This chart shows what’s changed since since the Bank of England began its quantitative easing programme in 2009 March 4, 2017 Tomorrow is the eighth anniversary of the Bank of England (BoE)'s quantitative easing (QE) programme and of interest rates being cut to the "emergency" level of 0.5 per cent. It also happens to be the deadline for written submission to the treasury select committee's enquiry into the effectiveness and impact of the post-2008 monetary policy. Laith Khalaf, senior [...]
This is how City analysts reacted to RSA’s bumper results February 23, 2017 RSA was pretty chipper this morning about its annual results. Beating consensus expectations, the FTSE 100's share price was one of the index leaders on what was otherwise subdued early trading – it was up over five per cent minutes after the open. RSA 2016 results (£m unless stated) Expectation Actual Net written premiums 6,337 6,408 Underwriting result [...]
A growing gap between what men and women receive in employer pensions contributions is causing a £47,000 shortfall for women February 22, 2017 A gap between the amount men and women receive in employer pensions contributions means there will be a near £47,000 shortfall by the end of a woman's working life. According to the Zurich Workplace Savings Barometer, a mass study of 250,000 pension plans, last year on average, men under the age of 35 received £217 [...]
Hey London renters: Stop complaining – it could be a lot worse February 20, 2017 Tenants in London may be saddled with eye-wateringly expensive rental prices – but it could be a lot worse. Analysis of data for City A.M. by Statista suggests London is only the 11th most expensive place to rent in the world – with renters in San Francisco paying almost twice as much as those in the [...]
This is why a Silicon Valley entrepreneur believes London could produce the next Facebook February 12, 2017 By the time Clara Shih turned 30, she was a Starbucks board member, had raised $21m (£16.7m) for her social media startup and had become a bestselling author. A Stanford and Oxford graduate, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur founded software company Hearsay Social [now Hearsay Systems] in 2009 to make financial giants look slick on social media [...]
Zurich profits up as chief executive’s turnaround plan takes hold February 9, 2017 Profits at Zurich soared as the Swiss insurer cut costs and operating profit at its general insurance segment rose by 182 per cent. The figures Full year net income attributable to shareholders rose 74 per cent to $3.2bn (£2.6bn). Fourth quarter income swung from a loss of $424m in 2015 to a gain of $685m. [...]
RSA inks deal to dispose of £834m of UK legacy insurance liabilities February 8, 2017 RSA announced this morning it has signed contracts to dispose of £834m of UK legacy insurance liabilities to Enstar Group. The FTSE 100-listed insurer said the transaction "initially takes the form of a reinsurance agreement", effective from 31 December 2016. The group also said the deal was a boon to its capital position and added [...]
British Airways ramps up its Greek island routes from London City Airport February 2, 2017 It's only just announced a flurry of new Manchester and Stansted routes. But British Airways hasn't stopped there: it's now ramping up attention on London City Airport, saying it'll be offering nearly two million seats from the Royal Docks-based airport. It has launched a new three times a week service to Greek island Skiathos, making it [...]
How can we get ourselves to save more? Use behavioural economics February 1, 2017 It's a convenient excuse – we all vow to save more when we earn more. A new survey by YouGov for Zurich UK of British adults in work found that more than two fifths (42 per cent) said that earning more would encourage them to save more into a pension. Unfortunately, they rarely actually do [...]
Och, aye: Emoji English, Scottish and Welsh flags could be released in the next six months January 27, 2017 Smartphone fans in three UK countries are about to get more specific about their patriotism, after the body which decides on emojis declared it will add the English, Scottish and Welsh flags to its ranks. At a meeting of the Unicode Technical Committee, members – including representatives from Google and Apple -voted to add England, Scotland and [...]