Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered Labour’s first Budget in 14 years, announcing £40bn of tax rises, Central London Alliance comments
It’s time Chicken Licken Remainers admitted the sky hasn’t fallen in post-Brexit September 8, 2016 Before the referendum, the Remain camp did not hold back from listing the catastrophic consequences of Brexit. The banks and financial services sector would abandon London overnight, they said. Vital funding would be lost for farming, science and regeneration schemes. The British economy would immediately stall, then spiral into a crash. Eleven weeks on from [...]
Bankers need to hold themselves to account, says former Lord Mayor of London September 1, 2016 The financial services sector needs to hold itself accountable, rather than merely relying on regulators, to truly regain the public's trust, a former Lord Mayor of London has said today. Sir Alan Yarrow was speaking at the launch of the Certificates of Professionalism initiative from the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) and the Chartered Banker Institute, [...]
Standard Chartered appoints HSBC bigwig Paul Skelton as global head of banking September 1, 2016 Standard Chartered has appointed former HSBC bigwig Paul Skelton as global head of banking. Skelton will start his role in December, reporting to Simon Cooper, chief executive of corporate and institutional banking, and will be based in Singapore. In his newly created position, Skelton will be responsible for Standard Chartered’s large corporate and financial institution client relationships. Cooper [...]
Why the “outmoded” licence fee should be dropped – for the sake of customers and the BBC September 1, 2016 The BBC licence fee should be abolished for the good of customers and the corporation itself, a new report out today argues. The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) paper said the government had missed an opportunity for serious reform in its charter review earlier this year. The report, authored by Martin Le Jeune, argues for [...]
Banks lead the FTSE 100, with some lenders setting new monthly highs August 31, 2016 Banks are helping to bolster a reasonably flat FTSE 100 today. Banking mainstays Barclays and HSBC are both among the five greatest risers this morning, while shares in Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered are up as well. Barclays is currently up 2.4 per cent at 173.25p, HSBC is up 1.8 per cent at 567.7p, Lloyds is up 1.5 per [...]
City Moves for 24 August 2016 | Who’s switching jobs August 24, 2016 Smith & Williamson Smith & Williamson, the investment management, accountancy and tax group, has appointed Grant Hotson as group financial director. Grant joins the main board of Smith & Williamson and will sit on the firm’s subsidiary boards relating to the tax and business services and the investment management and banking divisions. He takes over from [...]
Barclays becomes the latest bank to get on the CoCo bond bandwagon August 23, 2016 Barclays has today become the latest lender to launch a CoCo bond. The transaction for the bonds, which will be denominated in US dollars, has not been priced yet and is expected to launch in the near future, depending on market conditions. Contingent Convertible capital notes – or CoCos for short – are a type of [...]
Foreign investments help shareholders as UK dividend growth lags August 22, 2016 The UK is lagging behind other developed markets in terms of dividends, a report out today has found. UK dividends fell 3.3 per cent on an underlying basis in the second quarter of 2016, according to the Henderson Global Dividend Index. In addition to the falling value of the pound, steep cuts from Standard Chartered, [...]
Not so grim up North: Theresa May has committed herself to former chancellor George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse strategy August 18, 2016 Theresa May has committed her government to the Northern Powerhouse, saying the region will be a key part of her industrial strategy. Previously championed by David Cameron's government, doubts had emerged over May's commitment to the Northern Powerhouse plan to develop infrastructure and hand more powers to city regions. However, writing in the Yorkshire Post today, [...]
City Moves for 11 August 2016 | Who’s switching jobs August 11, 2016 The Crown Estate UK real estate business, The Crown Estate, has appointed Robin Budenberg as chairman. Robin is a prominent figure from the UK finance sector and his appointment follows the retirement of Sir Stuart Hampson. He is currently London chairman of Centerview Partners and a non-executive director for Charity Bank and the Big Society Trust. Robin is the [...]