Which region has the most potholes? Areas most likely to have roads free of bumps revealed October 19, 2017 Want to drive on pothole-free roads? Then London’s financial district is the place to be, council figures released today reveal. Just 123 potholes were reported in 2016, according to figures obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, equivalent to a depth of only two metres. The City spent £174,960 fixing potholes, and, in a [...]
HSBC’s partnering with fintech startup Bud in latest Open Banking push for First Direct October 19, 2017 HSBC is partnering with London fintech startup Bud in its latest efforts toward Open Banking. The bank will offer Bud's financial management tools under its online only brand First Direct in a new trial, hot on the heels of the launch of its new app Beta last month. Users will be able to see their [...]
Chief executive of the London Stock Exchange Group Xavier Rolet is stepping down October 19, 2017 The boss of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has announced he will step down by the end of December 2018. Xavier Rolet has spent nearly nine years in the role, and under Rolet the group’s market capitalisation has jumped from £800m to almost £14bn. The board said it will now initiate the process of [...]
Index of ambition: How AIM fuels Britain’s startups October 19, 2017 Envied around the world, London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) has been much imitated but never bettered. I see AIM as the Index of Ambition. During my recent visit to East Asia, investors and politicians from Seoul to Tokyo kept mentioning their admiration for British scaleup companies. Read more: Celebrating the silver anniversary of the FTSE [...]
Everything Under Heaven: Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road could cement China as the world’s superpower October 19, 2017 “Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent,” wrote Mao Zedong in his little red book. With every crisis comes opportunity, he thought. The motto is as apt today as it was half a century ago. As an increasingly isolated America crawls from the world stage, the EU grapples with internal conflicts. [...]
Association of German Banks blasts Mifid II and says it will cost banks €1bn October 18, 2017 Germany’s private banking trade body has today blasted a new piece of EU regulation aimed at increasing transparency and similarity across the EU’s securities markets. The second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid II) was welcome in principal, according to the Association of German Banks’ head Michael Kemmer. But he said that the proposals would [...]
Esure and Direct Line founder Sir Peter Wood to flog chunk of Gocompare stock to pursue property investment interests October 18, 2017 Sir Peter Wood, the insurance tycoon founder of Direct Line and Esure, today revealed plans to dump a multi-million slug of Gocompare shares on the market in order to fund his London and US property interests. In an after-market announcement, Wood said he will place 21.3m shares on the market. With Gocompare’s stock trading at [...]
Licence to innovate: Nine new cyber security startups chosen for GCHQ’s accelerator programme with Wayra | City A.M. October 18, 2017 An innovative programme launched to foster fresh technology and ideas that could help Britain’s intelligence agencies fight crime has chosen a second intake of startups. The accelerator from GCHQ and Wayra has picked nine cyber security startups for an expanded programme following the success of the first of its kind accelerator launched last year. Read [...]
UK businesses have slashed their cyber security budgets by a third October 18, 2017 Businesses in the UK have cut the amount of cash they are spending on cyber security despite the growing threat of attacks. Budgets for security are a third of what they were this time last year, down to £3.9m on average, compared to £6.2m according to research from PwC. The cost of attacks has fallen, [...]
Norway’s huge wealth fund calls FCA’s proposed listing changes for companies like Saudi Aramco a “step back” October 18, 2017 The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund has warned the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) about its proposed changes to its share listing rules, which would accommodate state-backed firms like the Saudi Aramco mega-float. Norway’s $1 trillion (£759bn) fund, which has invested £44bn in equities listed on the London Stock Exchange, joined a chorus of bodies urging [...]