And another one bites the dust...

Today another "small" group  of people got axed at the llyod banking group, 4500 people had to face the harsh reality of the true situation inside the banking sector. A small part they say, this is only a piece of the 20000 people lay out plan they have in mind in order get their books right. Llyod banking group is just another piece in a big puzzle, the amount of lay outs that have happened in this period of recession is unseen. How long will this period of uncertainty last? A lot of professionals say the biggest hit has yet to come.

source :http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/13/lloyds-banking-group-cuts-jobs

Bank accounts: people don't want to press the switch

An important consumer organization, Consumer Focus, receives a high amount of complaints from customers of banks, but in the past 2 years only 7% of them decide to move to another bank showing their displeasure.  Compared to other instances costumers of banks don’t change fast their account,  switching happens much more between energy suppliers, telecom providers and home insurance.  So there is no pressure on banks to improve their service in relation to other banks. There should  come some new measures to change this situation, including: clear and fair charges, comparable tables on current accounts and an obligation of banks to pay for goodwill.

Kristof Buffel

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/oct/09/switching-bank-accounts-consumer-focus

Increasing salaries

The federal department of Economics calculated that Belgian employees who work full time earn an average of 2.936 euro a month (before taxes), the report also indicates that the salaries of the executives and other 'fat cats' (38%) over the last 10 years has risen more than those of the 'working class' (23%).
In the face of the upcoming national wage negotiations, the leader of the socialist union has declared that he wants to narrow this gap in the future which will bring extra tension to these negotiations. Pieter Timmermans, chairman of the VBO takes the edge of these numbers by stating that the report is incomplete, according to Mr. Timmermans the calculations are made based upon salary before taxes and since the higher incomes pay more taxes, and therefor are inaccurate. The report also didn't mention the salary evolutions in SME's which represent the majority of the Belgian industry.


Dries De Craemer
http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=PL30OCJC

Banking & Finance

The Atlantic Wind Connection

Nowadays investing in renewable energy is very popular, for example even Google announced a large scale investment to harness offshore wind power. The project will be named the Atlantic Wind Connection and will consist of a network of underwater cables that connects the offshore wind turbines with the east coast cities.By doing this, Google will not only contribute to the environment, it will also create thousands of jobs, upgrade consumer supply to green energy sources and it will renew a part of the Mid-Atlantic region’s power grid.Thanks to companies like Google people will become more aware of the fact that drastic changes have to be made.

Jonas De Mets

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/8391ec0c-d5fe-11df-94dc-00144feabdc0.html

Credit card fraud targeted by new security mesures

More and more people become victim of creditcard fraud, but fortunately
new security mesures are being taken. People are massively singning up to
security tools like for example the Mastercard Securecode. Even banks are
taking initiatives by introducing fraud detecting tools. This cautious attitude
repays itself by a fall of fraud during the past 6 months.



Source:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/creditcards/8044602/Credit-card-fraud-targeted-by-new-security-measures.html

Alichan Bogaterov

Foreclosed properties

If you want to buy a house at a very low price, bank foreclosures are the perfect opportunity because the banks are in a hurry to realize the profit ant that's why they accept an amount of money that is lower than the common price. Other advantages related with owning a foreclosed home are that you can inspect the house so that you can be sure that you want to invest your money in it and that the banks are ready to negotiate the conditions of payment. Before you buy the property, it is necessary to do some research like inspecting the house and survey the location and the neighbourhood. It's also important to notice after locating a property that you decide if you are going to use it for personal things or as an investment.

Arne De Smet

source: http://www.themoneytimes.com/featured/20101002/foreclosures-buying-home-less-id-10130208.html

Pension fees won’t cover retirement

In Belgium it is no longer affordable for people in their late 50’s to stop working and start living of their pension fees without having saved a lot of money first. If you haven’t been saving at least  €100 a month for the last 9 years before your retirement, you won’t even last 3 years in a nursing home in Flanders. The cost for a nursing home has been estimated at €1,326.90 a month, which is not evidently affordable for anyone wanting to retire.  Most people who retire can’t afford such nursing homes and are thereby very dependent of their children or grandchildren to take care of them, those who don’t have their relatives to count on, do have a problem. 

Sarah Carron

source: http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=BU30JCJK&_section=61269305&utm_source=standaard&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=mijngeld