City exclusive: London court issues arrest warrant for high-profile venture capitalist Julie Meyer February 23, 2022 The High Court has issued an arrest warrant for Julie Meyer, the founder and CEO of Swiss investment fund Viva Investment Partners (VIP), after she failed to attend a court hearing last week. The decision to issue a warrant for Meyer’s arrest comes after the High Court this month handed the high-profile businesswoman a [...]
FCA brings in consultants to tackle authorisation backlog as it races to recruit new staff February 23, 2022 The UK’s financial industry regulator has brought in consultants to help it tackle the backlog in new authorisations, as it pushes forwards in its efforts to recruit new staff. Speaking to the Treasury Committee, Sheldon Mills, executive director of the FCA, said the watchdog had hired consultants as it aims to cut the authorisation backlog, [...]
Metro Bank says turnaround plan is working after cutting losses to £245m February 23, 2022 Metro Bank has said its turnaround plan is working, despite losing £245.1m last year, after its revenues increased 17 per cent despite the economic impacts of Covid-19. The London retail bank said its efforts to cut costs and win over customers had started to work, after it set out its turnaround plan, to rejuvenate its [...]
Robots and AI’s not allowed to copyright artworks, US Copyright Office says February 22, 2022 The US Copyright Office (USCO) has said Artificial Intelligences (AI’s) should not be allowed to patent their own work, after ruling that copyright claims can only be registered on work containing elements of human authorship. The Copyright Office ruled that artificial intelligences (AI’s) should not be allowed to secure copyright on any content they [...]
Allianz to vote against executive pay policies that are not linked to ESG targets February 22, 2022 German asset manager Allianz Global Investors has said it will vote against major companies that fail to link their executive salaries to ESG metrics. The Munich headquartered multinational, which controls €2.4trn in assets, warned major UK and EU companies that it will vote down any remuneration policy that is not linked to ESG aims. Allianz’ [...]
Hogan Lovells posts ‘strongest overall results in history’ on the back of M&A boom February 22, 2022 Partners at Hogan Lovells are set to receive £1.8m, the law firm said today, after it posted record global revenues of almost £1.9bn for the financial year 2021. Anglo-American law firm Hogan Lovells today posted record revenues of £1.895bn for FY 2021, on the back of booming demand for its M&A services, following a record [...]
InterContinental brings back dividend amid recovery of global travel industry February 22, 2022 British hotelier InterContinental has said it will reinstate its dividend, after posting “encouraging” results for the full year 2021 amid the recovery of the global travel industry. In its 2021 results, InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG), which owns Holiday Inn Express, said its revenues per room had bounced back to 70 per cent of 2019 levels, [...]
Lawyers are just as miserable as everyone else, but are considerably more likely to have a drinking problem February 21, 2022 Lawyers are not any more miserable than people working in other professions, such as medicine or dentistry, according to new research from Yale University. However, lawyers are significantly more likely to have a drinking problem. New research from Yale Law School found that lawyers are marginally less likely to suffer from a serious mental [...]
Gunnercooke becomes first UK law firm to take payments in cryptocurrency February 21, 2022 London law firm Gunnercooke has become the first major UK headquartered law firm to accept payments in the form of cryptocurrency. In a statement, the City of London litigator said it had partnered with British cryptocurrency exchange Coinpass, to accept payments in the form of both Bitcoin and Ether. Gunnercooke’s decision to begin accepting payments [...]
Law firms match investment banks in handing out UK’s highest graduate salaries February 21, 2022 The City of London’s law firms are now the UK’s highest paying graduate employers, according to new figures from High Fliers, which show UK law firms have now matched investment banks in offering graduates average salaries of £50,000 a year. The graduate salaries paid out by Britain’s major law firms are now on par with [...]