After subdued 2016, contrained by Brexit and Trump, these bankers are predicting a 2017 bounceback for UK M&A December 19, 2016 Despite mega-deals involving the London Stock Exchange, Arm Holdings, Sky and a big takeover approach from British American Tobacco (BAT), even the most optimistic M&A banker would concede it’s been a somewhat subdued year for UK deals. After a record 2015, a year in which Megabrew was finally agreed and Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell tied [...]
Yahoo would be liable to pay a $198m fine were GDPR already enforced December 19, 2016 At the dawn of the internet, Google and Yahoo were in stiff competition for search dominance. Many think the former’s success was due in part to its name becoming a ubiquitous verb for searching online. But decades on, semantic development has finally caught up with Yahoo. Its name is now synonymous with bad data practice. [...]
Tyrie calls for national cyber centre to ensure finance is “high priority “ December 19, 2016 An influential MP has called on the government's intelligence agencies to ensure cyber security within the financial services industry is a top priority in the wake of several high profile banking data breaches and failing legacy IT systems. Andrew Tyrie, the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, has written to the chief executive of the National Cyber Security [...]
Liberty House saves Scottish jobs and promises to create more after buying Britain’s only aluminium smelter December 19, 2016 The Scottish economy received a £330m boost today after steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta agreed to buy Britain's last remaining aluminium smelter. Liberty House and Simec – both part of the GFG Alliance – agreed to buy the hydro-powered plant in Fort William from Rio Tinto, safeguarding 170 jobs and promising to directly generate 300 more. Read more: Liberty [...]
Record levels of IT investment in 2017? You can bank on it, says report December 19, 2016 The banking sector will up its IT spend to an all-time high in 2017 as the gap between tech-savvy and Luddite lenders widens, according to a report released today. Embracing data and open banking are top priorities for banks the report by consultants Temenos and Capgemini revealed. The focus on technology comes a week after it was [...]
Protein’s Will Rowe talks early adopters, audience insights and brands “doing good” December 19, 2016 "I was a really bad web designer… that’s how it all started,” chuckles Will Rowe, founder and chief executive of Protein. We’re in his Shoreditch office, a space resembling the bedroom of my teenage dreams; a well trodden cow hide is stretched over the corrugated steel floor below shelves laden with volumes of glossy magazines. [...]
UK businesses now owe £1.8bn in late corporation tax – an increase of 15 per cent since 2015 December 19, 2016 More businesses are struggling to pay their tax bills, as the amount of overdue corporation tax owed to the taxman continues to rise. According to Funding Options, an online aggregator for small business finance, the total value of corporation tax payments in arrears has risen 15 per cent in the past year, from £1.59bn to [...]
Night czar Amy Lame: I want to make sure that everyone gets the kind of life at night they want – from raves to a good night’s sleep December 19, 2016 Amy Lame is impressively bright-eyed when she sits down with City A.M., considering she’s had a late one the night before at the DJ Mag awards. But then she is London’s new night czar. “I’m kind of used to it,” she tells City A.M. while finishing off a “very strong coffee”. “I’ve never had a nine [...]
The manufacturing industry had some of the biggest job losses across the UK economy last year December 19, 2016 The UK manufacturing industry recorded some of the biggest job losses last year, impacted by international competition and technological advances. According to accountancy group UHY Hacker Young, the industry had some of the biggest job losses of all sectors across the UK economy. Out of 69 sectors measured for job creation, manufacturing made up three of [...]
Union leaders are their own worst enemy December 19, 2016 As the country prepares to power down for Christmas, a number of trades unions are flexing their muscles and powering up their strike activity. As PWC’s Tom Kerr Williams notes, for unionised labour “a good time to react is at Christmas when most employers will be under pressure to keep customers happy”. One can't deny the [...]