Additional 205 firms at risk of compliance breaches

In addition to hundreds of firms already under investigation, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will be investigating a further 205 firms that appear to be operating without compliance officers. The discovery of additional firms is reportedly due to an SRA data cleansing exercise. A report written by the SRA Chief Executive, Anthony Townsend, states: “It […]

Co-operative puts mortgage arm up for sale

The tough times seem to keep coming for the Co-operative Bank. The Times has reported that the embattled bank is looking for buyers for their mortgage arm, Western Mortgage Services, which has £11bn in loans under administration and 350 employees. This follows the recent departure of the banks Chief Executive, Moody’s downgrades of their debt […]

Legal Services Board publishes annual report

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has published its Annual Report and Accounts for the year 2012/13. The report covers the third full year of the post Legal Services Act 2007 regulatory regime and describes how the LSB delivered the priorities set out in its 2012/13 Business Plan. As well as looking back at the year […]

Self-build mortgage sector withdrawal for Virgin Money

After lack of demand for the product, Virgin Money has pulled out of the self-build mortgage sector. A spokesperson said: “There was a limited demand for the product so we decided to withdraw it. It only ever made a very small fraction of our lending.” Funds under the product were only released when properties were […]