Halifax, the UK’s largest mortgage lender, has reported that house prices witnessed an annual fall of 0.9% in April, taking the average value of a house down to £189,027. The bank added that it expects a ‘mid-single-digit’ percentage decrease in 2008. However the decline will not be the same across the UK, with some areas being worst affected.  Wales and the West Midlands are likely to be the most badly affected whilst Scotland is expected to buck the trend and actually see an increase. (more…)

HBOS is expected to follow in the footsteps of RBS and turn to its shareholders for extra funds in a move to shore up its balance sheet. The nnouncement of the rights issue is due on Tuesday and it is thought  it will be in the region of £4bn, some way off the £12bn requested by RBS. (more…)

Financial Services, and in particular the Banking sector is likely to experience a bout of significant job cuts that will impact both the London and Worldwide job markets. Earlier this week Merrill Lynch announced that it will cut 4,000 jobs with Citigroup quickly following suit, declaring that it expected to cut around 25,000 posts over the next few months. (more…)

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to ask its shareholders for around £10bn of extra funds by way of a rights issue. The capital will be used to firm up its balance sheet / capital position as the difficulty to borrow money through the wholesale markets remain. (more…)

HSBC has written-down £8.7bn due to the size of its exposure to US markets and the decline in the US housing markets and hence the value of its loans. The credit crunch leaves HSBC cautious in its outlook for 2008 and believes the situation could get worse before it gets better.

 Despite the level of write-downs HSBC, the UK’s largest bank saw its profits rise by 10% to £12.2bn. The fundamentals of HSBC remain strong and to send a positive message to the market it has increased dividend payments to shareholders by 11%.

The share price of Alliance & Leicester has headed north amid speculation that the mortgage lender will be the subject of a takeover. Lloyds TSB, who’s own recent results proved that playing it steady pays off, is mooted as a front runner.  Lloyds stated that it was on the lookout for buying opportunities as the recent credit crunch bites.

Lloyds TSB reported a 6% rise in profits to £3.7bn in 2007, compared with £3.6bn in 2006, despite the credit crunch. It attributed its successful performance to ‘good old fashioned banking’ an approach that smaller banks such as Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley should have taken notice of. Lloyds share price rose 5% on the back of this news.

Lloyds is keen to reinvest some of these profits and is on the lookout for buying opportunities created by the uncertainty in the markets. The money will undoubtedly be spent wisely as Lloyds is seen as a conservative player in the banking sector. With returns like these, Lloyds has proved that this is the best approach to adopt in times of trouble.