News.Scotland.Org

Scotiabank, the third largest bank in Canada in terms of deposits and market capitalization is all set to enter the banking market in Columbia for the first time after it bought the  Royal Bank of Scotland’s wholesale banking operation in Colombia. Royal Bank of Scotland grabbed headlines after having led a consortium that launched the world’s largest banking takeover, that of Dutch-based ABN Amro, before it was hit by the banking crisis, which in turn resulted in the bail out packages  from the British government.

Scotiabank, founded in 1832 in Halifax, Nova Scotia,ranks at number 120 on the Forbes Global 2000 listing. By the acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland , which is the largest banking group in Scotland, Scotiabank will ensure an overwhelming presence of Scotiabank in  Central and Latin American countries including  Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, and Panama.

The Colombian wholesale banking division of Scotiabank will be offering many services including deposit, loan and capital markets services to both corporate and commercial customers. In Latin America, it has a staff strength of over  31,870  members spread in 1,411 branches, kiosks and other offices and the operations are expected to contribute about 75$ million to its earnings . The acquisition of the wholesale banking operations in Columbia has had a positive effect on the shares of the Scotiabank, which ended 46 cents higher than its previous closing value.

What would you do with a disposable income and a reasonably healthy body and head of grey hair? You’d go on a vacation, right? The fifty-plus demographic in the UK are now on to adventure tourism and exploration of their own country.

“Greycationers” as they are being dubbed by the media hold the key to give a fillip to the flagging recession hit travel industry. Domestic travel and short haul travel have been on the rise this year thanks to these adventure buffs.

These adventure fiends are not looking for tour operators and organised tour but prefer road trips, trekking trips and even marathon trips. It’s all about being fit and being able to afford adventure. A whopping £175 billion at their disposal collectively, can you blame them?

The over fifty are tech-savvy, adventure-hungry and looking to travel and its no wonder that travel operators are now making tailor-made tours to suit their braveheart ideas 2-3 times a year!

Scotland too is having its share of these baby boomer tourists and you’re sure to see them soon all over the highlands and lochs.

July 24

In order to tackle  illegal file sharing on internet to download music a new annual charge of up to £30 has been proposed yesterday. This new law will be beneficial to overcome the rising online music piracy and will also help the music industry to curb  such illegal operations happening online.

It was reported that in the process of stopping online piracy letters will be send to those users, suspected of file-sharing by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.  It was also said, that the internet companies have agreed to make sure their customers know that its illegal to share copyrighted music. The government has taken this decisive step due to the continuous rise in such illegal downloading via Internet.

If we look at the figures we can spot that over six million people download files illegally in the UK every year showing how rampant it is. It is expected that this new policy will somehow curb this growing piracy and will also educate people about the illegal business going on.

July, 17

You all might have heard about the most expensive place to live, but have you ever heard about the most expensive place to die. If not then it’s the buzzing capital of Scotland, ‘Edinburgh’ the historical city was yesterday named as the most expensive place to die in Britain.

Study has showed that the cost of funeral has jumped twice the rates in comparison with the rates of other cities. Looking at the study done by DWP we can find that the cost of a standard funeral, which includes director fees, a coffin, transfer of the deceased and cost of burial has jumped two times in recent time.

Earlier the average cost of funeral in Edinburgh was around £1,600 which has now jumped to £3,200. This unusual rise has taken everyone for surprise. With the inflation over burdening people with more expenses, this increasing funeral cost has made the situation more adverse for them.

The aid which UK government is providing to people to help in their funeral cost has also been not revised since 2003. All this has somehow made people feel more worried to overcome this increasing cost trend which is haunting them after their death too.    

July, 15

Rise in the inflation rates are rightly expected with the upward trend in the prices of food items and fuel. It was noticed that the rapid rise in the prices of these commodities has affected the inflation rates. It is known that the consumer price inflation is already at 3.3 percent which is 10-year high and even the bank of England has said that it is expecting a further rise in the prices of inflation later this year.

The figures have also shown that the number of people moving house is also at its lowest since 1978. All these figures have highlighted the fact that with such a market trend the spending of consumers is gradually slowing down.

Inflation has forced the consumers to restrict their spending with the rising prices of variety of commodities. This has put a pressure on the back of these consumers who are feeling a bit uncomfortable with the increase in prices of food and fuel.

Even the shopkeepers are facing a tough time with this price rise, as shoppers are not showing keen interest to splurge on commodities with this inflationary rise. The retail sale fell by 0.4 percent in comparison with June 2007, while total sale including stores rose by 2.1 percent. Food and drink was the only sector which showed some signs of growth, whilst clothing and footwear sales were at its low.

May, 20

If you are clue less why suddenly the number of cars in the streets of UK has dropped, then check out the soaring prices of petrol and diesel. Travellers in UK are now-a-days are sweating a lot with the confusion whether to travel or not to travel by their cars, this jump in fuel prices has made the life of travellers restless.

If we look at the prices of petrol we can make out how sharply the rates have gone up this year. Even the petrol retailers association had predicted a further rise in petrol by 5 pence a litre by the weekend. In a poll done by AA which included about 17,500 members found that 16% people have cut short their traveling using cars, other 27% people had slashed their spending on other areas to meet the extra price, while about 21% had done both the ways to meet the increased prices of petrol.

