UK Mortgage Approvals Rise, Barclays Appoints New Chief

Arthi Gupta
30 Aug, 2012
New York City

The UK indexes slid in listless trading and mortgage approvals rose in July. Accenture agreed to acquire Singapore-based NewsPage. Barclays appointed Antony Jenkins as a director and chief executive. JJB Sports plunged 82% after deciding to seek a buyer.

[R]3:30 PM London – The UK indexes slid in listless trading and mortgage approvals rose in July. Accenture agreed to acquire Singapore-based NewsPage. Barclays appointed Antony Jenkins as a director and chief executive. JJB Sports plunged 82% after deciding to seek a buyer.[/R]

The UK indexes edged lower tracking weak global markets and the number of mortgages approved for home buyers rose in July. Barclays appointed a new chief executive and disclosed yet another government inquiry.

In London, the benchmark index FTSE 100 declined 10.24 or 0.2% to 5,733.29 and the pound edged higher to $1.5855.

UK Mortgage Approvals Rise

The number of mortgages approved for home buyers rose in July, the Bank of England said.

Mortgage approvals for home purchases rose to 47,312 in July from a revised 44,124 in June.

Lending secured on dwellings rose £1.1 billion in July compared to the £0.2 billion decline in the June.

Barclays Appoints New Chief Executive

Barclays PLC announced that Antony Jenkins has been appointed as a director and as chief executive. Jenkins has been a member of executive committee of Barclays since 2009 when he assumed the leadership role at its retail and business unit.

Jenkins, head of its retail and business banking unit will assume the office as the bank is facing multiple inquiries and struggles with the weak market conditions in its core markets.

Bank also said yesterday that the Serious Fraud Office of the UK government is investigating the bank and its four senior employees “regarding sufficiency of disclosure in fees” related to its 2009 transaction with a Qatar based fund.

Jenkins previously ran bank’s credit card business and was asked to oversee its retail and business unit in 2009.

Gainers & Losers

Accenture Plc rose 0.7% to $60.66 after the outsourcing provider agreed to acquire Singapore-based NewsPage Pte Ltd. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

JJB Sports plc plunged 82.3% to 0.419 pence after the sports retailer decided to put the company for sale.

WPP Plc fell 2.5% to 810.50 pence after the advertising company said its wholly-owned operating network, Ogilvy & Mather, the global marketing communications company, and A+B Expedio have established a joint venture company in the Philippines called OgilvyAction.

Xstrata Plc declined 2.4% to 901.80 pence after the miner said ore production commenced at the Mount Margaret Mining operation in north-west Queensland.