Which London business pays the highest business rates? Harrods, Citigroup and HSBC- but it’s not as much as the government’s Home Office bill January 16, 2015 Harrods is paying the biggest business rates bill of any business in London while five banks are in the list of top 10 highest payers thanks to their Canary Wharf based UK headquarters. The Knightsbridge retailer is paying £12.04m for it's in-demand and high-end location while fellow luxury store Selfridges is also paying the seventh largest [...]
Facebook will be scrutinised by MPs over corporation tax October 12, 2015 Members of an influential parliamentary committee will be looking into Facebook, after it was revealed that the social media giant paid just £4,327 in corporation tax last year. Meg Hillier, the MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch who recently took the reins of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has confirmed that backbenchers on the committee will talk [...]
Best of the Brokers for 14 September 2015 September 13, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com Shore Capital said the year to June 2015 won’t be remembered as vintage. However there were some rays of light in the second half, thanks to the investment manager’s decision to add risk in the face of some severe price dislocations in late [...]
FTSE 100 index opens down on G4S, Rolls-Royce and Glencore November 13, 2015 The FTSE 100 opened marginally lower this morning, led by falls in G4S and Rolls-Royce, while miners regained some ground. The UK's top blue-chip index was down 0.32 per cent at 6,158 points, led by security company G4S, which opened 3.18 per cent down at 228.9p per share after it was downgraded by a broker. "G4S [...]
Markets can help end discrimination – but name-blind recruitment would help November 3, 2015 The Prime Minister recently announced that the civil service will introduce name-blind recruitment. When people apply for public sector jobs, their name will not appear on the documents sent to the appointment panel. Major organisations such as HSBC, KPMG, the BBC and the NHS are following suit. Economists have produced a substantial body of evidence [...]
Bank of England and PRA’s new ring-fencing rules “could cost banks five per cent” of their operating budget October 15, 2015 The Bank of England has today laid out further details about how Britain's biggest banks will have to restructure in order to comply with so-called ring-fencing regulations. From 2019, banks with core deposits greater than £25bn will have to separate their retail activities from the riskier parts of the business. The requirements were first set out in the Financial Services [...]
UK small business prospects are looking up as growth doubles in 2015 September 23, 2015 Owners of small businesses in the UK are feeling more optimistic about the future, new figures show. A survey of 500 small firms across the nation for the American Express' Small Business Barometer found that 88 per cent had grown revenues so far this year – up from 43 per cent last year. [...]
Nationwide attacks bank surcharge, accusing George Osborne of targeting building societies August 18, 2015 Britain’s second largest mortgage lender has said chancellor George Osborne’s new bank tax will cost it £300m over the next five years. The move by Osborne to replace the bank levy with a surcharge will “disproportionately” hit building societies, Nationwide chief executive has Graham Beale said. Osborne announced in the July Budget that the annual [...]
HSBC fires foreign exchange executive Stuart Scott following fines for market rigging December 10, 2014 HSBC has dismissed a top foreign exchange trading executive following the £389m fine it received from US and UK regulators over market manipulation. Stuart Scott, head of forex trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), was let go on Tuesday according to reports. HSBC’s Forex trading division has cost the bank [...]
Barclays boss John McFarlane to join Treasury financial services board July 19, 2015 John McFarlane, executive chairman of Barclays, is set to join the Treasury’s Financial Services Trade and Investment Board (FSTIB) as an external member today. The FSTIB was set up to identify opportunities for growth across the UK financial sector. McFarlane, who has been nicknamed “Mack the Knife”, played a pivotal role in the recent high-profile [...]