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Banking / Investment in Northern Europe

  • Norway uses money from its ’rainy day’ fund

    NORWAY, 2016/03/06 The withdrawal took place in January at the same time as 6.7 billion Norwegian krone ($780 million) was used to pay for public spending, according to newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv. The $826 billion wealth fund, called the Government Pension Fund World, was set up twenty years ago. The purpose is to share the wealth from oil and gas production with next generations. The fund is invested abroad in stocks, bonds and real estate.

  • Bank Of England Retains Record Low Rates In Split Vote

    UNITED KINGDOM, 2015/12/11 The Bank of England kept its key rates unchanged at a record low again as widely expected, in a split vote at the final monetary policy conference of the year. The Monetary Policy Committee, headed by Mark Carney, voted 8-1 to hold the interest rate at 0.50 % on Thursday. The rate has been at the current record low level since early 2009. The MPC voted unanimously to maintain quantitative easing at GBP 375 billion.

  • Riksbank sees rise in risks to Swedish economy

    SWEDEN, 2015/06/07 Risks to the health of the Swedish economy and economy have increased as a result of households' continued deficit buildup, and authorities urgently need to implement reforms to reverse the trend, the Swedish central bank said in its twice yearly financial stability statement. Sweden's economy is currently working well but the risks of external shocks have grown recently as low interest rates have fueled investors' request for additional high-risk assets and encouraged households to continue borrowing, the central bank, known as the Riksbank, said. The country's four major banks are all closely interlinked and highly dependent on market funding, with a small share of capital in relation to assets, making them vulnerable to outside pressures.

  • WND project investment is the largest foreign direct investment in Egypt.

    EGYPT, 2015/03/30 British energy giant BP said Friday it would invest $12 billion (11 billion euros) in gas fields in Egypt together with Russian-owned partner DEA, calling it a "vote of confidence" in the country. "The WND (West Nile Delta) project investment is the major foreign direct investment in Egypt," BP's chief executive Bob Dudley said in a statement next final agreements were signed. "WND production is key to Egypt's energy security," he said, with BP announcing that all the gas would be fed into the national grid and would from presently on double BP's supply to the domestic market.

  • Britain's Cameron appeals to Qatar emir for more investment

    QATAR, 2014/11/19 British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday urged Qatar to plough additional of its vast oil and gas wealth into infrastructure projects across Britain during an official visit from the Gulf national's emir. Cameron asked Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to consider further funding to help Britain's push to develop cities in the north of the country and connect them to London using a high speed rail line, a statement released by his office said. Qatar is one of the world's richest nations and is by presently heavily invested in British firms and property. Part its highest profile investments are London's tallest building, the Shard, which was funded by the Qatari royal family, and the upmarket Harrods department store owned by sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority.

  • A general view of one London's financial centres, Canary Wharf.

    QATAR, 2014/11/09 The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is seeking to acquire Songbird Estates, the owners of London's Canary Wharf financial district. An initial bid of 2.2 billion pounds sterling for the high-rise district overlooking the Thames made by QIA and a US investor, Brookfield Property Partners, was rejected on Friday.

  • The Bank of England Keeps Rates On Hold

    UNITED KINGDOM, 2014/10/13 The Bank of England maintained its key policy rate at its historic low once again as policymakers await additional concrete signs to suggest that the economic recovery is becoming sustainable amid slowing inflation. The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee decided on Thursday to retain its key rate at a record low 0.50 % and the investment purchase programme at GBP 375 billion.

  • Banks fear 'debt UK’ backlash as extent of credit reliance laid bare

    UNITED KINGDOM, 2013/12/15 The full extent of Britain’s reliance on credit will be revealed this week with new figures expected to show that mortgages, personal loans and lending to small businesses totals £1.015 trillion. The figures, to be released in a set of statistics on Tuesday by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and the British Banking Association (BBA), are expected to reveal that as of last June, mortgage lending stood at £885bn, lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at £100bn, and £30bn had been distributed as personal loans. For the initial time the figures will be broken down by 9,000 postcodes across the country, giving a stark picture of where levels of indebtedness are highest across the UK.

  • Bank Of England Policy Remains Unchanged

    UNITED KINGDOM, 2013/10/15 The Bank of England kept its key interest rates and quantitative easing unchanged as it was felt currently, there is little need for additional stimulus to support the economy. The nine-member monetary policy committee headed by Mark Carney concluded the two-day rate setting conference by holding the key rate at a record low 0.50 % and the size of monetary stimulus at GBP 375 billion. The central bank introduced forward guidance in August, linking the interest rate outlook to unemployment for the initial time in its history. Accordingly, the rate is set to remain on hold at 0.50 % until 2016. However, IHS World Insight's Chief UK Economist Howard Archer said he believes that interest rates will start rising gradually in the fourth quarter of 2015.

  • U.K. mortgage advances for home purchases continued to increase

    UNITED KINGDOM, 2013/10/12 U.K. mortgage advances for home purchases continued to increase in August indicating that property market activity is gaining momentum, data released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed Friday. In total, 61,300 home purchase loans were advanced in August, up 7 % on July and 15 % compared to August 2012. Initial-time buyers took out 27,100 loans in August. From July, it increased 7 % and surged 33 % from August 2012. Meanwhile, total buy-to-let loans advanced decreased slightly to 14,900 loans from 15,200 in July. Gross mortgage lending held steady in August and was an estimated GBP 16.4 billion, it said.
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