Lowest earning families have just £95 in savings pot as inequality grows February 20, 2017 Low income families have just £95 in their savings and investments compared to £62,885 among high income families, according to research by Aviva. The news highlights growing inequality in the UK as the savings gap grows by 25 per cent annually, up from £50,072 last year to £62,790 in winter 2016/17. Around one in four [...]
Canadian pension fund PSP boss Andre Bourbonnais: We’ve picked London as our base as it’ll be Europe’s financial heartland after Brexit May 10, 2017 One of Canada’s largest pension fund managers has picked London as its new European headquarters, insisting the UK capital “is and will remain the financial centre of Europe”. The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP), which serves the Royal Canadian Mounted Police alongside other civil servants and boasts C$125.8bn (£70.7bn) of assets under management, will [...]
Chancellor is “personally committed” to finding a solution after insurers call for discount rate law change this year March 1, 2017 Insurance leaders called on the government to set a new discount rate this year in an attempt to mitigate the catastrophic effects of its decision to cut the rate on Monday. Justice secretary Liz Truss surprised insurers by cutting the personal injury discount rate, which takes into account the long-term cost of care and loss of [...]
Where to put your money? These are the most popular fund platforms for investors in the UK March 10, 2017 Investor confidence bounced up towards the end of 2016, new figures out today show, but failed to make up for a year “overshadowed by political uncertainty”. Annual platform net sales were down 16 per cent over the year as a whole, from £45bn in 2015 to £38bn in 2016. This included £10.5bn in the last [...]
Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are embroiled in a geeky spat over artificial intelligence and robots July 26, 2017 We can officially hand out the award for geekiest fight of the year. Two of the most influential entrepreneurs of the last decade, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, have entered into a war of words over the future of robots and artificial intelligence. The pair have taken opposing sides in the [...]
A Spring is in the air this May – Shareholder revolt set to build with Aviva and Reckitt Benckiser meetings May 3, 2016 Company bosses are braced for further uprisings this week. Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser, insurance giant Aviva, and FTSE 250 hedge fund Man Group all host shareholders for their annual general meetings. Last week the shareholder spring picked up pace as investors voted against boardroom pay rewards for engineering firm Weir Group and Shire, the FTSE [...]
Who owns London? The capital’s biggest landowners: Qataris own as much land as the Queen and TfL put together March 17, 2017 A company part-owned by the Qataris own almost as much land in the capital as Transport for London and the Queen put together, a new ranking has suggested, while the City of London was ranked second. Figures compiled by Datscha for property trade bible Property Week showed Canary Wharf Group, which is joint-owned by Qatari [...]
A median of £0? Well, that’s what the ONS says one sector’s workers are putting into their pension pots December 9, 2016 Work in the tourism sector? Are you putting money away for retirement? If the answer is no, then you aren't alone. The latest numbers from those clever boffins over at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest the median pension savings reported in the tourism sector is a mighty… well, diddly-squat. That's right, the ONS said the median reported [...]
The pension pitfalls of the gig economy July 19, 2017 Our work lives are becoming increasingly malleable as millions of us turn our backs on steady nine-to-five jobs and choose to go freelance instead. Yes, we can now mould our job into a shape that fits neatly into our personal or financial lives, but this workplace revolution is by no means perfect, and has [...]
Proptech: Aviva backs property tech start-up Opun with £3m funding April 11, 2016 An online property startup that helps homeowners find local contractors to repair their homes has secured £3m of funding from Aviva's new capital venture arm. Opun, which was founded two years ago by entrepreneurs Rod Brown and John Cushing, acts effectively like a broker by putting renters or landlords in touch with craftsmen in their area and [...]