Money blog: 'Death by 1,000 increases' - three major lenders push mortgage rates up (2025)

M&S is holding in-store recruitment days as the fallout from a major cyber attack seven weeks ago continues.

The supermarket was forced to suspend online recruitment after hackers took control of its systems in April.

M&S said it expected the disruption to continue online until July, with all job adverts removed from its website.

Stores are turning to Facebook to advertise in-store open days for "multiple vacancies".

One was held in Shoreham, West Sussex, last Wednesday, while another will be held in Peterborough tomorrow.

M&S has warned investors of a £300m hit to its trading profits from ransomware attack - read more about here...

Three major lenders have pushed mortgage rates up in the past 24 hours.

Halifax, Accord and Santander all hiked rates slightly as swap rates - which are used to determine how much it costs banks to borrow in order to lend - increased and hopes of further Bank of England base rate cuts receded.

Halifax increased rates on selected two, three and five-year products by up to 0.16%.

Accord put rates up by as much as 0.15%, and Santander by as much as 0.1%.

"It seems to be a case of death by 1,000 increases in the mortgage market at present. Lenders are slowly but surely reversing their recent rate cuts in response to rising swap rates," Andrew Montlake, chief executive at mortgage broker firm Coreco, said.

"In a capricious market such as this, it pays to act quickly and lock into a rate first to ensure you get the home of your dreams rather than trying to play the market and risk everything," he said in comments supplied to Money by Newspage.

Justin Moy, managing director at EHF Mortgages, warned that other mainstream lenders would inevitably follow with more hikes.

"Though these are smallish rate increases in the main, high street lenders pricing mortgages on wafer-thin margins and wobbles in the swap market will be passed on to borrowers within a few days," he said.

"No one lender will want to be cheapest, and therefore attract too much business."

The Royal Mint has added extra security features to gold bars to give investors greater security.

Owners of the new Britannia bullion range will be able to authenticate their gold bar simply by holding it up to the light.

Similarly to a coin, the image of a padlock on the bar will change to a trident when viewed from different angles - a bit like a hologram.

The bars have also been etched with micro detailing, creating the illusion of waves rolling behind the figure of Britannia when the bar is rotated.

Many investors have been turning to gold, which is considered a safe haven asset, in the wake of market turmoil caused by US President Donald Trump's trade war.

It recently hit record highs of more than $3,000 per ounce.

"We have seen unprecedented demand for physical precious metals as investors increasingly look to diversify their portfolios through 'safe haven' assets," Andrew Dickey, director of precious metals for the Royal Mint, said.

"These new enhancements ensure authenticity and offer greater protection for investors, setting a new benchmark for excellence in the precious metals industry."

Our cost of living specialist Megan Harwood-Baynes explored what the higher gold prices mean for you a couple of weeks ago...

ByJames Sillars, business and economics reporter

"Gradual and careful."

It's the approach to interest rate cuts that the Bank of England governor intends to continue following.

Andrew Bailey and a few other members of the Bank's rate-setting committee have been giving evidence to a committee of MPs - which you can watch live in the stream at the top of the page.

We've had two rate cuts in the year to date, taking the Bank rate down to 4.25%, and the prospects for more ahead are keenly awaited by borrowers.

Ahead of the next Bank meeting in just over a fortnight, Bailey said: "The path remains downwards but how far and how quickly is now shrouded in a lot more uncertainty, frankly."

The latter part of that remark is a nod to the continuing US trade war damage gripping the global economy. It's all "unpredictable", as Bailey said.

He said earlier that a big inflationary pressure within the domestic economy - a factor that has been holding up interest rate cuts - was weakening as expected.

The governor said there was widespread evidence that strong pay awards were starting to ease back.

What does it all mean for the timing of a rate cut?

After the reduction last month, financial markets are expecting no change on 19 June. Only 5% of participants expect a cut.

Perhaps more interesting is that the LSEG data shows only one more reduction - to 4% - fully priced in over the rest of 2025.

Long-haul flights can be tedious, but it is even worse when you are crowded next to someone for 12+ hours.

Sometimes you might get lucky and have an empty seat next to you. But there is one way to guarantee this.

