The real world looks much less rosy than the Bank of England’s forecasts May 14, 2014 YESTERDAY’S Inflation Report presented a benign view of UK economic prospects. Economic growth is expected to continue at around 3 per cent or above, double the rate over the recovery so far. Yet sufficient spare capacity remains to prevent a rise in inflation. So interest rates can rise gradually and that can wait until next [...]
Lehman UK will pay back every penny it owes March 4, 2014 THE BRITISH arm of Lehman Brothers is about to pay back everything it owed when it collapsed in September 2008, and even has a surplus of around £5bn, the bank’s administrator said today. Unsecured creditors of Lehman Brothers International Europe will be handed 7.8p in the pound by the end of April, taking the total [...]
City Moves for 17 April 2014 | Who’s switching jobs April 16, 2014 KPMG David Brown has been appointed a non-life actuarial partner in KPMG’s insurance practice. With almost 20 years’ actuarial experience, he joins from Direct Line Group, and will advise clients in the retail general insurance sector. Brown is also a fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. BNP Paribas Investment Partners Cynthia Sweeney Barnes [...]
City Moves for 23 April 2014 | Who’s switching jobs April 22, 2014 HSBC Private Bank Oliver Gregson has been appointed head of private bank investment group, UK and Channel Islands, at HSBC Private Bank. He joins from Barclays Wealth, where he was head of discretionary portfolio management. Gregson has also held roles at UBS and Citi Private Bank. State Street Global Advisors The asset management firm has [...]
Osborne freezes carbon tax March 19, 2014 The chancellor has announced a freeze in the carbon price floor. Carbon will cost £18 per tonne from 2016 for the rest of the decade. Measures in the budget taken to bring down cost of energy amount to £7bn. This will be welcome to energy intensive industries that have been hardest hit by the rising cost [...]
Firms face pay revolt April 24, 2014 TWO MORE large British firms have been hit by showdowns with shareholders, as revolts over executive performance and pay gather pace. With the AGM season hotting up, pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca was last night rocked by figures that showed over half of its shareholder base failing to back the latest remuneration report. Of those who voted, [...]
UK retail sales grow for 12th straight month March 28, 2014 RETAIL sales bounced in February, with the quantity of purchases jumping by 3.7 per cent against the same month last year, marking the 12th month of continuous growth. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the UK economy’s recent upturn has prompted the longest unbroken run of monthly retail sales growth since the end [...]
City Moves for 12 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 11, 2014 MHA MacIntyre Hudson The accounting firm has announced the appointment of Sarah Jarvie as a manager in its restructuring and recovery team. She has over 15 years’ experience, and was most recently at KPMG. PwC The professional services firm has appointed two data analytics partners to its financial services risk and regulation team. Nick Bouch joins [...]
Companies turn away from tax avoidance plans April 14, 2014 THE TAXMAN suspects Britain’s biggest companies of underpaying taxes to the tune of £18.8bn in the last year, though this figure is down 12 per cent on the previous year in a sign that firms are being less aggressive with their financial planning. Figures from HM Revenue & Customs show that suspected underpayments or “tax [...]
Tablet ownership jumps 63pc with ad spend at record high April 8, 2014 One in four Brits now owns a tablet with ownership rocketing by 63 per cent in the last year, according to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau Digital Adspend report, conducted by PwC. Tablet ownership grew year-on-year from 11m to 17.9m in February 2014. Tablets are increasingly dominating how people access the internet, with 57 per [...]