Latest news with #LloydsBank
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Britain's biggest bank to cut UK investments in snub to Reeves
Lloyds Bank is to pull billions of pounds from Britain's stock market in a major blow to Rachel Reeves's efforts to boost the UK economy. Scottish Widows, the bank's pensions division, plans to cut its exposure to the UK and move more money into better-performing markets such as the US. It is a blow to the Chancellor, who has been encouraging pension funds to invest more in British stocks to boost both the market and the economy. The Telegraph previously revealed that Scottish Widows, which manages £230bn, had refused to sign up to an industry pledge to invest a certain amount of funds into Britain. The pact, known as the Mansion House Accord, will see 17 of Britain's largest workplace pensions providers invest at least 5pc of funds held in their defined contribution schemes into UK stocks by 2030. At the time, Chirantan Barua, Scottish Widows' chief executive, said: 'We will continue this investment approach to support our communities where it generates strong returns for pensioners.' Scottish Widows is planning to lower its exposure to UK stocks in its highest growth fund from 12pc to 3pc, the Financial Times reported. The Edinburgh fund manager also plans to cut UK investments in its most conservative fund from 4pc to 1pc. It aims to complete the changes by January 2026. The overhaul means Scottish Widows' £72bn default workplace pensions fund will take a 'market weight' approach, meaning the amount of money allocated to each country will depend on the size of their stock market. In practice, this will mean less investment in Britain. At the moment, Scottish Widows has more of its assets invested in the UK than other markets relative to the size and value of Britain's economy. Of its £72bn workplace pension pot, it invests £5.5bn, or 7.6pc, in Britain. The decision to cut back comes after an extended slump for the London Stock Exchange. The relative value of the UK's stock market has fallen sharply over the past two decades, from around 11pc of the MSCI World Index in 2000 to 4pc today. Big investors have increasingly pulled away from British stocks because of dwindling returns since the financial crash of 2008. Conversely, American stock markets have surged. Pension funds had 53pc of their assets invested in UK stocks in 2000 but that has fallen to 6pc today, according to a report from New Financial. Scottish Widows declined to comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Sign in to access your portfolio
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Britain's biggest bank to cut UK investments in snub to Reeves
Lloyds Bank is to pull billions of pounds from Britain's stock market in a major blow to Rachel Reeves's efforts to boost the UK economy. Scottish Widows, the bank's pensions division, plans to cut its exposure to the UK and move more money into better-performing markets such as the US. It is a blow to the Chancellor, who has been encouraging pension funds to invest more in British stocks to boost both the market and the economy. The Telegraph previously revealed that Scottish Widows, which manages £230bn, had refused to sign up to an industry pledge to invest a certain amount of funds into Britain. The pact, known as the Mansion House Accord, will see 17 of Britain's largest workplace pensions providers invest at least 5pc of funds held in their defined contribution schemes into UK stocks by 2030. At the time, Chirantan Barua, Scottish Widows' chief executive, said: 'We will continue this investment approach to support our communities where it generates strong returns for pensioners.' Scottish Widows is planning to lower its exposure to UK stocks in its highest growth fund from 12pc to 3pc, the Financial Times reported. The Edinburgh fund manager also plans to cut UK investments in its most conservative fund from 4pc to 1pc. It aims to complete the changes by January 2026. The overhaul means Scottish Widows' £72bn default workplace pensions fund will take a 'market weight' approach, meaning the amount of money allocated to each country will depend on the size of their stock market. In practice, this will mean less investment in Britain. At the moment, Scottish Widows has more of its assets invested in the UK than other markets relative to the size and value of Britain's economy. Of its £72bn workplace pension pot, it invests £5.5bn, or 7.6pc, in Britain. The decision to cut back comes after an extended slump for the London Stock Exchange. The relative value of the UK's stock market has fallen sharply over the past two decades, from around 11pc of the MSCI World Index in 2000 to 4pc today. Big investors have increasingly pulled away from British stocks because of dwindling returns since the financial crash of 2008. Conversely, American stock markets have surged. Pension funds had 53pc of their assets invested in UK stocks in 2000 but that has fallen to 6pc today, according to a report from New Financial.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Four sectors showing green shoots as UK industries remain in the doldrums
Some parts of the UK economy reported higher output in May, but most of the countries' industries continue to suffer from falling orders, according to survey data. Software services, real estate, transportation, and food and drink manufacturing were the four industries to achieve growth last month, according to Lloyds Bank's latest monthly UK Sector Tracker. Only software services and real estate experienced greater output in April, when National Insurance and National Living Wage hikes came into effect across the UK. Five industries also enjoyed lower rates of decline in May, including household products manufacturing, financial services, and industrial goods. However, food and drink manufacturing and software services were the only sectors to benefit from a lift in new orders. Among the industries to experience a large slump in demand were automobile and auto parts manufacturing, as well as metals and mining, healthcare, and chemicals production. Lloyds noted that firms increased their own prices at the slowest pace in five months but attributed this to lower demand, which limited their ability to offset cost pressures. Labour-intensive sectors were the most impacted by input cost inflation, especially tourism and recreation. Since the year started, the UK inflation