Galloper’s £1.5bn wind farm off Suffolk coast gets green light October 30, 2015 German utilities giant RWE has been given the go-ahead to build a £1.5bn wind farm off the coast of Suffolk, creating nearly 800 jobs, after it found three partners to back the project. The Galloper wind farm’s future was jeopardised when electricity and gas supplier SSE shelved plans to invest in it, citing concerns over the viability of the UK's offshore [...]
Bump in the road: What does platform failure mean for investors? November 12, 2015 The peer-to-peer industry suffered a platform failure last month, in the full glare of media attention. Back in 2011, P2P platform Quakle failed. This time around, it was Sweden-based TrustBuddy, which was shut down by the Swedish regulator, with lenders’ money frozen. The reasons for the failure of these platforms have been widely reported. [...]
UK house prices: Persimmon share price falls despite jump in sales November 4, 2015 Are housebuilders finally feeling the heat? FTSE-listed builder Persimmon reported a 12 per cent sales hike in the third quarter this morning – but shares continued to slide after the sector had a spot of bother with a broker yesterday. The figures Sales were 12 per cent higher in the period since it reported its half year results on [...]
Croydon Tech City: What 2016 means for the Silicon Valley of South London as it attracts new startups and invests in skills January 8, 2016 As we enter into 2016, this year will be the fourth for the Croydon Tech City project which has grown into a formal organisation and movement of over a thousand entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and software developers. In that time, the borough has experienced a 38 per cent growth in tech, digital and creative startup activity [...]
Fraud damages our competitiveness: There must be no darkened corners in the City February 15, 2016 "Fraud shames our financial system” said the home secretary Theresa May last week, as she launched the Joint Fraud Taskforce, which aims to clamp down on the volume of fraud we face. I was very glad to host the launch at Mansion House, because our government, regulators and law enforcers should know that they have [...]
Will the blockchain turn your washing machine into a philanthropist? December 16, 2015 The blockchain, the hyped technology that digital currencies like bitcoin build upon, is already changing the way banks work. Now it could be about to change how charities raise money. The distributed ledger technology is set to revolutionise how we give money to our favourite charities, argues the Charities Aid Foundation in a new report [...]
What to expect Mark Carney to be grilled about by the House of Lords today – from Brexit to current account, inflation and Panama Papers April 19, 2016 The most watched man in Threadneedle Street will trundle over to SW1 today to face his annual grilling from the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee. That’s right, the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, will be up against 13 of the Lords’ sharpest minds, all desperate to peer into the soul of [...]
Why London doesn’t need tech unicorns October 28, 2015 It’s no secret that the last few years have seen an enormous influx of venture capital flowing into the tech sector, but 2014 set new records. While this may be less surprising across the pond, funding for European tech companies actually grew faster than any other region globally, increasing 78 per cent last year according [...]
Alternative finance can unlock the potential of small developers to tackle Britain’s housing crisis January 13, 2016 Hearing that the Prime Minister plans to open up public sector land for small-scale developments was a great way to start the year. Gaining access to land is a major hurdle that keeps too many small property development companies out of the market. All initiatives to correct that should be welcomed. Yet lack of land [...]
M&A boom set to continue with UK companies looking to China, the US and Eurozone countries for mergers and acquisitions November 2, 2015 The recent wave of mergers and acquisitions looks set to continue, as UK companies capitalise on the economic recovery and set their sights on acquiring foreign companies. Moving away from slowing emerging markets, UK companies are turning to developed countries to shop for acquisitions in an attempt to stimulate growth, and tackle the challenge of [...]