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The number of mortgages approved in September reached a level not seen in the two years since the Liz Truss mini-budget.

According to figures from the Bank of England, the month had the greatest number of mortgage approvals since August 2022, the period just before the market turmoil brought about by Ms Truss’s financial statement.

Reduced interest rates appear to have helped stoke house buying demand as the central bank enacted the first rate cut in four years, bringing the rate down to 5% in August.

Read more:
How much is Liz Truss to blame for expensive mortgages?

Following the cut, 65,647 mortgages were approved, beating market expectations.

Similarly, remortgaging approvals with a different lender increased by 3,100 to 30,800.

While the base interest rate stood at 5%, new Bank of England statistics also released on Tuesday showed people actually paid an average of 4.76% on newly drawn mortgages in September.

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The average rate on the outstanding stock of mortgages, however, rose slightly to 3.74%, from 3.72% in the previous month.

The two years after the September 2022 mini budget saw mortgage costs spike, with average rates topping 6% on two- and five-year fixed deals at some points.

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Mortgage rates of 3.5%-4.5% ‘new normal’ – Lloyds boss

In the days following the Liz Truss government’s major spending and tax cutting announcement, the Bank of England stepped in to fix a broken part of the financial market.

In addition to the plunge in the value of the pound to a record low, investors demanded a greater rate of return for UK government bonds – essentially IOUs.

The Bank of England also raised rates to combat post-COVID inflation which was due to a range of causes, especially supply side delays and shortages.

An era of low interest rates had previously prevailed, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when borrowing was made cheaper to stimulate economic growth.

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Just three years ago, in October 2021, the average rate on a five-year deal was 2.55%, according to figures from financial information company Moneyfacts.

On Tuesday, the average rate on a five-year deal was 5.09%.

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Water companies blocked from using customer cash for ‘undeserved’ bonuses

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Water companies blocked from using customer cash for 'undeserved' bonuses

Nine water companies have been blocked from using customer money to fund “undeserved” bonuses by the industry’s regulator.

Ofwat said it had stepped in to use its new powers over water firms that cannot show that bonuses are sufficiently linked to performance.

The blocked payouts amount to 73% of the total executive awards proposed across the industry.

The regulator has prevented crisis-hit Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water from paying £1.5m in bonuses from cash generated from customer bills.

It said a further six firms have voluntarily decided not to push the cost of executive bonuses worth a combined £5.2m on to customers.

Instead, shareholders at Anglian Water, Severn Trent, South West, Southern Water, United Utilities and Wessex will pay the cost.

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David Black, chief executive of Ofwat, said: “In stopping customers from paying for undeserved bonuses that do not properly reflect performance, we are looking to sharpen executive mindsets and push companies to improve their performance and culture of accountability.

“While we are starting to see companies take some positive steps, they need to do more to rebuild public trust.”

The announcement came in an Ofwat update on firms’ financial resilience and bonuses.

Industry lobby group Water UK said: “Almost all water company bonuses are already paid by shareholders, not customers.

“All companies recognise the need to do more to deliver on their plans to support economic growth, build more homes, secure our water supplies and end sewage entering our rivers.

“We now need the regulator Ofwat to fully approve water companies’ £108bn investment plans so that we can get on with it.

“Ofwat’s financial resilience report provides yet more evidence that the current system isn’t working, with returns down to 2% and eight companies making a loss.

“It is clear we need a faster and simpler system which allows companies to deliver for customers, the environment and the country.”

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Google could be forced to sell its Chrome browser over internet search monopoly claims

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Google could be forced to sell its Chrome browser over internet search monopoly claims

Google must sell its Chrome browser to restore competition in the online search market, US prosecutors have argued.

The proposed breakup has been floated in a 23-page document filed by the US Justice Department.

It also calls for lawmakers to impose restrictions designed to prevent its Android smartphone software from favouring its own search engine.

If the rules were brought in, it would essentially result in Google being highly regulated for 10 years.

Google controls about 90% of the online search market and 95% on smartphones.

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Court papers filed on Wednesday expand on an earlier outline for what prosecutors argued would dilute that monopoly.

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Google called the proposals radical at the time, saying they would harm US consumers and businesses and shake American competitiveness in AI.

The company has said it will appeal.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) and a coalition of states want US District Judge Amit Mehta to end exclusive agreements in which Google pays billions of dollars annually to Apple and other device vendors to be the default search engine on their tablets and smartphones.

Google will have a chance to present its own proposals in December.

A trial on the proposals has been set for April, however President-elect Donald Trump and the DoJ’s next antitrust head could step in.

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Dozens of partners take early retirement from accountancy giant PwC

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Dozens of partners take early retirement from accountancy giant PwC

Dozens of partners at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Britain’s biggest accountancy firm, will next month take early retirement as its new boss takes steps to boost its performance.

Sky News has learnt that PwC’s 1,030 UK partners were notified earlier this week that a larger-than-usual round of partner retirements would take place at the end of the year.

Sources said the round would involve several dozen partners – who command average pay packages of about £1m – leaving the firm.

PwC named about 60 new partners earlier this year under Marco Amitrano, who was appointed as its new UK boss in the spring.

Mr Amitrano is understood to have informed partners about the changes in a voice memo, although one insider disputed the idea that the numbers involved were “significant”.

The partner retirements come as the big four audit firms contend with a sizeable bill from increases in the Budget in employers’ national insurance contributions.

It emerged this week that Deloitte is cutting nearly 200 jobs in its advisory business, according to the Financial Times.

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An ongoing shake-up of the audit profession is not being restricted to the big four firms, with Sky News revealing on Wednesday that Cinven, the private equity firm, was in advanced talks to buy a controlling stake in Grant Thornton UK.

The deal, which is expected to value Grant Thornton at somewhere in the region of £1.5bn, was announced on Thursday morning.

PwC declined to comment.

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