Mortgage and Business News » City

Wachovia looks for new Chief Financial Officer

Peter — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:48:00 +0000

Wachovia has announced today that Chief Financial Officer, Thomas J. Wurtz plans to leave the bank. The company has now started their search for his successor.

Robert K. Steel, President and CEO of Wachovia said “I want to personally thank Tom for his many contributions to Wachovia.” He also added “Tom has been a professional partner and colleague and we are grateful for all he has done for the company.”

Wurtz said “I’m honored that I had the privilege to serve Wachovia as CFO for the past two and half years and as Treasurer for seven years. Wachovia is an excellent company with a very bright future. In the past few weeks, I have enjoyed working with Bob. His strong leadership will help the company build on its core strengths and emerge successfully from the current environment.”

Wachovia have assets of 812.4 billion and market capitalization of $33.5 billion, as of June 30 2008. Read more news on Wachovia.

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Northern Rock appoints Barclays Gary Hoffman

Peter — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:26:20 +0000

Gary Hoffman did not get the chief executive role at Barclays PLC back in 2003, but now Hoffman has now been appointed as chief executive at Northern Rock PLC., the troubled U.K. mortgage lender.

Ron Sandler, Northern Rock Executive Chairman decided to appoint Hoffman as chief executive, he will take on the role from October 1. He comes straight from Barclays; he was their vice-chairman as well as a former chairman of Barclaycard.

Hoffman has been with Barclays since 1982, he also went for the role of chief executive in 2003, but lost out to John Varley.

Mr. Hoffman hopes that he will be able to lead Northern Rock through these troubled times and to help them gain back their strength.

The troubles over at Northern Rock began back in September 2007, as a result of their exposure to capital markets. As a result they were unable to raise funds in the wake of the credit crunch.

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BDS Mortgage Group announces 15 job cuts

Peter — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:46:51 +0000

The BDS Mortgage Group has announced that they are to cut 15 jobs; this is part of the company’s decision to change their organisational structure as a result of the current market conditions. The Mortgage company are not happy about cutting these jobs, but they have said that it is unavoidable in today’s climate, they do hope that they can reinforce BDS’s expertise in the packaging arena as a result they will be able to continue to attract new business partners.

Managing Director of BDS, Phil Jay, has said that the company is aware of the current market, this is something that is affecting many businesses as a result they have all had to reorganise their companies, so that they can make it run more efficient.

Jay has said “In this current market it was sensible to make these changes with the group to continue to deliver great service to our Intermediary customers.” He also added “Its model and technology infrastructure was still the envy of many businesses and it remained committed to the long term future of the intermediary market.”

Phil Jay finally added “Our focus is to continue to innovate and deliver real value for money to all our customers and business partners alike.”

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Fixed-rate mortgages at a ten year high

Peter — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:01:10 +0000

Many people would have been burying their head in the sand when it comes to the state of the mortgage market, and many will be shocked to learn that fixed-rate mortgages are now at a ten year high. All the big lenders are now following each other and putting up a range of their mortgages, with fixed-rate terms being at the top of their list.

Moneyfacts.co.uk, have launched some new figures and the results are very interesting. On average two-year fixed-rate mortgages are now set at 6.75 per cent, the average cost of a five-year fixed term mortgage has increased to 6.72 per cent. Many customers will now be moaning that they now have to pay much more on their monthly payments, but Darren Cook, Moneyfacts mortgage expert has said that “consumers are paying the price for the vast sums lenders now have to pay in order to secure funds.”

Cook has also warned that the situation is likely to get worse before it shows signs of improvement. He also said that while a fixed-rate mortgage seems more appealing than that of a variable rate given the UK’s current financial situation, these types of loans might just prove too expensive for some customers.

That said most customers will want to fix their mortgages, as there are no signs of the mortgage market recovering any time soon. My Brother took out a five-year fixed rate a little over a year ago; he did not think that he made the right choice back then. Now if you take a look at how the credit crisis is taking hold of the UK, he is now thankful that he did.

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