Chinese insurance regulators plan to relax rules, giving larger firms the green light to restart overseas investment March 6, 2017 Chinese insurance watchdogs are planning a regulatory shake-up that will reboot larger firms’ ability to expand overseas. Discussions are being held over changing the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) from a single body to a tailored framework that takes into account a number of facets of insurers including size, solvency ratios and risk tolerance, sources [...]
HMRC gets tough on finance directors at big firms March 6, 2017 British tax authorities are clamping down hard on failures in tax accounting from top executives, with penalties against finance directors rising steeply to record highs. Finance directors at large businesses have seen a 17 per cent year-on-year rise in actions under the senior accounting officer regime, according to law firm Pinsent Masons. Revenue and Customs [...]
Ever the pragmatist, chancellor Philip Hammond is right to be bullish on Brexit March 6, 2017 Philip Hammond isn’t known as Westminster’s most exciting MP. He lacks the bombast of a Boris Johnson or the polished ambition of a George Osborne. And yet, he has emerged as one of the most respected figures of the post-referendum government, with many City figures viewing him as “the grownup in the room”. Having backed [...]
More KPMG partners follow Richard Fleming to Alvarez & Marsal in a bid to break the Big Four’s stranglehold March 6, 2017 One year has passed since KPMG big-hitter Richard Fleming shocked the City by walking out on the consultancy giant. Fleming officially joins rival Alvarez & Marsal this month. The firm moved for him and two other partners in early 2016 after KPMG rejected a bid from Alvarez & Marsal for the Big Four giant’s restructuring business. Today, the [...]
Italy’s dying elite is dragging the Eurozone ever closer towards the abyss March 6, 2017 Venice – The great German novelist Thomas Mann once rightly described this bejewelled city as one of “flattering and suspect beauty, half fairy tale and half tourist trap”. The same can be said for the country of Italy as a whole, where things are rarely as they seem. For the problem with political soap operas [...]
Sign up to City Giving Day to celebrate all the good the Square Mile does for the UK March 6, 2017 I had the great pleasure last Wednesday of launching the fourth City Giving Day which, I hope, will be the most successful yet. City Giving Day, which takes place on 26 September this year, is an excellent opportunity to shine a spotlight on the immense, positive change the City can – and does – make [...]
There’s no need for Treasury giveaways to help the just about managing March 6, 2017 On the steps of Downing Street, Theresa May outlined the core of her political strategy: “If you are just about managing, I want to address you directly”. The just about managing – the so-called JAMs – saw their cost of living significantly squeezed in the aftermath of the financial crisis, and it is indeed vital that [...]
Is Nicola Sturgeon’s brinkmanship over a second Scottish independence referendum going to backfire? March 6, 2017 Alex Deane, a City of London common councilman, says Yes. Nicola Sturgeon’s referendum demands remind me of nothing so much as Homer Simpson, accustomed to getting his way by challenging anyone and everyone to a duel. The problem is that eventually someone may call your bluff. When the referendum demands come to a head, either [...]
How pay-as-you-go chain The Gym Group built up its muscle and plans to bulk up further March 6, 2017 Since opening in 2008, pay-as-you-go chain The Gym Group has grown at a rate of knots. Led by chief executive John Treharne, the gym operator is the second largest budget gym in the UK with 89 sites and 448,000 members as of December. The group has a plan to open a further 15 to 20 [...]
Hammond vows to fight back against bad Brexit deal as he plots vision for Britain’s high-tech future March 6, 2017 Ahead of his first full Budget, chancellor Philip Hammond has vowed the government would fight back against a Brexit deal that doesn't deliver for Britain, insisting the country will not be left licking its wounds after negotiations. Hammond warned the European Union of the UK's "fighting spirit" and said the country will not "slink off as [...]