rate has grown to 3.4 per cent, significantly above the Bank of England's 2 per cent target. Nonetheless, Nikesh Sawjani, senior UK economist at Lloyds, said the bank's survey 'provides tentative hope that the economy saw a rebound in activity in May'. He added: 'While most sectors still face weak demand and rising costs are squeezing margins for businesses, the broader uptick in activity could suggest some early signs of renewed momentum.' Lloyds' announcement comes just a few days after the UK economy was revealed to have suffered its worst contraction for a year and a half in April. UK gross domestic product fell by 0.3 per cent, faster than the 0.1 per cent drop anticipated by economists. Britain's economy has struggled to grow this year amidst elevated energy prices, higher taxes, and tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. Since early April, most British-made goods entering the US have been subject to a 10 per cent tariff. Yet as part of a recent trade deal, Trump agreed to lower tariffs on cars, the UK's biggest export to the US, from 25 per cent to 10 per cent, up to a quota of 100,000.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
New Bracknell town centre flats plan rejected by council
A plan to demolish two buildings and replace them with an eight-storey block of flats has been refused over fears it would not provide a "high quality living environment" for Development Ltd wanted to demolish numbers 6-10 High Street in Bracknell town Lloyds Bank and former Post Office would have made way for the new building for shops, commercial and leisure space, along with 39 plans were first submitted in 2023 after the same developer withdrew earlier proposals for a 12-storey building of 58 apartments. The developer said the new building would have contributed towards Bracknell Forest Council's "ongoing vision to rejuvenate the town centre".But no additional parking spaces or affordable homes were Forest refused the plans due to concerns over parking, the location, privacy and the quality of the living its decision notice, planning officers said the proposal would also have provided "an unacceptable level of overlooking" to flats at the back of Circa House next door. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Daily Mail
14-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Why has Virgin Money held up an Isa transfer to Lloyds for four months
My father died last September and after the grant of probate in January this year, as executor, I arranged the transfer of his cash Isa with Virgin Money to a Virgin account in my mother's name as per his will. My mother is in a nursing home and I hold Power of Attorney and manage her affairs. As the Virgin Money Isa has a low interest rate and Virgin Money only allows attorneys to issue instructions by post, I decided to transfer the funds from Virgin Money to my mother's Lloyds Bank Isa. The nursing home fees are almost £7,000 every four weeks and my parent's property has not yet sold, so we require every penny of income to pay the fees. But since January we have been unable to access the income from my father's Virgin Money Isa as Lloyds has been unable to complete the transfer of these funds. Why is the transer taking so long? Helen Kirrane of This is Money replies: You would think the transfer of an Isa from one establshed bank to another would be smooth enough. But Isa transfers between providers can be thwarted by old technology or the fact that different providers use different systems for transfers. For example, the majority of transfers from Virgin Money stocks and shares Isas are processed by default as a cheque and posted to the new provider while other providers use electronic transfers. You requested to transfer the Isa from Virgin Money to Lloyds on Janury 10. But four months later when you contacted This is Money, the transfer had still not moved forward. Given that a transfer from one cash Isa to another is supposed to take no more than 15 calendar days and no more than 30 calendar days for other types of Isas, according to HMRC rules, it's clear this is a huge hold-up. Virgin Money says it never received a transfer request to move your mother's funds out of the account and into Lloyds. You were bounced around between Virgin Money and Lloyds, with both providers insisting the issue was the problem of the other. You were told that Lloyds sent the transfer request via the interbank system to Clydesdale bank, but the automatic system rejected it as the Virgin Money details are not recognised by Clydesdale. Clysedale Bank acquired Virgin Money in 2019 but retained the Virgin Money brand. Virgin Money confirmed as much when it looked into your case at This is Money's request. It said it could not find a record of your transfer being submitted with the likely reason being because the request didn't have the correct details included, therefore its systems were not able to make a match. Your most recent request, received by Lloyds on 14 April was again sent to Clydesdale on 25 April, where it was rejected again after which you got in touch with This is Money. Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have heard of very long Isa transfer delays like yours. In November 2023, almost £1million worth of Isa transfers went 'missing' at NatWest after the bank became overwhelmed by the volume of savers requesting to transfer their Isas into its best buy two-year cash Isa. Given the rules say transfers between a cash Isas should take no longer than 15 days I think the delay you have faced is very poor. Virgin Money said the issue has now been resolved and it will process the transfer to Lloyds. You told me it has also agreed to backdate interest to January 10 when you originally requested the transfer. A Virgin Money spokesman replies: After a thorough review, we found no record of a transfer request being submitted to us. It could be that the request didn't have the correct details included, therefore our systems haven't been able to make a match. Our team contacted the customer to confirm the correct account details needed for Lloyds to request the transfer. We've also reached out to our senior contact at Lloyds to help expedite the process once the customer submits the request using the confirmed information. We've arranged to call the customer next week and will continue to monitor the account closely, keeping them updated throughout the process until the transfer is complete.
