Don’t look down: Check out these vertigo-inducing pictures of Tower Bridge’s new glass walkway November 11, 2014 London is making a habit out of creating buildings that test your head for heights. Today Tower Bridge unveiled a new glass walkway offering a unique view of the 120-year-old bridge and the Thames 42m (138ft) below. The £1m walkway is 11m by 1.8m long. The West Walkway was opened today and [...]
Motor insurer’s IPO could ignite the market September 16, 2015 Hastings’ float is putting the spark back into personal lines THE PERSONAL lines insurance market has been the less sexy relation to its commercial cousins in recent months. Zurich and RSA are dancing around the idea of a union, following the marriage of Aviva and Friends Life, not to mention XL Group’s successful play for [...]
City Moves for 12 June 2015 | Who’s switching jobs June 11, 2015 Standard Chartered Anju Patwardhan has joined the bank in the newly-appointed role of chief innovation officer. Patwardhan will become a member of the Standard Chartered’s technology and operations management group, and will oversee SC Studios, the bank’s innovation outpost in San Francisco. The experienced banker brings more than two decades of international financial services experience. [...]
Stop tinkering: How the City is leading the charge to get London building June 28, 2015 Housing has been the public policy “elephant in the room” for too long. City businesses warn me that high housing costs are reducing London’s competitiveness as a location, colleagues across London councils say that housing features more and more at the top of their agendas, and all the declared candidates in the mayoral election cite [...]
Giving: The City’s secret hobby December 18, 2014 With hundreds of millions given away each year, the financial services industry is one of the most charitable around. On the day they call the Notting Hill Carnival of the City, employees of leading brokerage firm ICAP come into work in fancy dress for an afternoon of trading, with all revenues raised going to charity. [...]
The Barbican: A new book celebrates one of London’s greatest landmarks June 25, 2015 Light and shadow on a clear day at the Barbican. Photograph by Alan Ainsworth Elegant expression of post-war utopianism, or concrete carbuncle in the heart of the City? Whatever you think of the Barbican, it’s impossible to deny its impact. The Grade II-Listed building, developed exclusively from designs by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, was [...]
City Moves for 3 June 2015 | Who’s switching jobs June 2, 2015 Fairstone Group The financial advisory business has appointed Hannah McGivern as marketing manager. She joins from Gardiner Richardson, a creative communications agency, and has also held positions at Bond Dickinson and Newcastle Science City. MSCI Antti Savilaakso has been appointed European head of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) research at the research-based indexes and [...]
How I will demolish the barriers slowing down London’s digital growth June 15, 2015 DIGITAL technology is changing the world, but the pace of change is still breathtaking. In three years, Airbnb amassed as many hotel rooms as the Hilton dynasty did in a century. Ten years ago, Twitter didn’t exist – now it has over 300m users. And Spotify adds over 20,000 tracks to its 30m-strong music library [...]
Ladies who don’t lunch: Lady Barbara Judge talks first impressions and why moderation is boring November 19, 2015 Ping! A reply from Lady Barbara Judge drops in my inbox, exactly 15 minutes after I sent over an email asking her whether she would be available for a “ladies lunch”. “Dear Maike I would be glad to do it. The problem is to find a date. With best regards, Barbara.” Surprised and pleased at [...]
Beer giants AB InBev and SABMiller in takeover talks: The long-awaited superbrew merger starts September 17, 2015 The world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) has set its sights on a takeover of rival SABMiller, which would create a mammoth global brewery worth $275bn (£177bn). Shares in SABMiller shot up by nearly 20 per cent on the news, pushing the FTSE 100 to a one-week high during yesterday’s trading. The [...]