It is said that one of the reasons for the jump in prices of petrol and diesel is the rise in the wholesale price of oil which has affected the retail price of fuel. If we compare the present price of petrol and diesel, we can clearly find the difference in the previous and present price which is further expected to go up. The official figures have shown that the car traffic had suddenly fallen by 2% with this surge in petrol rates. Now all eyes are whether the current trend of petrol and diesel price will drop or will remain the same in near future.

February, 4

The inflation villain is yet again making the Scottish people restless, adding more worries to their household budgets. Firstly it was the jump in the prices of cooking gas and fuel, and this time it’s the prices of grocery which has jumped 38 percent. This food-price inflation is creating a growing problem for consumers which need to be tackled sooner or later. One of the recent research found that there are few factors which plays a vital role in the jump for these groceries, it is noticed that a sudden jump in fuel price in the global market effects the rate of these items in a long run.

Among all the grocery items the major jump is seen in the prices of eggs which are reported to be 38 percent high in past two years. Then next stand breads which jumped by 33 percent, meanwhile milk prices have surged up by 21 percent, suggest the study. If we look into the core of this issue, we can find these are one of the basic necessity items, which majority of the families consumes on a daily basis. And such a high growth in the prices of such products definately makes the consumer worried to some extent. Another shocking fact is that, if we look at the average cost of a 100-item trolley of staple products we can find it has increased from £169.65 in Jan 2006 to £183.28 last week. That clearly shows the momentum of inflation which is creeping on.

If we look back, we can find that in the past years inflation has been hitting badly on many things including power, fuel, mortgage and also the grocery. Few supermarkets have tried to put a check on this rising prices, the chain of supermarket Asda informed that it is trying to make the burden of inflation a bit light on the consumer to some extent in comparison with other supermarkets.

With such an inflationary trend, the consumers have to be prepared for few more of such jolts in the household budgets in future.

January, 25

With the decline in the rate of the mortgage sanction in recent months, there are clear chances that the price of houses would drop down in coming months. The recent reports from the British Bankers Association suggested that it is the first time till last ten years the mortgage for buying property has fallen to such a low.

If we look at the record of BBA, the gross mortgage lending with remortgages were £15.1 billion last month, which was down by 22.2 percent on Dec 2006 and £1.4 billion lower than last November. This steep decline in the mortgage rates is hinting towards a fall in the prices of houses in near future.

Many economist and bankers suggests that if this downward trend continues, then it will affect the economy on long run. Another major reason for this change is said to be the credit crunch blocking the way for banks to raise money. The increased borrowing cost and lower disposable income is also making the mortgage percentage at a lower level. Also the market has changed a bit with lenders becoming a bit stringent on the part of their lending measures due to the credit crunch.

Now with such a situation in the market one has to see whether this present swing will continue for a long in the coming months. If that happens then it is for sure that the prices for houses will be at a record low and will be a big transformation and something to worry for the banks.

January, 4

Get ready to pay more for your most needed household utility gas and electricity; well this was announced by Npower yesterday taking into count this upward trend in the market. It is learnt that the prices of gas will now go up by 17.2 percent and that of electricity by 12.7 percent. The reason behind this jump in prices is said to be with the increase in the prices of wholesale gas which has forced the prices to jump. This price hike is all set to affect about 90,000 households in Scotland. The power company also informed that the new price scheme will witness a jump of about 15 to 24 percent.

Npower, one of the biggest suppliers of energy in the UK serving about four million customers in Britain said the situation is so tight that price hike is necessary. Meanwhile Npower said that the other energy companies have introduced the regional gas prices before. Along with the increase in the wholesale price the higher distribution cost and transportation cost also have added to the need for price hike.

With the price hike in the beginning of the new year consumers have to adjust their household budget to meet this jump in the price. It was noticed that last year too there was price rise for these energy products and this year too one can get to see a multiple price rise. The instability in the wholesale market is making the gas and electricity price to march upward.

This uncertain trend in the market is making the consumers to suffer with sudden price hikes in the basic household utilities. Now it is a matter of concern whether this upward trend would continue to move further this year.

January, 3

Inflation has now struck the petrol sector with the prices of petrol rising to a record high after oil was hit $100 a barrel for the first time. This hike also resulted to the consumer paying more for petrol in the oil stations. It was noticed that for a litre of petrol one has to pay 103.03p while diesel was at 107.95p a litre. This sudden jump in the oil prices are said to be due to the increase in demand of oil in global market.

It is also seen that to some extent the speculators also are responsible for this sudden high in prices, as it is learnt that there is no scarcity of petrol in the UK market to overcome the demand. But the political disturbances in Pakistan and other countries have also made the situation worse. Market analyst suggests that this rise in price of oil is not predicted to drop soon, and will take time.

Meanwhile with the supermarkets remaining closed on new year festive holidays have added to the increase in demand for oil. Bruce Young, the Lothian and Borders co-ordinator of the Association of British Drivers said this hike in petrol prices by fuel companies are ripping off motorists. With this increase in the start of the year is not much happy beginning for many.

Now all eyes are set on the market, hoping for a decrease in the price of oil, to make the situation stable. But there are also chances for further upward trend of oil prices in the global market with more demand globally and other political factors pushing the prices.