Tower Hamlets is broken: How City philanthropists can put it back together June 10, 2015 Tower Hamlets goes to the polls today to elect a new mayor. Whoever takes charge from Friday will inherit a rotten borough, hollowed out by the behaviour of the previous administration. Former mayor Lutfur Rahman was kicked out of office in April after an electoral court found him guilty of electoral fraud. The bitter irony [...]
Apple Pay in the UK: These are the retailers and restaurants signed up for the July launch June 9, 2015 Some of the UK's biggest retailers are lining up to start accepting Apple Pay when it launches in the UK next month. As well as being able to use your iPhone or Apple Watch to seamlessly glide through ticket barriers on the Tube, the Silicon Valley giant has its finger hovering over the button [...]
City Moves for 26 May 2015 | Who’s switching jobs May 25, 2015 Waverton Investment Management Andrew Fleming has been appointed chief executive of the investment management firm. He was most recently chief executive of Cumulus Group and, prior to that, chief executive and chief investment officer of Aegon Asset Management. He began his career at Gartmore Investment Management, before joining ABN Amro. EY The professional services firm [...]
Former financiers have mixed political fortunes May 10, 2015 THE CITY’S alumni were well-represented in the General Election, with varying fortunes. Chis Chope – a former Ernst & Young consultant – kept the Christchurch Conservative safe seat he has held since 1997 and Sajid Javid – a former high flyer at Chase Manhattan Bank and Deutsche Bank – is tipped for a cabinet promotion [...]
RBS is failing to win over its customers around the UK April 30, 2015 RBS's share price fell this morning after revealing it had earmarked a further £446m for anticipated forex costs. But that's not the only problem facing the bank. It's really struggling to shake off its image and is failing to win customers around pretty much across the board. The bank has set itself the [...]
RBS spin-off Williams & Glyn loses chief executive John Maltby ahead of IPO April 28, 2015 Williams & Glyn, the challenger bank being carved out from RBS as a condition of the latter's bailout during the financial crisis, has lost its chief executive before it has even launched. John Maltby will be replaced by Jim Brown, currently chief executive of Ulster Bank. Maltby will take up his former role [...]
Bank holiday cancelled: RBS branches stay open on Monday April 27, 2015 Bank holidays could soon be a relic of a bygone age of short opening hours and inconvenient service, as RBS plans to open dozens of branches this Monday. As internet and mobile banking have taken off, branch use has plummeted, prompting banks to try to make access to their expensive high street sites more convenient. [...]
Rugby club Wasps to raise £35m in retail bond offering April 27, 2015 Rugby club Wasps is raising up to £35m of debt in a retail bond offer, hoping to tap up fans with a payout of 6.5 per cent on the debt instruments. It is pitching the paper as a safe investment, on the basis that the vast majority of its income is in fact not [...]
Banks forced to compete hard for current accounts April 22, 2015 Britons have been shaken out of their traditional apathy towards their banks, as the switching scheme has successfully encouraged them to shop around, new data shows today. The seven-day switching service was used by 1.14m people to change current accounts, the Payments Council said, up seven per cent on the year. And the proportion who [...]
Ros Altmann: The savers’ champion talks pension reform, QE, and the pension annuities bombshell March 26, 2015 "I was gobsmacked.” Ros Altmann summarises her reaction to the Budget last year, when the chancellor first outlined his dramatic plans to bring pension freedoms to all. On the afternoon of that Budget day, Altmann, a pensions expert and campaigner, adviser to successive governments, and investment manager and economist, could barely contain her excitement when [...]