The FCA is cracking down on peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding (again) December 9, 2016 It seems like only yesterday the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was telling peer-to-peer lenders they must behave more like banks. Now the financial watchdog has proposed tough new rules, which will force crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platforms to comply with the same rules as major lenders on mortgage lending, restrict cross-platform investment and make them [...]
Editor’s notes: Calm down, the banks are not about to run for the European hills December 9, 2016 The government has agreed to set out its Brexit plans to parliament. While this will fall short of outlining a full negotiation strategy, it has been welcomed by politicians and business groups as a necessary step towards providing some clarity. However, there appears to still be confusion in some quarters over the fate of the City, [...]
Who said millennials don’t want to climb the property ladder? December 9, 2016 In the 1960s and 1970s architects designed a maze of gigantic housing estates stretching from Elephant and Castle to Peckham. When the buildings were complete, you could walk from the Aylesbury Estate near Elephant and Castle to the North Peckham estate via the Elmington Estate in Camberwell using elevated pedestrian walkways without ever touching the [...]
Millennials don’t want build to rent. They want to buy homes like everyone else December 9, 2016 In the 1960s and 1970s architects designed a maze of gigantic housing estates stretching from Elephant and Castle to Peckham. When the buildings were complete, you could walk from the Aylesbury Estate near Elephant and Castle to the North Peckham estate via the Elmington Estate in Camberwell using elevated pedestrian walkways without ever touching the [...]
Conservatives keep a firm hold in the Sleaford by-election as Labour says: “This was not the result we hoped for” December 9, 2016 Well, this is awkward. The Conservatives have kept their grip on the Lincolnshire seat of Sleaford and North Hykeham, after the constituency's original MP resigned over "irreconcilable policy differences". Caroline Johnson held on to the seat for the party, with more than 53 per cent of the vote, while Ukip came second, with 13.5 per [...]
Brexit negotiations uncertainty leads to fall in UK business confidence in investment prospects December 9, 2016 UK business confidence is set to fall in the next two years as companies await further clarity on the progress of negotiations on the country’s future relationship with the European Union after June’s vote to leave. Business expectations of investment show net falls of 3.2 per cent in 2016 and 3.6 per cent in 2017, [...]
Revenge of the inflationistas: Trump has ushered in the end of the QE era December 9, 2016 After almost a decade of QE and loose monetary policy, inflation is nowhere to be seen in the developed world. Warning of upside risk in consumer prices has become something akin to crying wolf. But Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal measures could prove the missing piece of the global inflationary puzzle. As a result, inflation is [...]
Businesses can no longer opt out of the conservative-liberal left culture wars December 9, 2016 Culture wars are raging in Britain and America and businesses are stuck uncomfortably in the middle. Executives have just witnessed many of their customers vote to leave the EU and reject large-scale immigration. They have witnessed a victory for Donald Trump. But they are also hearing a loud liberal backlash against both – amid concern [...]
Britain must look beyond trade deals to turbocharge exports December 9, 2016 In 1860, the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty, widely regarded as the first international trade agreement, was signed at the Foreign Office. French duties on British manufactured goods were slashed and, in return, British duties on French wine and brandy were cut, ushering in three decades of expanding trade – and, presumably, considerable joie de vivre in Britain’s [...]
Is everyone too complacent about Marine Le Pen’s chances of becoming the next President of France? December 9, 2016 Chris Beauchamp, senior market analyst at IG Group, says Yes. It feels like deja vu all over again. A year ago, the established punditry found themselves declaring, with immense confidence, why Brexit would never happen and why Donald Trump was doomed to fail in his candidacy. Now we hear the same about Marine Le Pen, [...]