Gupta’s GFG Alliance took £400m in state-backed Covid loans March 14, 2021 Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta reportedly used now-collapsed bank Greensill Capital to borrow £400m in government-backed loans during the pandemic. Under the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS ), firms are allowed to borrow up to £50m, with 80 per cent of the loan guaranteed by the government. But, the Sunday Times reported, Gupta and [...]
Atom Bank taps investors for cash as it targets IPO February 25, 2021 Digital challenger Atom Bank is looking to raise £40m from existing investors as it targets an IPO in the next few years. The neobank Atom is confident it will move to profitability from its mortgage and business lending “within a year”. The optimism contrasts with its fintech peers which have faced difficulties since the outbreak [...]
Covid: UK bank lending surged £29.3bn since March, surpassing EU March 29, 2021 UK bank lending has surged by eight per cent to keep businesses afloat since the pandemic began, surpassing EU lending, according to a new study by UHY released this morning. Banks have offered around £29.3bn in businesses loans over the past year, as lending in the EU increased by an average of 5.3 per cent. [...]
Exclusive: City of London Police’s asset forfeitures jump by 3,600 per cent as priority shifts to higher-value fraud May 27, 2021 The City of London Police issued Account Freezing Orders and Account Forfeiture Orders against assets worth £36m last year, compared to less than £1m in 2019, a jump of 3,600 per cent, according to research by law firm RPC, exclusively shared with City A.M. this evening. Account Forfeiture and Account Freezing Orders allow authorities to [...]
Rishi Sunak ‘to extend emergency Covid business loan schemes’ December 17, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to extend the UK’s £68bn coronavirus emergency loan schemes to help support businesses hit with the double whammy of Covid and Brexit, according to reports. Officials are drawing up plans to extend the three main loan guarantee schemes, including the government’s £43.5bn coronavirus bounce back loans programme, the Financial Times [...]
Supreme Court decision in the FCA Test Case on BI insurance – what does this mean for SMEs? April 21, 2021 The Supreme Court decision in the FCA Test Case on BI insurance has been widely publicised as a resounding success for businesses. Recently published data collated by the FCA, however, shows that as of 13 April 2021 only 39% of the 35,438 policyholders whose Covid-19 Business Interruption (BI) insurance claims have now been accepted by [...]
Regulator extends mortgage payment holiday ahead of lockdown November 2, 2020 The financial watchdog has proposed an extension of the mortgage payment holiday for borrowers struggling to make payments, ahead of a second national lockdown
British life insurers paid £90m in coronavirus death claims by the end of May August 13, 2020 British life insurers paid £90m in claims for coronavirus deaths in the three months to the end of May, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said today. Insurers received 7,000 life insurance claims from families of people who died from covid-19 and 83 per cent have been paid so far, the ABI said. Every life [...]
On the Beach online sales plummet 85 per cent due to lockdown restrictions February 5, 2021 Online holiday retailer On the Beach remained debt-free despite online sales plummeting 85 per cent in the first quarter due to two lockdowns. Lockdown measures enforced in November and early January drove “very weak” UK travel traffic and bookings, the Group said, with rates down 73 per cent and 83 per cent, respectively. Chief Executive [...]
“You’ve got one job”: Investors wants answer on London Stock Exchange outage October 20, 2023 Investors are looking for a “quick answer” today after the London Stock Exchange was hit by a technical incident which halted trading in hundreds of smaller stocks on Thursday. Normal trading has resumed on the bourse this morning after trading at the smaller end of the market was curbed by the incident yesterday, although bigger [...]