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 [...]
The government is selling off 7.7 per cent of its stake in RBS overnight to take the bank one step closer to privatisation June 4, 2018 The government has kicked off the second sale of its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), announcing it will begin the process of offloading 7.7 per cent of the bailed-out bank overnight. UK Government Investments (UKGI), the corporate finance arm of the government responsible for managing its stake in RBS, advised chancellor Philip Hammond [...]
Goldman Sachs targeting £109bn Lloyds investment fund June 4, 2018 US bank Goldman Sachs has entered the competition to manage a £109bn investment contract put out to tender by Lloyds Banking Group. Goldman Sachs Asset Management has reached the second round of bidding for the contract, alongside Blackrock, JPMorgan Asset Management and Schroders, Sky News reports. The process kicked off when Lloyds pulled outs of [...]
Large banks are at risk of losing lucrative small business customers June 4, 2018 Legislation is driving the biggest phase of disruption in terms of customer ownership the banking industry has seen in recent years. Dozens of fintech startups and digital-first challenger banks have flooded the retail banking market, and while much of the spotlight has been focused on consumer banking, revenues from small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are [...]
Facebook denies new data privacy allegations over its decade-old mobile device APIs June 4, 2018 In a post-Cambridge Analytica world where tech giants have to be increasingly touchy when fingers are pointed at privacy issues, Facebook has issued a rebuttal to allegations that parts of its tech are still leaking data to third parties. Over the last ten years, Facebook has reached data-sharing partnerships with at least 60 mobile device [...]
Livingstone Holdings, a software business which actually manages other businesses’ software usage, has just been bought by Carlyle for £50m June 4, 2018 Private equity giant Carlyle has today scooped up software company Livingstone Holdings, in a deal worth around £50m. Livingstone, whose customers include the likes of BT, Argos and UBS, focuses on managing how businesses purchase and use software. It covers all major vendors of software, and works with companies to find whether they are over- [...]
Young people turn away from trade unions as generational pay gap widens June 4, 2018 Young workers are increasingly reluctant to join trade unions, it emerged today as trade union centre TUC warned of a wider pay gap between age groups. The Trades Union Congress told the BBC today that union membership levels among under-30s had fallen to 15.7 per cent last year, compared to 20.1 per cent in 2001. [...]
Don’t get too excited by Canada’s cannabis legalisation vote June 4, 2018 | City Talk On Thursday 7 June, a vote is being held in Canada’s Senate that is likely to see cannabis legalised for recreational use across the country. But the sector remains a risky investment. Legal marijuana could be in the “shops” in Canada by August this year. This follows decriminalisation by a number of US states and [...]
Doubts grow over the UK’s preferred post-Brexit model for financial services June 4, 2018 The government’s preferred post-Brexit trading model for the City remains uncertain amid growing concerns that Brussels is not prepared to compromise. Mutual recognition, the post-Brexit system heavily promoted by the financial services sector as well as Whitehall, has failed to win the support of EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier. One Square Mile source familiar with [...]
Sorrell’s second empire: Former WPP chief executive will face a harder time growing his new business June 4, 2018 The news that Martin Sorrell has re-entered the ad industry via the takeover of a little-known shell company, Derriston Capital (set to be renamed S4 Capital), naturally has echoes of his acquisition of a wire, paper, and plastics firm in 1985. Of course, that firm is now WPP, one of the world’s largest ad agencies, [...]