China hints at easing ‘zero-Covid’ approach following widespread protests December 1, 2022 China’s stance to Covid-19 is at a crossroad, following mass protests against its zero-tolerance approach to cases of the virus. One of the country’s most senior pandemic response officials said last night that China is entering a “new stage and mission”. According to state media, Sun Chunlan, China’s vice premier, said: “With the decreasing pathogenicity [...]
Barclays slapped with £8.4m fine over card payment failings December 1, 2022 Barclays has been slapped with an £8.4m fine from the payments regulator today after failing to comply with rules governing the cost of card transactions with retailers.
Natural catastrophes to cost insurers more than $100bn for the second year in a row December 1, 2022 The global insurance sectors’ losses from natural catastrophes are set to surpass sums of $100bn (£81.5bn) for the second year in a row, new data from Swiss Re shows. Natural catastrophes will cost insurers an estimated $115bn this year, after Hurricane Ian and a series of “secondary perils” caused $260bn worth of damage in 2022, [...]
JP Morgan in talks over potential Freetrade takeover December 1, 2022 JP Morgan is reportedly gearing up to buy stock trading app Freetrade in a grand push to expand its fintech offering. According to initial reports from Mark Kleinman for Sky News, the City titan has been in talks with the British stock trading app, which allows customers to buy British, American and European stocks and [...]
World AIDS Day: stigma about HIV and AIDS is damaging lives and productivity in the City December 1, 2022 Harun Tulunay lost his job when he was first diagnosed with HIV because he wasn’t aware he was legally protected in the workplace, and stigma around his condition meant it wasn’t easy to speak with his HR department. He is one of many Londoners who has been treated unfairly despite people living with HIV being [...]
Citi and Morgan Stanley cut price targets for GSK following weeks of setbacks December 1, 2022 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has rattled the faith of two of the world’s biggest banks, which cut their share price forecasts for the British pharmaceutical giant this week. The London-listed pharma firm faced a double-barrelled setback to its oncology efforts in November, which has put banks and investors on more cautious footing. Citigroup earlier today slashed [...]
Ofcom probes mobile phone firm’s steep in-contract price spikes December 1, 2022 Ofcom has launched an industry-wide probe into whether in-contract price rises were set out clearly enough by big telecom firms. After analysing customer complaints and preliminary evidence, the watchdog expressed concern that some companies had not been transparent enough about price spikes during customer contracts. Under Ofcom rules, providers must set out any future changes [...]
Bird & Bird hikes new lawyers’ salaries for second time this year December 1, 2022 London law firm Bird & Bird has given its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers a pay hike for the second time this year. The law firm has given its NQ lawyers a five per cent pay rise in upping their annual pay to £92,400 per year, a Bird & Bird spokesperson told City A.M. The pay [...]
Waze to tackle women’s safety fears as nights grow longer with new partnership December 1, 2022 Crowd-sourced sat nav app Waze has partnered with a community safety organisation to ease women’s fears of travelling in darkness, as nights grow longer in the UK. The partnership with SafeUP will see nearly 130 registered businesses flagged as ‘safe places’, which offer shelter for women, non-binary and genderqueer people feeling vulnerable when travelling solo. [...]
Warning on UK’s frosty China stance: Beijing could retaliate with supply chain disruption December 1, 2022 There are fresh warnings today about China’s ability to intentionally disrupt international supply chains, with claims the UK could be particularly vulnerable. The Evenstar Institute, a London foreign policy think tank, said in a new report today that “Beijing has repeatedly targeted direct trade for strategic purposes in recent years” and that “the UK is [...]