Industry

Lloyds Banking Group will sell its Halifax estate agency to LSL Property Services for just £1, with a loss of 460 jobs, reports the BBC.

HSBC overtook the Government-backed banks to become the most competitive mortgage lender during Q3 2009, according to analysis from Evaluate Technologies.

Somewhere in the 100-plus pages of the RDR the FSA says advisers will have the freedom to choose how they charge for their services. But is that what they want?

The FSA has banned East London based mortgage broker, Ayodele Olubunmi Thomas, for knowingly submitting false and misleading information about his income to obtain mortgages and loan advances.

Remortgaging has declined by 57% since August 2008 due to restrictive lending criteria and the extremely low interest rate environment, according to the latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

Shareholders in nationalised bank Bradford & Bingley (B&B) will have to wait until the end of June 2010 to be told the amount of compensation they will receive.

The summer lull in the mortgage market can be attributed to seasonal decline and was not evidence of another prolonged downturn, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) says.

The FSA has fined London-based investment bank and stockbroker Seymour Pierce Limited £154,000 for failing to detect employee fraud carried out over three years.

The average number of intermediary mortgage products rose 4% to more than 2,000 last month while activity levels are also on the up, a study suggests.

The FSA and Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI) firms have agreed to refund approximately £60m to customers by the end of 2010.