Thousands walk out over pay and pensions July 10, 2014 THOUSANDS of public sector workers across the country walked out on strike yesterday in dispute over pay and pensions. In the capital, teachers, firefighters and other public sector staff marched on Trafalgar Square. Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude thanked staff who did not walk out, adding that estimates suggest half a million people did.
Wall Street-backed insurers and L&G buy out captains’ pensions July 10, 2014 Nearly 40,000 pensioners from the shipping industry have been insured by a Goldman Sachs and Blackstone-backed life company and Legal & General for £1.3bn. Rothesay Life, which is owned by the Wall Street giants, and the UK insurer have bought out members of the Merchant Navy Officers’ Pension Fund, which was founded in 1938 to [...]
Rising UK house prices give pensioners a boost July 8, 2014 Soaring house prices and the strong pound have boosted UK pensioners’ standard of living at home and abroad, a raft of new data showed yesterday. For expats living in the Eurozone, the basic pension increased by nearly 10 per cent in the past year, according to an analysis by Prudential. The strengthening pound pushed expats’ [...]
Which were the best and worst investments of 2014? December 22, 2014 This year low interest rates have seen investors who bet on traditional investments receive returns tantamount to chickenfeed. Perhaps we should have given up before we'd all even started? Perhaps not. Investors who plumped for chocolate, property, the US dollar and Aim-listed company Fitbug would have watched as their money practically grew on trees. Conversely, [...]
Contactless Tube payment: Just the latest advance in the UK banking revolution September 15, 2014 You could be forgiven for thinking that London’s trams might be an unlikely place to find cutting edge technology. But from today, this iconic and characterful mode of public transport – along with our more conventional Tube stations and buses – are offering technology that allows you to pay your way with just a flash [...]
Crowdfunding: Beware the celebrities offering investors strange deals September 14, 2014 I am a great fan of crowdfunding – it really is a cheap way of using modern technology to enable investors, including very small ones, to invest in all manner of things. So what can go wrong? Well, the regulators can stop it as effectively as they have made share offers to the public so [...]
Lender IPF is on track October 23, 2013 Emerging markets lender International Personal Finance said yesterday its customer numbers had topped 2.5m, helping it increase third-quarter profit by 19 per cent. The London-listed company, which lends to customers across eastern Europe and Mexico, said its pre-tax profit rose to £32.5m with customer numbers up four per cent during the period.
HP preparing to sue Autonomy chief for fraud August 4, 2014 Former Autonomy finance chief Sushovan Hussain and Autonomy founder and chief executive Mike Lynch will face legal action from HP, in relation to its ill-fated acquisition of Autonomy for $11.1bn (£6.6bn) in 2011. HP’s shareholders initially sued the computer giant over its $8.8bn write down on Autonomy, made just a year after the deal closed. [...]
Pensions body opposes Sports Direct pay plan June 30, 2014 SPORTS Direct faced further calls yesterday to withdraw its proposed bonus scheme to reward its founder Mike Ashley, ahead of a planned shareholder meeting tomorrow. Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) said it had urged its members to vote against the 2015 bonus share scheme, joining similar calls from the Association of British Insurers and [...]
BNP Paribas set to be given six months’ grace before suspension June 30, 2014 BNP Paribas has negotiated terms to water down the record $8.9bn (£5.2bn) fine it is expected to be handed today for alleged sanctions violations in the US. France’s biggest bank has won a six-month stay of execution on its suspension from clearing US dollar transactions, according to the Financial Times. That would give it until [...]