moneyweek

Sunday Herald, The, Nov 30, 2003

bad news of the week Putting a damper on any burgeoning Christmas spirit was the government statistic that about 70,000 UK homes will be burgled during the festive season. The MarketPlace at Bradford & Bingley says the amount lost to such crime could be around (pounds) 50 million.

quote of the week "Employers are not the villains of the pensions piece. They are committed to pensions and deserve credit for the huge sums many are piling into schemes, but rising costs are forcing some to scale back what they can provide.

"Pension scheme members should be protected against companies going bust but the current proposals for a pensions protection fund put too much of the burden on business."

JOHN Cridland, deputy-general of the CBI, says that while the organisation agrees pension scheme members should be safeguarded, industry is unhappy with a new Pensions Bill containing a fund to provide protection for members and legislation on the introduction of a regulator to take a more proactive role in tackling fraud and maladministration.

mortgage of the week THE Chelsea Building Society introduced new fixed rate and self-certification mortgages as it withdrew its existing two- and three-year fixed deals. The fixed-rate deal until December 1, 2005, is at 4.54% and the self-certification mortgage offers a rate of 4.54% (5.8% APR) with a three-year stepped discount starting at 1.6% in year one. Arrangement fees of (pounds) 295 and (pounds) 395 apply on the respective fixed and self-certification deals.

pensions extra A PENSIONS Policy Institute report said there will always be disadvantages with the type of pension system the UK has, which assumes people are employed throughout their working life on a good income. Under the current system low earnings is the most common cause of low pension income. While an employee on typical earnings of around (pounds) 400 per week may receive a pension of about (pounds) 200 a week, the pension of someone earning half as much could be one third lower.

next week ...

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee meets on Wednesday and Thursday. Economists are divided on whether to expect another rise in interest rates following last month's 0.25% increase. However, Charles Bean, chief economist at the bank, last week said interest rates might gradually need to rise further as the economy picks up strength.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders will also publish an update on the state of the still-buoyant UK housing market and Barclays, one of the UK's largest financial services group, will provide the City with a trading update in its pre-close announcement.