An end to gridlock? How artificial intelligence could help get London moving again February 4, 2019 London is a truly remarkable city – an economic powerhouse and a cultural destination without equal. It’s a magnet to millions, and rightly so. But it’s a terrible irony that this fast-moving, fast-living, fast-earning metropolis is stuck in traffic so much of the time. We simply cannot move. According to traffic data company INRIX, London [...]
Under the neon lights of Tokyo, the City is forging closer relationships with Asia February 4, 2019 Next week will see me travel to one of the busiest cities on earth, home to nearly 40m people and more square footage of advertising and media than anywhere else in the world: Tokyo. My visit is part of a 12-day trip to four Asian cities that will also take me to Seoul, Hong Kong, [...]
Swiss investment bank Julius Baer targets £77m of cuts as profit growth slows February 4, 2019 Swiss bank Julius Baer launched a SFr 100m (£76.6m) cost-cutting programme today as profit growth slowed last year. The figures Switzerland’s third largest bank saw net profit for the full year 2018 grow four per cent to SFr 735m, compared to a 14 per cent growth rate in 2017, missing a Reuters poll of analyst [...]
Which advert won the 2019 Super Bowl? February 4, 2019 Microsoft has been named Super Bowl advertising champion with a campaign for an adaptive controller that allows children with disabilities to play video games. The technology giant’s advert was the most popular aired during the New England Patriots’s victory in the iconic American football fixture last night, according to a survey by marketing research firm [...]
Indivior sells China opioid treatment drug as it looks to focus on its core products February 4, 2019 Drug company Indivior has agreed to sell its rights related to the Sai Bo Song (buprenorphine, naloxone) tablet in China to Zhejiang Pukang Biotechnology for $122.5m (£93.6m). The pharmaceutical company said the sale of the tablet was part of its strategy to focus its resources on its core assets and markets. "The divestiture of the [...]
Time to appreciate the perks of the job? February 4, 2019 For full-time office workers blinking out of the window onto the cold, grey, concrete City, the advantages that they enjoy over the self-employed might not seem obvious. You daydream about rocking up at one of those shared workspaces at 11am in your jeans, laptop on your back, ready for a self-managed day of freelancing, and [...]
The bonus is on you: Santander’s recent saga highlights the problems with deferred rewards February 4, 2019 Star investment banker Andrea Orcel was about to take the top job at Santander. And then he wasn’t. It turns out that the bank hadn’t quite realised how expensive Orcel would be, resulting in an unprecedented U-turn, as the board announced that Santander wouldn’t be hiring him after all. While Jose Antonio Alvarez will continue [...]
Flybe to give investors a vote on chairman’s future as major shareholder applies pressure over Virgin bid February 4, 2019 Flybe will ask shareholders to vote on whether or not to remove its chairman as the struggling airline tries to keep a cut-price takeover on course in the face of investor pressure. The budget flyer, which is set to be taken over by a group led by Virgin Atlantic, has agreed to set a date [...]
Ryanair falls to €20m loss as O’Leary signs new five-year contract February 4, 2019 Budget airline Ryanair today said it suffered a €20m (£17.5m) loss in the third quarter of its financial year, blaming weaker ticket prices. The airline also said that longstanding chief executive Michael O’Leary had signed a five-year contract for the role of group chief executive, as the company moves to a new structure. Read more: Ryanair [...]
HSBC, Goldman and Lord Fink back City fintech firm Bud February 4, 2019 Fintech startup Bud has closed a $20m (£15.3m) funding round from investors such as HSBC, Goldman Sachs and former Man Group boss Lord Stanley Fink. Other investors included Investec’s INVC fund, ANZ Bank, the corporate venture arm of Banco Sabadell and 9 Yards, the venture capital firm which lists former chancellor George Osborne among its [...]