The steep slide in BP's share price is bad news for UK pension funds - the vast majority of which will hold a stake in the company.

Defined benefit pension schemes are typically thought to have around 1.5% of their assets invested directly in BP, accounting for around 6% of all the money they hold in UK equities.

But some funds may hold considerably more, for example a pension scheme that tries to replicate the performance of the FTSE 100 would have around 6% of its total assets invested in the company.

BP's share price has now fallen by around a third since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank on April 20, killing 11 workers.

It is difficult to put a figure on exactly how much this will have wiped off the value of pension schemes, but it is thought to be hundreds of millions of pounds, if not billions of pounds, once the impact on defined contribution schemes and personal pensions is also factored in.

Laith Khalaf, pensions analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The poor performance of a big stock like BP can have a disproportionate impact on funds. There have also been other falls in the stock market as well. If the market had been doing well in recent months, it might not have been such a big issue."

Source: Press Association

Consumers have been given more time to refer a complaint about controversial payment protection insurance (PPI) to the ombudsman.

The Financial Services Authority said it was temporarily waiving the six month time limit in which people need to refer a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service after they have received their final response from the company involved.

The move, which comes into force from Friday and will run until October 27 this year, applies to people who received a final response from the firm they bought the cover from between November 28 last year and April 28, 2010.

The regulator said the action was being taken to ensure that people who had recently complained about the sale of PPI were not disadvantaged by running out of time to refer their complaint to the ombudsman.

It is currently working with the industry to ensure that customers are treated consistently and fairly when they complain about the sale of PPI and when they buy a policy.

PPI covers debt repayments if the holder is unable to work due to an accident or illness or if they are made redundant.

But it has come in for heavy criticism after research found it had been mis-sold to many consumers who would never be able to claim on it, while others felt pressurised into taking it out alongside a loan or credit card.

Source:Press Association

Speeding up the raising of the state pension age from 65 to 68 is to be part of the UK government's first reforms.

The plan will be in the Pensions and Savings Bill, which was outlined in the Queen's Speech.

The state pension age is already scheduled to rise to 68 in stages, between 2024 and 2046.

Separately, the government will also restore a link between the basic state pension and the rise in average earnings, from 2011.

The move should lead to a substantial long-term improvement in the value of the state pension.

Its value as a proportion of earnings has declined, from 26% to 16%, since the old link between average earnings and the state pension was cut in 1980, and replaced with a link to inflation as measured by the Retail Prices Index.

As well as linking the state pension increases to the rise in average earnings, the government has also already pledged to raise pensions in any case "by the higher of earnings, prices or 2.5%".

It was the Labour government's policy in recent years to raise state pensions by at least 2.5%, even if inflation was lower, though this was a discretionary policy renewed each year.

The coalition describes its new approach as giving pensioners a "triple-lock" so they will always benefit from a minimum 2.5% annual rise.

Source: BBC News

Housing market activity bounced back during March with a 25% jump in the number of mortgages advanced to people buying a property, figures have shown.

Around 45,000 mortgages were lent for house purchase during the month, up from 36,000 in February, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The increase suggests the housing market is regaining momentum following a subdued start to the year due to the end of the stamp duty holiday and January's severe winter weather.

Lending for house purchase was 45% higher than it had been in March 2009, the ninth consecutive month of year-on-year growth.

But only 112,000 loans were advanced during the whole of the first quarter, down from 171,000 during the three months to the end of December.

However, the CML stressed that no trend could be inferred from this, as the figures were distorted by people rushing through transactions on lower value properties before the stamp duty holiday ended.

First-time buyer activity rebounded quicker than that for home movers during March, with 17,300 first-time buyers taking out a mortgage during the month, 27% more than in February.

A further 27,500 mortgages were taken out by former owner-occupiers, 24% up on the previous month's figure.

Overall, advances to all people purchasing a property totalled £6.3 billion during March.

Source: Press Association

Mortgage rates should not rise significantly as a result of the uncertainty caused by the hung parliament, commentators have said.

Mortgage rates should not rise significantly as a result of the uncertainty caused by the hung parliament, commentators have said.

Lenders were slow to respond to the result of the General Election, instead continuing to sit on their hands as they waited to see who would form the next government.

But despite steep slides to the FTSE 100 and value of the pound, as markets reacted to the uncertainty, there was only a slight rise in gilt yields, and swap rates - upon which fixed-rate mortgages are partially based - actually improved.

Gilt yields increased by only between four and nine basis-points, a change that is often seen during a normal day's trading.

And despite the fact that swap rates typically mirror changes to gilts, two-year swaps actual fell from 1.64% on Thursday to 1.6% on Friday, while five-year ones dropped by 0.05% to 2.84%.

