China’s house sector to slow May 21, 2014 THE CHINESE property market was downgraded by credit ratings agency Moody’s yesterday, with the group now expecting a “significant slowdown”. The group cut their view of the sector from stable to negative. While Moody’s still expect some growth in property sales, of up to five per cent, the expansion is a major drop from the 26.6 per [...]
City Moves for 15 July 2014 | Who’s switching jobs July 14, 2014 Quindell David Currie has been appointed non-executive director at the software, consultancy and technology-enabled outsourcing provider. He recently established Codex Capital Partners, and is a former head of Investec Bank’s investment banking division. PwC Mark Pugh has been appointed asset management leader in the UK at the professional services firm. He has been an assurance [...]
David Cameron pledges to end London domination July 7, 2014 Prime Minister David Cameron joined the herd of politicians criticising the country’s reliance on London yesterday, even as official figures demonstrated the long-term increase in the capital city’s value to the economy. “For too long our economy has been too London-focused and too centralised,” Cameron said, launching the first part of a £12bn investment programme [...]
Sport Comment: Cycling’s boom makes need for planning urgent July 6, 2014 THE BRITISH sporting landscape is changing fast. There will be a surge, albeit a limited one, in usage of public tennis courts for the next few days, sparked by events at SW19 over the past fortnight. A few more people are kicking a football around on summer evenings imagining they are on the Copacabana. Office [...]
What you need to know before the US open June 3, 2014 A lower open is expected for European markets this morning, as investors look towards inflation and unemployment numbers for the Eurozone. The prospect of new intervention from the European Central Bank, expected to be announced at its policy meeting this week, has been buoying market confidence. Asian counterparts moved higher in trading today, on the [...]
London house prices surging June 17, 2014 LONDON house prices jumped by 18.7 per cent in the year to April, nearly three times as fast as the rate in the rest of the country and the most rapid increase since mid-2007. The capital’s house prices are now nearly one third higher than they were before the financial crisis, up 31 per cent [...]
Average London house price hits £362,000 April 2, 2014 House prices in March grew by 0.4 per cent, a slower rate than in previous months, according to the Nationwide building society. House prices are now 9.5 per cent higher than they were at the same point last year. London house prices are up 18 per cent compared to March 2013. However, Nationwide said "there are [...]
Why free bank accounts will have to go to spur competition in banking July 21, 2014 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is consulting on its provisional decision to launch a formal investigation into UK banks. In other words, the CMA wants to increase competition in banking to better meet the needs of consumers. And alongside other issues, it is concerned that the Big Four banks have a 77 per cent [...]
How busy lifestyles stop us saving June 19, 2014 While you're rushing around and living your hectic life, your bank account is almost certainly suffering according to a new study by Nationwide. Called the Psychology of Saving, it looked at the saving habits of adults across the UK and found that as many as four in 10 do not have any dedicated savings account, [...]
London Report: Economic data to confirm rapid growth this year June 23, 2014 FIGURES released this week are expected to confirm that the economy grew at the fastest rate in nearly four years in the first quarter of 2014. Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, due out on Friday, will give the third estimate of output, and is expected to increase its original 0.8 per cent reading for [...]