Mark Carney on interest rate rises, Eurozone weakness and the 2015 general election October 13, 2014 Is Bank of England governor Mark Carney on a media blitz? He’s already taken the opportunity to tell bank chiefs to face up to new laws which make them legally responsible for any wrongdoing. And, while attending the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, he’s also given interviews to CNBC and CNN making clear that eurozone weakness and [...]
Lloyd’s sells €1.1bn of bad bank to Lone Star October 15, 2014 Lloyds has jettisoned €1.1bn (£883m) of bad bank. Lloyds Banking Group, which is partly owned by the UK government, has sold its Irish residential home loans to Lone Star, a US private equity group. Lloyds's Irish operation was heavily loss-making and, according to the FT, had £13.4bn of Irish loans left in its [...]
HSBC share price falls despite revealing lower-than-expected forex provision November 3, 2014 Shares in HSBC Holdings fell this morning after it revealed it has earmarked $378m (£236m) in provisions for the FCA's probe into its involvement in the foreign exchange scandal, lower than the £400m expected. The provision is the smallest sum announced by a bank so far. The group, which this morning posted pre-tax profits [...]
TaskRabbit founder Leah Busque talks dog food and London’s penchant for gardening February 1, 2015 While most of us spent good chunks of our childhood playing shops or doctors, Leah Busque was busy heading up Pollution Solutions. “Really, it was just an excuse to boss around my little sister and cousins,” laughs Busque, who is the founder of TaskRabbit, one of the first sharing economy platforms. Pollution Solutions was Busque’s [...]
ECB timeline: January 18, 2015 Why is Germany worried about peripheral Eurozone countries reneging on their promises to reform. December 2008: EU leaders agree on a €200bn stimulus plan to help boost European growth following the global financial crisis. December 2009: Greece admits that its debts have reached €300bn while prime minister George Papandreou insists the country isn't about to "default on its [...]
Manufacturing figures point to slower growth – London Report November 2, 2014 MANUFACTURING figures due out today are likely to show a loss of momentum in the UK economy’s growth. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ survey for October is forecast to sit at 51.5, the same as for September and weaker than the rates of 52.2 in August and 54.7 in July. A reading of 50 shows no [...]
Foxtons share price plummets as it issues profit warning on cooling London house prices October 23, 2014 What a difference a year makes. Just over a year after its massively oversubscribed IPO, shares in Foxtons have plummeted more than 16 per cent after it issued a profit warning saying "constrained" growth in London's housing market is likely to hit volumes in its second half. The upmarket estate agent, known for its trendy, [...]
Drop the guarantee on bank deposits to boost competition in finance November 24, 2014 AS NORTHERN Rock began to crumble in the autumn of 2007, then chancellor Alistair Darling stepped in to stave off a bank run by guaranteeing all existing deposits. To some extent, it worked: queues outside Northern Rock branches soon dissipated. But deposit insurance has since been raised dramatically for authorised banks and building societies, and [...]
Labour’s landlord cap “could result in higher rental prices” September 8, 2014 Ed Miliband's plan to cap rent increases has come in for sharp criticism in a report released today by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). Instead of focusing on limiting what Labour has called an "excessive" increase in rents, policy makers should look to radically liberalise the planning system to allow for more private rented [...]
Where will the next big tech innovation come from? It could be from London’s Connected Digital Catapult hub in Kings Cross September 30, 2014 A new digital hub set to open in Kings Cross hosting businesses, technologists and researchers is aiming to produce the UK’s next big technological innovation. The government is investing up to £10m in the project to fuel growth of the digital economy which is expected to be worth more than £10bn within the next 10 [...]