French bank ratings under review

15 June 2011 Last updated at 06:55 GMT BNP Paribas is one of the banks that may be affected Ratings agency Moody's has warned it may downgrade the credit rating of three French banks because of their exposure to Greek debt.

Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale all face a possible downgrade because they could face losses on a Greek default.

Credit ratings are a measure of how likely a company or country is to repay its debts.

Moody's has already downgraded the credit ratings of eight Greek banks.

European leaders have yet to agree on the terms of a second bail-out for Greece.

On Wednesday, the country is expected to see another wave of general strikes against austerity measures.

In a statement, Moody's said: "Today's actions reflect Moody's concerns about these banks' exposures to the Greek economy."

Societe Generale and Credit Agricole both hold majority stakes in Greek banks.

BNP Paribas does not have a stake in a Greek bank, but Moody's estimates that it held about 5bn euros (?4.4bn, $7.2bn) of Greek government debt as of December 2010.

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Housing market 'under pressure'

14 June 2011 Last updated at 10:10 GMT The market is set to remain subdued, lenders warn House prices and sales are still under pressure, surveys have suggested.

The government's own house price survey says UK prices fell by 1.1% in April to leave them 0.3% down on a year ago.

A survey of chartered surveyors said that potential buyers were still being put off by economic worries and continued mortgage rationing.

And despite a rise in mortgage borrowing in April, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said lending was unlikely to rise further this year.

Regional differences

The government's house price survey is published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

It confirms the downward trend shown in other surveys, from lenders such as the Halifax and the Nationwide, and the Land Registry for England and Wales.

The DCLG survey also highlights the widespread variation in house price trends around the UK.

In the past year, prices have been unchanged in England, but have fallen by 15.2% in Northern Ireland, by 1.4% in Wales and by 1.2% in Scotland.

The biggest increase during that time has been in London, with prices up by 3.6%.

Interest 'flat'

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) survey covered 257 members who work as estate agents in England and Wales.

Continue reading the main story

Uncertainty over the economic outlook remains as important as the availability of mortgage finance in depressing demand”

End Quote Ian Perry Rics It found that there had been a slight fall in enquiries in May from potential new buyers, but a rise in the number of houses being put up for sale.

As a result, sales per estate agent fell to their lowest level of the year so far, at just under 15 in the previous three months.

Prices continued to drop as well.

The survey found that 28% more of the estate agents had seen prices fall than rise in the previous three months, though the falls were generally small, at less than 2%.

"Buyer interest in purchasing property remains flat across much of the country and there is little sign of this changing any time soon," said Rics housing spokesman Ian Perry.

"Uncertainty over the economic outlook remains as important as the availability of mortgage finance in depressing demand."

'Muted summer'

According to the CML, the number of new mortgages agreed with home buyers has now risen for four months in a row.

New loans to home buyers rose by 8% in April to 40,900, although this was still 2% lower than in April last year.

The CML said recent Bank of England figures on mortgage approvals suggested new lending would not increase any more in the coming months.

Michael Coogan, the CML's director general, said: "The market continues on a stable footing and the increase in house purchase lending is a good sign that the stability will continue throughout 2011."

"However, the economic outlook, coupled with Bank of England subdued approvals data for April, suggests a muted summer for mortgage completions so we do not expect further increases in lending over the coming months," he added.

There was slight easing in the financial burden on first-time buyers.

In April they had to put down a typical deposit of 20% of their property's value, compared with 21% in both March this year and April last year.

"[The] CML's latest figures cannot paper over the fact that the mortgage market remains stagnant, and it is first-time buyers who are worst affected," said Jonathan Moore, of flatsharing website easyroommate.

"Despite the miniscule increase in the average loan-to-value, would-be buyers are being forced to stump up an average deposit of nearly ?26,000 at a time when living costs are spiralling and rents are at a record high," he added.

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PlayStation strains under restart

16 May 2011 Last updated at 11:18 GMT Sony discovered a breach in the PlayStation Network on 20 April The deluge of gamers trying to get back on to the PlayStation Network has caused problems for Sony.

The recently restored service had to be taken offline again briefly because of the sheer number of users trying to change their passwords.

Sony was forced to close the network a month ago when hackers gained access to members' personal details.

Since then, the Japanese electronic giant has been working to improve its security systems.

Limited service has now been restored in most countries, including the UK and United States.

Users logging on again are asked to reset their passwords. They are then sent an e-mail confirming the new credentials.

Those messages were taking time to reach some players, said a message posted on the Sony PlayStation EU blog, because the high number of resets meant that millions of e-mails were flying around the internet.

The delay was caused by internet service providers (ISPs) "throttling the e-mails" said the message.

Further problems were caused by the huge number of users trying to log on at the same time.

To clear the backlog, the PlayStation Network was turned off for 30 minutes at a time to let admin servers catch up. Sony apologised via Twitter for its struggle to cope with "extremely heavy traffic".

Initially, the only services back online were online gaming, chat and music streaming. Users were still not able to use credit cards to buy games or other content.

The Qriocity film and music services also started to be restored on 15 May in the US and Europe. The restoration of Japanese and Asian services would begin soon, Sony said.

'Aggressive action' Continue reading the main story Iain Mackenzie Technology reporter, BBC News

The news of PlayStation Network's restart will be welcomed by gamers, many of whom were beginning to give up hope of it ever reappearing.

However porous the company's internet security was previously, you can bet it has now seriously beefed-up safeguards.

But that in itself creates a new problem.

There is nothing hackers love more than a challenge, and cracking the PlayStation Network for a second time will almost certainly become one of the holy grails for these electronic invaders.

Sony will be under no illusions that there is such a thing as perfect security, but the mere suggestion that its system has been "fixed" makes it a hostage to fortune.

Another breach would be disastrous for the beleaguered company.

In gaming parlance, Sony has used up all its lives, and the enemy is still at the gates.

The company promised that its "new and additional security measures" would provide users with better protection.

It has been working with a number of external security firms to increased encryption levels and add additional firewalls.

"I'd like to send my sincere apologies for the inconvenience this incident has caused you, and want to thank you for all the kind patience you've shown as we worked through the restoration process," said Kaz Hirai, Sony's executive deputy president.

He added the company was taking "aggressive action" to resolve the security issues and was making "consumer protection a full-time, company-wide commitment".

Sony will also offer users a "welcome back" package of "premium content", including a free game.

The Japanese firm has been facing a barrage of negative publicity over the security breach, which led to the theft of personal data from around 77m accounts.

Many users were upset about the company taking two days to contact the police and almost a week to inform those people affected.

Sony hired outside specialist cyber-security firms to investigate the attack, and earlier this month blamed the online vigilante group Anonymous for indirectly allowing it.

The group has denied being involved in the theft.

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