President Barack Obama antagonises Republicans as he unveils ambitious clean power plan August 3, 2015 Framing climate change as one of the most pressing challenge the world faces, President Barack Obama has unveiled what he called “the single most important step America has ever taken in the fight against global climate change.” The goal of the plan, which has been two years in the making, is to cut greenhouse gas [...]
Cash is no king: But there are some high interest paying current accounts November 19, 2015 With the UK’s low-interest rate environment likely to continue well into next year, few would claim that cash is king. But at a time of meagre bond yields and volatility in equity markets, cash is no pretender either. The attractiveness of easy-access accounts has weakened in recent years, with most providers offering less than 1.5 [...]
Government sells off more Lloyd shares, taking its stake below 14 per cent August 3, 2015 The government has sold off another one per cent of its shares in bailed-out bank Lloyds, taking the taxpayer's stake below 14 per cent. The latest sale means so far it's raised nearly £14bn for the Treasury's coffers through a trickle of share sales, which were initially announced in December. "It’s fantastic news that we’ve sold [...]
P2P lender Zopa has a new chief executive Jaidev Janardana as Giles Andrews steps aside August 30, 2015 Peer-to-peer (P2P) lender Zopa has announced that former chief financial officer Jaidev Janardana has been promoted to the top spot with immediate effect. Janardana will implement the lenders strategy for its next phase of growth, as it targets £1bn in new loans for 2016, and aims to build a brand that becomes a mainstream service for [...]
Northern Powerhouse: Foreign investors already know there are better opportunities in the North of England – now it’s time for Londoners to wake up to reality September 3, 2015 Any wise investor, entrepreneur or business leader knows that along with good ideas, capital constitutes the building blocks of economic growth. This means, of course, that an area needs plenty of financial capital to progress. But there are many different types of capital, and in the UK over the last 40 years there has [...]
John McDonnell at the Labour Party Conference 2015: Here’s what businesses think September 28, 2015 Newly-appointed John McDonnell made his conference debut as shadow chancellor today – and despite promises of a "stultifyingly boring" speech, it actually turned out to be pretty punchy, with attacks on big business and buy-to-let landlords, as well as a hint that the Bank of England's mandate might be up for discussion. But what did business [...]
Chinese stock market crash 2015: Capitalism is not in crisis – but China’s phoney model is August 25, 2015 There's nothing quite like a bout of market volatility to prompt a round of gleeful crowing from the usual suspects that “capitalism is in crisis”. This rather seems to miss the point that failures and successes, winners and losers are all essential and necessary components of an effectively functioning free market. What the [...]
India isn’t the new China – but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s UK visit is worth exploiting November 11, 2015 In 2010, David Cameron chose Bangalore for one of his first transcontinental visits as Prime Minister, promising that taking the economic relationship between India and Britain “to the next level” was a political priority. Since then, bilateral trade, investment and banking have shrunk relative to the size of the two countries’ economies. Both nations have [...]
The rental revolution: changes in the private rented sector June 25, 2015 The UK’s rental market is undergoing a transformation as it continues to grow New investors including pension funds Legal & General and M&G are entering the sector, promising to add scale through major new apartment developments. And the government is backing the private rented sector as a key provider of new homes. Alongside UK developers [...]
The City remain top dog for charitable activity December 17, 2015 Lord Mountevans, Lord Mayor of the City of London, on the City’s charitable highlights The year is drawing to a close and for the City, it has been a fantastic year for charitable outreach. In addition to promoting the City as a global centre for financial and professional services, I will be picking up the baton from my [...]