A big year, but it won’t Trump 2016’s shocks January 6, 2017 2016's events made fools of most pundits, and looking back at my column exactly a year ago, I fared little better. True, I correctly said that Santander UK would re-engage in an effort to buy Royal Bank of Scotland's Williams & Glyn unit, but I was well wide of the mark arguing that the FTSE-100 [...]
The leisure sector has grown to £117bn as Britons are spending their money on experiences rather than products July 4, 2016 Britons are increasingly spending their time and money on experiences rather than shopping, according to research from Deloitte. Spending on leisure activities such as going out for meals, holidays and TV streaming services is growing nearly twice as fast as the retail sector. The industry as a whole is now worth £117bn and since 2010 has grown [...]
Internet of Things not so clever as scepticism holds back the rise of smart homes July 19, 2016 Households are failing to put their money where their mouth – or their food – is when it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT), a new survey into connected devices from consultants Deloitte has found. While two-thirds of UK consumers said they believed IoT gadgets could make their lives better, only half of us [...]
Bank of England hires Deloitte to lead review into payment systems and Chaps crash October 15, 2015 Remember when the Bank of England's Chaps payment system crashed, causing chaos across the system when large money transfers were suspended? More than a month on, the Bank of England has got around to appointing someone to find out what happened. The winner of that dubious accolade: Deloitte. A problem with the Bank's Real-Time Gross [...]
A quarter of business services jobs are at risk from robots July 12, 2016 First, the bad news…. a quarter of all jobs in the business services sector are at risk from being taken over by robots. Automation of jobs is likely to make at least 800,000 jobs in the sector obsolete, but as many as one million could be at risk over the next 20 years, according to Deloitte. [...]
“I am not in control of the process”: Philip Green denies trying to blackmail the Pensions Regulator over the BHS Pension scheme September 9, 2016 Sir Philip Green has hit back at allegations he has tried to blackmail The Pensions Regulator in his ongoing negotiations over BHS' pension deficit. The retail tycoon – who sold BHS to serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell for £1 – said he was "not in control of the process". He said: There have also been suggestions [...]
City Moves for 13 October 2016 | Who’s switching jobs October 13, 2016 GLAS GLAS, the leading independent provider of finance administration services, has appointed Joe Knight to spearhead the expansion of the firm’s direct lending platform. Joe will have responsibility for business development and developing strategic relationships with GLAS’ existing direct lending client base. The move comes as funds increasingly replace banks in the lower to middle [...]
London in line for new Internet of Things hubs September 20, 2016 The so-called Internet of Things (IoT) scene in London is set to get a boost from the government. The Innovate UK-funded Digital Catapult – set up to help small businesses grow their digital capabilities – is rolling out 50 IoT hubs around the capital, called the Digital Catapult Things Connected programme. Businesses will be able [...]
Do you work for one of the UK’s 25 most attractive employers? June 21, 2016 It's causing fevered debate in offices. Politicians are clashing over it. The cats of social media are up in arms about it. Yep, LinkedIn's list of the UK's top 25 most sought-after employers is out – and the good news is that City institutions are faring pretty well. The list, based on analysis of the site's 20m members, [...]
City Moves for 18 October 2016 | Who’s switching jobs October 18, 2016 Saffery Champness Accountancy firm Saffery Champness has recruited Dermot Callinan as a partner in its Harrogate office. He joins from KPMG, where he recently served as head of the UK private client advisory team. Dermot is a specialist in domestic and international personal taxation and his clients include wealthy individuals (both UK and non-UK domiciled), [...]