Darling to grill UK bank bosses on lending-papers

Alistair Darling will today grill the chairmen and chief executives of Britain’s largest banks over concerns that lenders are still failing to provide adequate capital to businesses, according to the Times.

Bosses from Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, both part-owned by the taxpayer, as well as HSBC and Barclays will attend this afternoon's meeting.

The Chancellor is believed to be "extremely concerned" about lending to businesses and said that banks must "live up to the promises" they made after being bailed out with £37bn in taxpayers' money. Full story......

HOUSE PRICES were unchanged in July for the third month running, housing market analyst Hometrack said today, suggesting the slump in the property sector may finally have come to an end, reports the Independent.

Hometrack's monthly survey has reported 0% changes to house prices in May, June and July, but the analyst said it had seen some positive signs of an uptick over the past four weeks.

The number of new buyers registering with estate agents rose by 2.8% last month, Hometrack said, while the average time on the market for a property before selling fell to nine weeks, from 9.4 weeks in June. Full story.....

OPTIMISTIC FORECASTS for the UK economy are likely to be misplaced, according to a leading economist who said the fallout from the banking crisis will undermine growth for several years, according to the Guardian.

Roger Bootle, an adviser to accountants Deloitte, said hopes of a quick recovery would be dashed by several important events over the coming months.

In the latest Deloitte quarterly economic review, he said further shocks to bank finances from defaults on mortgages and commercial property leases would severely limit their scope for lending. Full story.....