Breaking Financial News

First Direct has become the first UK bank to introduce a transactional banking app for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch .

The app, which has launched on the Apple App Store, enables first direct customers to check balances, view the last 20 account transactions, make payments and transfer money between accounts .

UK customers will now be able to make transactions via their smartphone . While Natwest, RBS and Ulster Bank all have dedicated iPhone applications, these provide only a simple form of online banking such as letting users check their account balance and view a mini-statement.

Matt Colebrook, chief executive at the bank, said: “This is about making the banking experience simpler and quicker, allowing our iPhone enabled customers to access key features of our internet banking whenever they want and wherever they want. The iPhone App is as a huge step forward, but it’s just the beginning of our ambitions for mobile banking . Read more…

Tags: App, Banking App, Transactional Banking, Transactional Banking App

Franchise businesses can be very lucrative. Perhaps you’re thinking of starting a franchise business in your area or another type of brick-and-mortar business. If so, here are some quick tips and franchising information to help you get started. Just like wealthy men such as Donald Trump, Warren Buffet, and Robert Kiyosaki, you too can realize success and build wealth for the future.

What It Takes to Start a Franchise

There are several requirements to start a franchise. Most legitimate businesses do require a start-up investment. You might be required to stock inventory, pay for landscaping, remodeling and advertisements, hire and train employees, pay for legal and insurance fees, and so forth. These are just a few of the costs you may incur. Also, consider the time it might take to make a profit. Sometimes new businesses can take up to a year or two before you can enjoy profits.

You also have to be a people person and be willing to learn from others who have tried and tested techniques before you.

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Tags: Business, Franchise Business

IN ONE of the most eye-popping episodes of the financial crisis, high-yield bonds—those rated “junk”, or below investment grade—traded at an average interest rate of more than 20 percentage points above Treasury bonds in late 2008 as investors dumped risky assets. The junk-bond market’s subsequent rebound has been nearly as dramatic. So much so that some reckon it is ripe for another fall.

High-yield bonds returned a handsome 15% last year after a stunning 58% in 2009. The extra interest rate that investors demand to hold junk has fallen to its lowest since late 2007 (see chart). Borrowers have rushed to take advantage of strong demand: after record issuance in 2010 the pace has accelerated in the first two weeks of 2011. This is a bonanza for investment banks, which earned $5.8 billion in junk-bond fees last year, the most ever and $1.5 billion more than they made from investment-grade bonds, according to Dealogic.

Borrowers are keen to strengthen their balance-sheets while the going is good, by replacing costly debt with cheaper, longer-term paper.

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Tags: Junk

So, now we know about the $15bn-plus 2010 pay package for Goldman Sachs partners and employees. The top rungs will get their many millions each, with lesser and lesser amounts going down the GS hierarchy. The mass of its more than 35,000 employees will, as usual, get much, much less than the top. In addition, the appreciation of Goldman’s share prices likewise adds billions to employees who got stock options, which were likewise distributed very unequally throughout the firm. The unequal division of rewards within Goldman Sachs mirrors and mocks the far larger social divide it feeds.

While vast wealth flows for the tops of finance, austerity is the watchword across the United States. Every one of the 50 state governments and nearly all of the thousands of city and town governments are sharply reducing their citizens’ economic wellbeing.

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