the restructuring process...

revelation that the former Barclays investment bankers have been paid roughly $1.75m each for just a year-and-a-half's work came as the lender disclosed it will be bringing the assets back on balance sheet, ending an episode that is estimated to have cost shareholders $130m. Barclays disclosed on Wednesday that it will be "acquiring control" of Protium, a company founded in September 2009 with a $12.6bn Barclays loan to take $12.3bn of toxic waste off its books. As part of the deal, about 45 Barclays bankers transferred to a US company, C12 Capital, to manage the assets – receiving an annual $40m fee and a share of any profits. Their number has since swelled to about 80. Protium has proved controversial, sparking concerns among regulators and shareholders. As originally struck, the deal handed third-party investors and the C12 bankers all the potential upside while leaving Barclays exposed to all the risk. To extricate itself from the agreement, Barclays has repaid Protiu...

Gold shot up above $1,500 an ounce on Wednesday for the first time ever as worries over the health of the global economy boosted the metal as a safe haven. Spot gold hit a high of $1,505.21 an ounce and was bid at $1,505.16 an ounce at 5:42 a.m. ET, against $1,493.90 late in New York on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures for June delivery rose $10.60 an ounce to $1,505.70. Silver tracked gold higher, extending a stellar performance that has seen the grey metal outperform other precious metals this year. Silver hit a 31-year high at $44.56 an ounce and was later bid at $44.51 against $43.89. Gold prices are up 5 percent in April and look set to extend gains as the metal's appeal as a haven from risk was boosted by talk that Greece may have to restructure its debt and Standard & Poor's threat to downgrade America's triple-A credit rating. "There is still going to be a lot of uncertainty over the strength of growth, in the United States in particular," said Macquarie ana...

The British Bankers' Association (BBA) has lost a High Court challenge brought over new regulations to control the selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) to borrowers. The judgement means consumers who took out PPI will have to be contacted by providers over the mis-selling scandal, to agree potential settlements. Mr Justice Ouseley, sitting in London, was told the new regulations could cost the industry up to £4.5bn in compensation payments. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) estimates PPI providers will have to pay out up to £1.3bn for new complaints received over the next five years. Banks face additional bills of up to £3.2bn following reviews of previous PPI sales and pro-actively contracting customers to offer them redress. They have been accused of generating millions of pounds in profit by mis-selling PPI. The FSA says customers deserve to be treated fairly over PPI The banks, represented by the BBA, challenged the FSA and the Financial Ombudsman Ser...

The Treasury decided it would be counterproductive to impose sanctions on the taxpayer-supported banks, according to a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which acts a watchdog for public spending. Margaret Hodge, who chairs the PAC, said: "The Treasury appears to lack strong determination to use its influence to increase lending to small businesses. "We expect it to find effective mechanisms to ensure the banks meet their lending commitments." The Treasury looked at various sanctions but decided each had a downside which outweighed the benefits, the report said. The PAC said this was "not satisfactory". MPs had been examining the Treasury's Asset Protection Scheme, which was designed in January 2009 to support ailing banks by insuring them against further losses on bad loans. It originally exposed the taxpayer to a liability of £1trn, but that figure has since fallen to £512bn. RBS had a target of £16bn of business lending between March 1, 2009,...

Britain is prepared to drag Iceland through the international courts to recoup its money used to bail out savers in collapsed Icelandic banks, the finance ministry said Sunday. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told BBC television the Iceland referendum result on the repayment deal agreed between the governments was "disappointing". "It now looks like this process will end up in the courts," said Alexander, the number two to finance minister George Osborne. Icelandic voters gave a resounding "no" in a referendum on whether to approve a renegotiated deal to compensate Britain and the Netherlands over the 2008 collapse of Icesave bank, near-complete results out Sunday showed. "It is obviously disappointing that it seems the people of Iceland have rejected what was a negotiated settlement and of course we respect the will of the Icelandic people in this matter," Alexander said. "We're going to have to now go and talk to the in...

This is Iceland's second referendum on how to repay the money The Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir has predicted "political and economic chaos as a result of this outcome", but did not say if the government would resign. Thousands of savers had to be compensated after the online bank Icesave collapsed. It was one of three of the country's banks to go under. The Icelandic government took over control of the failed banks and paid compensation to Icelanders who lost money. But those in the UK and the Netherlands who saved with Icesave were offered nothing and had to be reimbursed by their own governments. Iceland has had to decide how to repay the money but the terms of the repayment deal has delayed the process. This is the second time the Icelandic government has held a referendum on repaying the money. The future of Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir is unclear In March 2010 over 93% of voters rejected a tougher repayment regime and the finance minis...