HSBC will increase its mortgage lending by 20% in 2009. Mortgage data showed last week that UK banks had approved the fewest mortgages since 1999.
As the bank prepares to set aside £15bn (nearly twice as much as in 2007), the managing director says that it has ‘no intention of closing its doors to customers’ next year.
Paul Thurston says: ‘We remain open for business to the tune of £15bn.’
Banks in the UK have faced pressure to increase lending to small businesses amid the economic downturn following the Government's £37bn bail-out of the sector, which did not include HSBC.
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I've seen the light: How a dark and gloomy kitchen in the Scottish Borders was reconfigured for 21st century livingWhen a family home passed to a new generation, Guild Anderson was asked to create a kitchen suited to modern living.
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Once threatened with extinction, the peregrine falcon has made a remarkable comebackIn the latest instalment of Mark Cocker's 'Winging it' column, he looks at the peregrine, a bird of prey with astonishing speed and super strength.
