Impending tax increase sparks buy-to-let rush – Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors January 21, 2016 A higher tax rate on house purchases due to start in April has caused a surge in demand from buy-to-let investors, new figures show this morning. From April, buy-to-let investors will have to pay three per cent more in stamp duty land tax (SDLT) than residential buyers. In December, 10 per cent more chartered surveyors in [...]
Foreign graduates are helping to fill the skills gap in the UK’s financial sector February 22, 2016 The UK's financial sector is relying heavily on graduates from abroad to plug skills gaps in, according to new research published this morning. Foreign university graduates make up 28 per cent of the current graduate pool who have been working in finance for less than four years, salary bench-marking site Emolument said. For compliance workers the [...]
City Moves for 15 January 2016 | Who’s switching jobs January 15, 2016 LendInvest Online lender for short-term property finance LendInvest has appointed Ruth Pearson as its first in-house legal counsel. Ruth joins LendInvest from Simmons & Simmons where she was a managing associate in the banking team. She joined Simmons & Simmons as a trainee in 2007 and qualified in 2009. During her eight years in private [...]
First-time buyers who purchase a house this year will have already spent £52,900 on rent – or the deposit on a £1m house February 12, 2016 Those who are about to step on to the property ladder this year will have already cashed out £52,900 on rent, according to new research – more than you would spend on a five per cent deposit on a £1m house. And the figures published by the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (Arla) show that [...]
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn insists that Labour and British businesses are “natural allies” while slamming the City of London March 3, 2016 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has used his first major speech to a business audience since taking the reins of the Labour party last year to insist that his party and British businesses are "natural allies". "In the twenty-first century the role of government is to understand these connections and make policy to fit," Corbyn said in a speech at the [...]
Ladies who don’t lunch: Maike Currie talks to Christine Johnson about bonds, bubbles and being a rebel July 14, 2016 "I am definitely a bond person,” says Christine Johnson, head of fixed income at Old Mutual Global Investors. We’re having lunch at Spring restaurant in Somerset House and I am beginning to understand what Christine means when she says that as a fund manager you need to “live your job”. She likens her personality to [...]
EasyFood store re-opens in London after crowds of shoppers forced its closure two days after launch – but this time with bouncers February 8, 2016 The first EasyFood store has re-opened in north west London after being swamped by customers – but this time there’s security. The low-cost supermarket, which is selling every product for 25p throughout February, was forced to shut just two days after opening in Park Royal last week. Eager bargain hunters had cleared the shelves of [...]
The craft behind the costumes at Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House March 1, 2016 Bloodied disembodied arms hang from the walls of an otherwise pristine workroom in Essex, where students – their focused expressions lit up by as many Macbook Pros – largely ignore the gruesome debris in their midst. “Oh, that’s Napoleon Blown-apart,” the teacher says. “It’s a project we were working on where we got the students [...]
FTSE 100 index rallies after Asian markets as the share prices of Reckitt Benckiser and IAG rise February 15, 2016 The FTSE 100 index shot higher today after a rally on most Asian stock markets, despite poor trade data coming out of China. The UK's blue-chip index rose 2.26 per cent to 5,836 points in early afternoon trading, led higher by Reckitt Benckiser and British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG). "No severe sell-off in Chinese markets after a [...]
Winner of City Airport auction set to be named February 21, 2016 The sale of City Airport to one of four groups of bidders could be announced as soon as this week. Four groups of bidders are currently in the race to secure the east London airport, which has an expected price tag of over £2bn. A pension fund consortium that includes PSP Investments, money manager for [...]