Virgin Money announces two new appointments to senior executive team, with Peter Bole to join as chief financial officer and Hugh Chater to take on the role of chief commercial officer January 12, 2016 Challenger bank Virgin Money has appointed former Tesco Bank finance chief Peter Bole as its new chief financial officer. In a statement today, the bank said he will join in 2017. Read more: Virgin Money replaces KPMG with PwC as auditors Glen Moreno, chairman of Virgin Money, said Bole is "an accomplished professional with first-class strategic financial management experience. "I [...]
UK weather: Storm Desmond’s cost to insurers creeps up to a possible £325m, far outstripping the costs of 2009 floods, as bad weather threatens further damage December 8, 2015 The predicted cost to insurers of Storm Desmond has crept up, as continued bad weather threatens to cause even greater damage. Professional services firm PwC, which yesterday estimated that the insurance costs would be between £175m and £250m, today suggested insurers could find themselves paying out between £250m and £325m. “Clearly these are initial estimates as [...]
Industry 4.0: How disruptive technology can rescue British manufacturing April 7, 2016 Industry 4.0 is revolutionising the way international manufacturers and construction companies approach business, but the UK has a long way to go if its industry is to keep pace with its European rivals. This new world is based on digitisation, which blurs the line between the virtual and the physical. Connected products and “smart” machines [...]
London house prices: Londoners need a 266 per cent pay rise to be able to afford a property in the capital February 23, 2016 Londoners need a 266 per cent pay rise to be able to afford a mortgage on a home in the capital, a leading industry body has claimed, painting a bleak picture for prospective buyers. The National Housing Federation (NHF), which represents affordable housing providers, said the average London home now costs £526,085 – more than [...]
UK pensions: Shift to a flat rate of pension tax relief would cause a retirement crisis for millions in the squeezed middle February 14, 2016 A move to a flat rate of pensions tax relief would adversely affect savers in the squeezed middle who are paying at the higher rate tax bracket, causing a retirement crisis by discouraging them from saving, a pensions consultancy has today warned. "A move to a flat rate of tax relief redistributes tax relief away from additional rate taxpayers, [...]
Phones 4U creditors to receive up to 24p in the pound says PwC April 14, 2015 Collapsed mobile phone retailer Phones 4U will return up to 20-24p in the pound to senior creditors, but suppliers and the taxman will get relatively little from the administration. PwC, which was appointed administrator in September last year, said super senior noteholders – typically hedge funds and other asset managers – will receive nearly [...]
As annual house price growth rises to 9.7 per cent, should the Bank of England hike rates to rein in housing costs? February 5, 2016 Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser to PwC and a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, says Yes. High house price inflation is one sign of the financial imbalances which are building up in the UK economy on the back of very low interest rates, which also risk fuelling a new wave of [...]
Looming EU referendum is slowing M&A activity – and a Brexit could make UK less attractive for deals March 4, 2016 The looming EU referendum is slowing M&A activity – and a Brexit could make the country "less attractive", experts have warned. Last year, there were record levels of global activity in M&A, with an estimated $4.78 trillion worth of deals announced. But despite high-profile activity around Home Retail Group and the London Stock Exchange, Clifford Chance corporate partner Patrick [...]
Why the true impact of Brexit on the economy is dramatically less certain than economists claim June 2, 2016 Received wisdom is that, to understand the economics of Britain’s relationship with the EU, one needs to either look forward (with so-called CGE or computable general equilibrium models) or backward (with so-called gravity and/or synthetic counterfactual models). Unfortunately, there are serious problems with both. CGE models try to simulate the future, but that future depends [...]
Companies flock to London to float on stock market after its bumper year of IPOs December 11, 2015 Companies have been coming to London in droves to bring their companies to market, according to accountants at PwC. London’s stock market was found to be the most active exchange in Europe in 2015, with just over £11.5bn raised through 84 initial public offerings (IPOs). London also became home to three of the biggest IPOs of [...]