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Last Updated: Friday, 28 December 2007, 16:40 GMT
Life after crunch
World map stencil on top of stock market quotations
BBC Radio 4's Money Box
Saturday 29 December
at 1204 GMT
On Radio 4 and Online

It has been a roller coaster year for the world's financial markets and for the global economy generally.

The damage from the huge losses in the American sub-prime housing market led to a credit crunch - and banks stopped lending to each other.

The most high profile casualty was the bank Northern Rock, which almost collapsed, before receiving emergency funding from the Bank of England.

But despite all this bad news, London share prices look set to rise for the fifth year in a row - a rare event.

So, with this mixed bag of facts and figures, we asked Justin Urquhart Stewart, director of Seven Investment Management, how best to invest our cash in 2008.

Further information:


The housing market

Model of a detached house with British pound coins stacked next to it
How much will your house be worth in 2008?

The credit squeeze had a knock-on effect on the housing market, which also proved unpredictable in 2007.

But what about 2008?

Can we expect stagnation, as suggested in a recent report
by one of the major mortgage lenders, Nationwide?

We discussed the major housing market issues facing the year ahead with Steven Bell, chief economist at the hedge fund, GLC and with David Hollingworth, of mortgage brokers, London and Country.

Further information:


Anti-fraud detection

Adriab Webb of esure
Adrian Webb of esure demonstrates the detection technology

The government has decided to follow some insurers by piloting new voice recognition technology which claims to be able to tell if someone is telling the truth or lying.

The technique measures the stress in a caller's voice when they are making a claim, but not everyone is convinced it is the way forward.

Bob Howard investigated and we put concerns over the use of voice recognition techniques to James Plaskitt, Anti-fraud Minister.

Further information:


Personal accounts

A pay slip
Employees, employers and the government will contribute

The government's plans for a new national pension scheme, currently called personal accounts, will be debated by parliament in the New Year.

The aim is to ensure that everyone at work has access to a pension scheme that their employer pays into.

The man responsible for making sure all this happens is already in post.

Ex-banker Tim Jones, chief executive of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority, is charged with implementing the scheme by the proposed date of 2012.

He told Money Box how the new scheme will work.

Further information:


BBC Radio 4's Money Box was broadcast on Saturday, 29 December 2007 at 1204 GMT.

The programme was repeated on Sunday, 30 December 2007 at 2102 GMT.



SEE ALSO
External internet links
28 Dec 07 |  Moneybox


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