The week unzipped: Expatriates flock back to Britain as cost of living on continent soars

Published on Saturday 12 December 2009 13:31

EXPATRIATES are flocking back to the UK as the cost of living in Europe soars, according to research from reallymoving.com, an online service for home-movers.

It reports that inquiries from expats in Europe wanting to return home have leapt by 37 per cent over the last year. By contrast, there has been an 18 per cent decline in the number of people requesting quotes for leaving the UK in favour of Europe.

This marks a turnaround from the recent exodus of Britons moving abroad in search of warmer climates and cheaper property.

Spain, which is traditionally the most popular haven for British expats seeking to retire in the sun, has seen a flood of departures, with a 39 per cent increase in the number of inquiries about moving to the UK.

The country recently suffered a property crash which has left many owners with depleted equity and high living costs due to UK pensions being paid in pounds, not euros.

Dealing pair jailed

A FORMER corporate broker intern and his father have received 12 and 24-month jail sentences for insider dealing.

Matthew Uberoi, a recent graduate, passed on inside information to his father on several occasions while he worked as an intern at a corporate broking firm during the summer of 2006.

The pair were found guilty of 12 counts of insider dealing after making a 111,000 profit. The court has adjourned the case to consider the appropriate level of confiscation and costs.

This is the second insider dealing case brought by the Financial Services Authority.

Base rate on hold

IN THEIR final meeting of 2009, the Bank of England decided to maintain the base rate at 0.5 per cent and keep the 200 billion quantitative easing budget on hold.

Travelex, the FX payments specialist, predicts the base rate will stay at 0.5 per cent until 2011 at least.

In response, the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries has called for more government support to encourage greater liquidity in the mortgage market before any future increase in the base rate. However, Legal & General's director of mortgages warned that although the remortgage market is showing early signs of warming up, it won't get going until the bank base rate is increased.

Contactless rise

BARCLAYS revealed it has issued more than five million contactless cards in the UK since the launch of its One Plus card in 2007.

Caf Nero has enabled contactless payment in all 380 of its stores, while Pret A Manger has now rolled out the technology across all 199 of its branches. Other brands such as EAT, the National Trust and Yo! Sushi also accept contactless payment as well as thousands of independent outlets. In total about 20,000 outlets now accept Barclaycard contactless.

Contactless allows customers to purchase items of 10 or under without the need to enter a Pin or sign, with customers only requested to enter a Pin occasionally for added security.

Boiler scheme

NPOWER Hometeam has launched its own boiler scrappage scheme following the government's announcement of its own scrappage initiative.

Along the same lines as the government's proposed scheme, Npower will offer customers 400 off a new boiler when they replace one that's more than 10 years old. The government scheme will come into effect in April next year.