There were also no reports of lenders pulling mortgage deals or raising their rates in response to the inconclusive election result.

Activity in the mortgage market has been subdued since the beginning of April as lenders waited for the outcome of Thursday's vote.

The average shelf life of a mortgage deal nearly doubled during the month to 30 days, while there were also 26% fewer product changes.

Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, said: "The movement (in gilt yields) is not sufficient to push mortgage rates up.

"As far as tracker rates are concerned, we still see no reason for the Bank of England to change rates in the short term."

Source: Press Association

Personal finance specialists may not be able to forecast the election result but they are sure about one thing: sooner rather than later, the next government will hit us all where it hurts - in the wallet.

Even before the new party (or parties) in power get round to any additional spending cuts, the outcome of election night could be a changing value of the pound, loss of some tax relief on pension contributions and even an unexpected rise in the cost of home loans.

Financial advisers seem especially spooked by the possibility of a hung parliament or a coalition - of whatever political combination.

"The problem with a hung parliament is that it produces uncertainty," says Melanie Bien, a director of Savills Private Finance.

"Money markets don't like this, so mortgage borrowing rates tend to rise as a result."

She suggests that anyone coming to the end of a mortgage deal who is worried about higher rates should be able to find a fixed rate for at least two years or more.

"Then, after the election result, they can decide whether or not they want to take out the fixed mortgage deal or not".

Source: BBC News

The UK's biggest High Street banks have been severely criticised by the main City regulator for the poor way they deal with their customers' complaints.

The Financial Services Authority said five of the banks, who are unnamed, had agreed to make big improvements.

Two are being investigated further and may suffer large fines.

The FSA blamed a lack of interest by senior bank management, bonus schemes that inhibited staff from paying compensation, and poor decision making.

"While we found some good practice, there is clearly evidence of unacceptable standards of complaints handling in banks," said Dan Waters, the FSA's director of conduct risk.

"Delivering change in this area is a major priority and we are determined to use all the tools available to us to ensure that banks comply with our rules," he warned.

Source: BBC News

Mortgage lending soared by nearly a quarter to £11.5 billion last month as the traditional spring buying season got off to a good start, figures have showed.

But the estimated hike in lending failed to offset a dire January, with loans advanced during the first three months of the year slumping to the lowest quarterly level for 10 years, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

While gross mortgage lending in March was 24% higher than in February and 3% up year on year, lending in the first quarter reached £29.5 billion - down by nearly a quarter on the previous three months.

The CML said underlying levels of mortgage lending and housing market activity remained stable, but were "quiet and subdued" when the seasonal spring uplift was stripped out.

It predicted that market conditions were likely to improve later in the year, with the Budget stamp duty boost for first-time buyers kicking in and as the economic recovery and low interest rate environment helped home-owners.

Paul Samter, CML economist, said: "Overall, housing and mortgage activity remains subdued, but is comfortably higher than in the depths of the recession a year ago.

The number of mortgage loans from lenders jumped 12% in February as demand recovered from an "extremely weak" January, figures have shown.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said 35,000 home loans were advanced over the month, after one-off factors such as the winter weather and the end of the stamp duty holiday in December hit lending in January.

The total number of loans was up 49% on a year earlier while the value of mortgages was £5 billion - 9% up on January and 67% ahead of 12 months earlier.

While the CML said the figures signified a "modest recovery" in lending, it added that the weather and the end of the stamp duty holiday - which had lifted the tax threshold to £175,000 for a year - meant that trends were difficult to identify.

But the Government gave a boost for first-time buyers in March's Budget with a duty exemption on purchases up to £250,000 - financed by a hike from 4% to 5% on properties above £1 million.

CML head of research Bob Pannell said: "With the supply of credit still tight and the upcoming election causing political uncertainty, we are unlikely to see much change in the near future, although the new stamp duty exemption for first-time buyers could boost the market somewhat."

Source: Press Association

House prices bounced back during March after falling for the first time in 10 months in February, figures show.

The average cost of a UK home rose by 0.7% during the month, largely reversing February's 0.8% drop, according to Nationwide.

But the latest rise is unlikely to end speculation over whether February's drop was caused by one-off factors, or marked the start of a new trend in the housing market.

Some economists had argued that the slide could not just be attributed to the end of the Government's stamp duty holiday and the bad weather seen during the early part of the year, but instead showed the recovery was running out of steam.

Nationwide's three-month-on-three-month index, which is generally seen as a smoother indicator of market trends, showed a further slowdown in price growth this month, with a rise of only 1.6% during the three months to the end of March, compared with 1.8% for the three months to the end of February.

Figures released by the Bank of England earlier this week also showed that the number of mortgages approved for house purchase had dropped for the third consecutive month to a nine-month low, suggesting activity in the housing market continues to remain subdued.

Source: Press Association