If you are travelling with Etihad this summer, you may be able to travel in comfort without paying the price tag of a business class seat.

The airline operates a "neighbour-free scheme", which means travellers can bid to keep up to three neighbouring seats free.

Passengers are asked how much money they would be willing to spend to have the entire row to themselves. Then, if the plane is not full, they are awarded the empty seats (for the amount they bid).

The small print

It's not free, so you do have to pay the amount you bid. You also have to do it ahead of time - you can't wait until you get to the airport.

If you are successful, you will be notified via email.

The bidding is also non-refundable, so if you end up having to cancel or move your flight for whatever reason, you will still be charged.

There's also no way of saying exactly how much it would cost. But content creator Maddie Borge spent £200 upgrading on her long-haul flight from London to Sydney.

With the equivalent business class ticket costing £900, it's a much cheaper alternative to guarantee that bit of extra legroom.

We're hearing from Andrew Bailey, the governor at the Bank of England, this morning.

He's appearing in front of the Treasury select committee in Parliament, where he will be questioned by MPs.

His answers will be closely watched for any clues on the Bank's approach to interest rates for the rest of 2025.

Also appearing will be Sarah Breeden, deputy governor for financial stability at the Bank; Catherine L Mann, external member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee; and Swati Dhingra, another external member of the Monetary Policy Committee.

You can watch proceedings live via the stream at the top of this page.

A couple will need £60,600 a year to retire comfortably, an influential pension industry study has found.

That's a £1,600 annual increase from £59,000 last year, the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association found.

For a single person, the cost of a comfortable retirement is less at £43,900 a year - up by £800 from £43,100 in 2024.

The slight rise reflects the impact of inflation across many spending categories, which have been offset by decreases in energy costs, its report said.

The PLSA sets three different retirement lifestyles - minimum, moderate, and comfortable - to give people a general indication of the kind of lifestyle they may be on track for in retirement.

Here's a breakdown of what each lifestyle is made up of:

And, this is what it looks like for a single person...

The minimum amount someone needs in retirement has fallen, the study shows, with lower energy prices and people's changing expectations helping to bring down costs.

The cost of a minimum retirement living standard for a one-person household has decreased by £1,000 per year to £13,400, while for a couple, it is £21,600, down from £22,400.

The amounts needed for moderate standards increased slightly, with a single person needing £31,700, up by £400 previously and a couple needing £43,900, up by £800.

Zoe Alexander, director of policy and advocacy at the PLSA, said: "For many, retirement is about maintaining the life they already have, not living more extravagantly or cutting back to the bare essentials.

"The standards are designed to help people picture that future and plan in a way that works for them."

She said that for many people, saving more than the minimum contributions required in their workplace pension could help to give them a better chance of the kind of retirement they want.

By James Sillars, business and economics reporter

A flood of water industry news is dominating this morning - in fact, there's little else about.

There have been three big developments.

The first relates to cash-strapped Thames Water's efforts to raise new equity to guarantee its future.

Thames said this morning that KKR, the private equity firm it had given preferred bidder status to, had pulled out of its rescue talks.

An alternative plan involving current creditors is now under discussion.

The second piece of news is the hint, within an interim review for the government, that a super regulator may be needed to bolster and streamline oversight of the water industry.

The Independent Water Commission's recommendations will be published later in the summer.

Finally, the owner of South West Water has revealed an annual loss.

Pennon reported an adjusted loss before tax of £35.1m for the year to the end of March.

It blamed costs associated with the Brixham water contamination incident early last year and higher investments to upgrade its ageing infrastructure.

Pennon shares were more than 2% down in early dealing.

On the wider stock market the FTSE 100 was trading a couple of points down at 8,771.

Energy stocks were among the winners, as were defence shares for a second day in a row amid planned hikes to UK government defence spending.

The chancellor and foreign secretary are threatening to take Roman Abramovich to court to seize the proceeds of his Chelsea FC sale.

The Russian oligarch, who the UK government sanctioned over his alleged links to Vladimir Putin, sold Chelsea for £2.5bn to an American consortium in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Those funds remain in a frozen UK bank account and are intended for humanitarian causes related to the Ukraine war.

Read more on this story below...