The Sultan of Brunei has made his first investment in a UK listed company, ploughing £20m into Graze Draper Esprit June 5, 2018 The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, has made the country’s first investment in a UK listed company, writing a £20m cheque through the sovereign wealth fund Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) for venture capital firm Draper Esprit. Draper, which has backed businesses including snack box delivery firm Graze and digital bank Revolut, announced last week that [...]
Let The Games Begin: Checking in with Tokyo as it prepares to host the 2020 Olympics June 5, 2018 Tokyoites love a seasonal celebration. If they’re not picnicking under a blossom-laden tree, in honour of the spring sakura, then they are trekking to the nearest park to see the splendour of the autumn leaves. It’s no surprise, then, that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games – despite being two years away – has already got [...]
Study finds 68 per cent of crypto exchanges and wallets fail to perform client identity checks June 5, 2018 A study by P.A.ID Strategies found that 68 per cent of the 25 most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets in the EU and US do not perform identity checks on their clients before allowing them to trade. The results of the survey, which was commissioned by software company Mitek, show that most exchanges and wallets [...]
RBS share price slumps as boss Ross McEwan welcomes government share selloff as Labour and Lib Dems question process June 5, 2018 RBS boss Ross McEwan has said it is “the right time to re-start the share sale process” after it emerged the government was offloading a further 7.7 per cent overnight. Chancellor Philip Hammond was advised yesterday to start the process by UK Government Investments (UKGI), the corporate finance arm of the government responsible for managing [...]
Services PMI: The UK’s services sector outperformed expectations last month, though disappointing new work inflows cast a cloud June 5, 2018 The UK economy may indeed be on track to rebound in the second quarter of this year, as a closely watched index today revealed that the services sector performed better than expected in May. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the UK’s services sector, compiled by IHS Markit, rose from 52.8 points in April to [...]
Government sells off 7.7 per cent of RBS, RBS in focus as UK government offloads 7.7 per cent share stake June 5, 2018 | City Talk When Chancellor Philip Hammond outlined plans in his Autumn Budget to sell off the government’s stake in RBS over the next few years there were the predictable raised eyebrows of those who questioned the logic of selling off the remaining 70 per cent stake of the bailed out bank at a loss to the taxpayer. [...]
Virgin Hyperloop One is expected to launch in London within the next 10 years, but its progress is being hindered by Brexit and HS2 June 5, 2018 London is set to be getting its own Virgin Hyperloop One system between the capital and major UK cities within the next ten years, pending regulatory approvals, but Brexit and HS2 have been its biggest delays, City A.M. has learned. Two Hyperloop London destinations that are in the works are routes to Manchester and Edinburgh, [...]
With Italy in chaos, is the Eurozone on the verge of another crisis? June 5, 2018 It’s got messy in Italy – so messy that the situation has reignited memories of the Eurozone debt crisis. Since March, populist parties, the Five Star Movement and the Northern League, have been trying to settle their differences. But efforts were hampered once again after the Italian President rejected the coalition’s choice of finance minister, [...]
Where imagination meets reality: Time for some creative thinking about R&D June 5, 2018 Theresa May has repeatedly called on businesses to invest more in innovation – specifically in research and development (R&D). In an effort to boost the UK’s sluggish productivity growth, her government has set an ambitious target of 2.4 per cent of GDP invested in UK R&D within 10 years. But policymakers are missing a trick [...]
Brexit: Government slammed for “shameful” one day debate on key EU Withdrawal bill June 4, 2018 The government has been slammed for scheduling less than a day to debate and vote on all the amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill. A leaked letter from chief whip Julian Smith revealed that the bill will return to the Commons for a series of crunch votes on 12 June. The legislation suffered 15 defeats [...]