First impressions from this week’s Google hardware event, which revealed the Pixel 3, Pixel Slate and Google Home Hub October 10, 2018 At this week’s Google event, the search giant opened with a rather sheepish admission, following comprehensive leaks of its latest flagship Pixel phones. “We hope you agree that we’re better at making hardware than keeping secrets.” But while the physical aspects of the new Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL phones were already known about [...]
Wonga goes under: Controversial payday lender placed into administration August 30, 2018 Controversial payday lender Wonga has filed for administration, after a barrage of compensation claims pushed it over the edge. Grant Thornton will be appointed as administrator of the stricken lender's UK operations tomorrow. The collapse threatens the jobs of around 250 UK employees in the firm's London Bridge headquarters. The firm's operations in South Africa, [...]
MateBook 13 review: An great value ultrabook that rivals Apple’s MacBook Air April 3, 2019 Last year’s Huawei Matebook X Pro marked the Chinese firm’s hard-won graduation from “oh, they do laptops too?” to producing a best-in-class device that comfortably squares up to Apple’s MacBook Pro in performance, build quality and minimalist design aesthetic, while roundly beating it on price. If you wanted your Windows 10 cornflakes served in a [...]
Lloyds share price rises after profits increase: Here’s how the analysts reacted February 21, 2018 Lloyds Banking Group today bombarded investors with a rise in profits which nevertheless missed estimates, a £1bn share buyback, and a £3bn investment programme as it unveiled its new three-year strategy. Shares rose by two per cent at the time of writing. Read more: Lloyds profits jump despite increased PPI bill Read more: Lloyds announces [...]
Deborah Meaden and Martin Lewis among celebrity names used by cryptocurrency scammers April 13, 2018 Fraudsters are using celebrities’ names to add a touch of legitimacy to cryptocurrency scams. Dargon’s Den star Deborah Meaden and MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis are among the fake endorsements used by scammers to extort £34,000 from victims last month alone. Action Fraud said that it received 21 reports of cryptocurrency scams in March, and warned [...]
Hedge fund Caius Capital reports Unicredit for allegedly breaking European banking rules by misclassifying capital May 8, 2018 A hedge fund has reported Italian bank Unicredit to the European Banking Authority, alleging that it has misclassified a massive near-€3bn (£2.6bn) chunk of its capital. International and EU standards require that all banks must hold some “common equity tier one” (CET1) capital, such as common shares and retained earnings, to protect them and help [...]
Pixel 3 review: Google’s flagship returns with an improved camera, better software, and the notch to end all notches October 17, 2018 In the 1995 film Casper, there existed a machine that could give ghosts corporeal form, turning them from translucent, intangible spectres into real, physical beings. In much the same way, Google’s range of Pixel phones gives the company’s far-reaching software a hard, phone-shaped body in which to exist. To put it in even more 90s [...]
It’s official: This is the deadline if you want to make a PPI complaint March 2, 2017 After years of nuisance phonecalls and bankers' misery, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has finally set a deadline for complains over payment protection insurance (PPI). The FCA said today all complaints must be lodged by 29 August 2019 – several months later than previously hoped. Although this isn't the end of PPI: the regulator said [...]
Last Week in the City: Trade fears re-emerge August 3, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (30 July to 3 August 2018). Interest rates were raised in the UK for the second time since the financial crisis, but the move was widely expected. The earnings season continued. Growth in all regions was [...]
Lloyds Banking Group kicks off £1bn share buyback programme March 8, 2018 Lloyds Banking Group this morning launched its £1bn share buyback programme, unveiled at its full-year results last month. The bank said it had entered into an agreement with UBS to carry out the share buyback programme on its behalf – and to make trading decisions under the programme independently. The programme starts today and will [...]