• The brave new world of cryptocurrencies
      Scott Robertson - 27 June 2019

      Eighteen months ago, you could barely open the finance section of a newspaper without seeing headlines about Bitcoin. 

    • Mark Carney: a tenure of inertia
      Scott Robertson - 17 May 2019

      The starting gun has been fired to seek out Mark Carney's successor as Governor of the Bank of England (BoE), but he will nevertheless remain in his post until January 2020. 

    • Are falling house prices actually a bad thing?
      Scott Robertson - 18 July 2018

      Britons' obsession with home ownership is somewhat unique, and it is fair to say that many of our friends on the Continent are left perplexed by the importance we attribute to making the step up onto the housing ladder.

    • The rise of Generation Rent - and Generation Landlord
      Scott Robertson - 21 February 2018

      There are a number of statistics which emphasise the growing generational wealth divide in the UK; such as the projection that so-called millennials will be the first in modern history to be poorer than their parents.

    Recent

    • The end of the mortgage prisoner scandal may be nigh
      Scott Robertson - 18 July 2019

      The financial crisis is a bitter memory of what can go wrong when regulators lose control of markets. It seems hard to fathom now, but a little over a decade ago, buyers could acquire mortgages to the tune of 125 per cent of the home’s value (the Northern Rock Together mortgage being one of the most infamous), with only the most lax affordability checks standing in their way. 

    • The regtech revolution is upon us
      Scott Robertson - 12 July 2019

      Numerous theories have emerged as to why the UK has endured such a severe productivity problem over the last decade. Growth in productivity of just 2 per cent during that period would typically have been accomplished within a single year prior to the financial crisis, and thus the 'productivity puzzle' continues to confound economists

    • Quantitative easing: a race to the bottom
      Scott Robertson - 5 July 2019

      In the aftermath of the financial crisis back in 2008/09, the Bank of England (BoE) had considerable headroom in terms of monetary policy, and - rightly - it made full use of it. 

    • Is offering retail finance right for your business?
      Scott Robertson - 28 June 2019

      While it has held up better than expected over the past year or two, the UK economy and its macroeconomic indicators make for anaemic reading.

    • Are there risks to buy now, pay later?
      Scott Robertson - 28 June 2019

      It’s no exaggeration to say that the global financial system as a whole is predicated on the ability to buy something now, and pay for it later. Barely anyone would be able to make a substantial purchase such as a house without an instrument like a mortgage.