There’s some good news for savers this morning following the news that the amount of money protected in the event of a bank or building society collapse has risen.
The protection level has been increased by £10,000 to £85,000 in the wake of the weakening of the pound against the euro since the vote to leave the EU.
The BBC reports that the amount of compensation payable is set at €100,000 across the European Union, so significant currency moves can alter the level for UK savers.
Price rises
Who wants Weetabix? In the latest round of price increase sparked by the fall in the pound, the cereal company Weetabix has joined the fray. A number of firms, including Next and Easyjet, have warned of higher prices thanks to sterling’s fall since last year’s Brexit vote.
The BBC reports that ‘although the company takes its wheat from within 50 miles of its processing plants in Northampton, wheat is priced in dollars and the weaker pound means it takes more pounds to buy dollar-listed items’.
Branch closures
Data compiled by The Mail on Sunday has revealed that in the first few weeks of January a total of 423 bank and building society branches have either been axed or put on notice of closure.
The current rate of closures means that 2017 is on course to be a record. Over the past two years, 1,046 branches have been shut by the country’s major high street banks.
Businesses The Telegraph reports on the ‘fragility’ of Britain’s small businesses following a new report which suggests that more than 275,000 companies were showing signs of significant financial distress at the end of 2016. On a year-on-year basis, corporate stress rose for the 13th consecutive quarter towards the close of 2016, according to research from recovery practice Begbies Traynor. Debt New research from Sainsbury’s Bank Loans reveals that more than 180,000 people across the UK could take out personal loans for debt consolidation in the first three months of 2017, worth more than £2 billion. This figure equals an estimated 31 per cent of all personal loans taken out in the first three months of the new year. The estimated average loan size is projected to be around £11,400 – nearly a fifth more than the average value of loans not intended for consolidating debts (£9,600). This means that the total value of loans taken out between January and March 2017 for debt consolidation will account for more than a third of all loans during this period. Tesco The competition regulator is under pressure to step in on Tesco’s planned £3.9 billion takeover of Booker, Britain’s biggest food and drink wholesaler, according to The Times. The paper said: ‘The Competition and Markets Authority is expected to confirm plans to look at the recommended takeover, which caught the City by surprise when it was announced on Friday.’ Living standards And we end today’s Money Digest with some gloomy news: the ‘mini-boom’ in living standards has come to an end. The Resolution Foundation, a think tank, says that an increase in inflation late last year, as well as slower income growth, has ended the boom. It will publish its annual report later this week.
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