Vaping bars replace travel agents as high street sees drastic revamp March 16, 2015 OUR online shopping habits – and the rise of e-smoking – are changing the face of the high street, a new study out yesterday revealed. In the past year, huge numbers of mobile phone shops, pawnbrokers and cheque-cashing businesses, clothes stores, travel agents and recruitment agencies have closed. In their place vaping bars, parcel packaging [...]
Finance sector upbeat as firms see profit jump March 29, 2015 Financial services firms are full of optimism following three months of surging business volumes and higher profits, a new set of survey data shows today. However, the survey was undertaken prior to the introduction of a bank levy that was announced in the recent Budget. The survey was also blighted by a decline in employment [...]
Don’t let the politicians mess up your pension April 23, 2015 It can often feel like politicians are only there to get in our way. The coming General Election brings with it a host of sizeable risks – whether the threat of damaging new interventions in markets, the prospect of months of confidence-sapping uncertainty over the stability of the next government, or the possibility that a [...]
FTSE 100 women dine with Vince Cable in bid to highlight female representation on boards March 10, 2015 Vince Cable last night welcomed more than 100 women from the business world to a dinner at Lancaster House, in a bid to convince sceptics that top companies are improving the female representation on their boards. The business secretary’s department says the target of having 25 per cent of FTSE 100 board positions held by [...]
Employee wellbeing is as important to the City as the health of its businesses April 26, 2015 In the City, we spend a great deal of time discussing the financial health of our companies and industries, focusing on how it could be improved to ensure their long-term success. Rarely, however, do we pay the same attention to the workers on whose performance that success depends. The City has a unique set of [...]
George Osborne Budget 2015: Here’s everything we already know March 16, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne is busily putting the finishing touches to his final Budget speech for this parliament, and while he's been keen to stress fiscal constraints mean it's going to be rather light on the ground, here's a quick round-up of what people think he'll pull out of the red box tomorrow: "No giveaways, no [...]
Valley of death: How we can close Britain’s dire SME funding gap March 2, 2015 George Osborne should be satisfied with progress in driving forward the British economy, which the OECD applauded last week for its outperformance against other Western countries and its textbook economic reforms. As part of its package of initiatives to ensure momentum is maintained and growth accelerates, the UK government recently announced a new Help to [...]
Quindell share price plummets as it asks for patience as it conducts independent review February 27, 2015 Shares in embattled insurance claims processor Quindell opened 10 per cent lower after it asked for patience from its shareholders while it completes an independent review. The Aim-listed company, whose share price leapt last year before losing 90 per cent of its value, said the review was taking longer than expected because of "the high [...]
City Moves for 27 March 2015 | Who’s switching jobs March 26, 2015 Northern Trust David Burnett has been appointed head of hedge fund services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at the financial services firm. He joined Northern Trust in 2011 as head of relationship management, EMEA. Burnett has also held positions at Omnium and Citadel Investment Group. Salamanca Group The merchant banking and operational [...]
Insurer optimism hit by declining profits January 18, 2015 OPTIMISM among life insurers deteriorated in the final quarter of 2014, as costs rose and profitability declined. According to the latest financial services survey from CBI/PwC, costs are expected to continue to grow and the reduction in profitability is expected to continue. PwC’s Jonathan Howe said: “It is not surprising to see a significant fall [...]