DEBATE: Is Britain missing out by not having a legal cannabis market? May 24, 2018 Is Britain missing out by not having a legal cannabis market? George McBride, co-founder of Cannabis Europa, says YES. The UK economy is missing out – but not the drug dealers. They’ve been gifted a monopoly over a plant with a mind-boggling range of commercial, recreational, and medical applications. Cannabis is the fastest growing industry [...]
Italy’s populists prepare to wage war over the ECB’s budget rules May 24, 2018 The old quip that the EU can only deal with one crisis at a time is about to be tested. The coalition in Italy between the Five Star Movement and the Northern League has not been formally finalised, but looks likely to go ahead (well, as likely as anything can be in Italian politics). Italians [...]
The Snooper’s Charter puts UK firms on track for a GDPR headache post-Brexit May 24, 2018 The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becomes binding on all EU member states, including the UK, on Friday. It aims to harmonise data protection laws across Europe, and shift power away from corporations and towards consumers, giving individuals greater control of the personal data held about them. With over 70 per cent of all trade [...]
M&S joins the battle against rising high street rents May 24, 2018 Marks & Spencer’s top team yesterday joined calls for landlords to give retailers fairer rents, as it revealed a massive drop in profits. The company reported that pre-tax profits were down 62 per cent in 2017, mostly as a result of its store closure programme. Chief executive Steve Rowe said in a presentation he had [...]
Revolut adds ripple and bitcoin cash to its crypto selection May 24, 2018 The fintech challenger bank Revolut has announced that it will be introducing the cryptocurrencies ripple (XRP) and bitcoin cash to its clients in addition to the cryptocurrencies it has already made available. Revolut, which gave clients the possibility to trade in cryptocurrencies in December last year, had already made bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum available for [...]
Standard Chartered has fired a young City banker after he was revealed as a leading member of far-right political group May 23, 2018 Standard Chartered has fired a junior banker after he was exposed as the head of the UK branch of a far-right political group. Twenty-three year old Tom Dupre leads the UK branch of Generation Identity – a group which aims to “preserve our peoples’ ethno-cultural identity” and laments the “great replacement” of European people. The [...]
Challenger stock exchange Aquis prepares for £73m London float May 23, 2018 Aquis, a challenger trading venue which aims to rival players like the London Stock Exchange with its subscription-based model, is planning to list in London in the next month. The business, founded and headed by former ITG and Chi-X boss Alasdair Haynes, hopes to raise £12m of new money to build its presence in the [...]
Time at the Bar: New heads of Bar Council elected May 23, 2018 New leaders have been elected to head the Bar Council, the body that represents barristers in England and Wales. Richard Atkins QC, whose practice focuses on serious crime and regulatory cases, has been elected to chair the Bar Council in 2019. He specialises in murder trials; including gangland, sado-masochistic and domestic killings; terrorism, serious fraud [...]
Brexiters’ favoured “max fac” customs proposal could cost businesses £20bn, warns HMRC boss Jon Thompson May 23, 2018 Brexiters’ favoured customs union proposal could cost businesses up to £20bn, the head of HM Revenues & Customs has warned. And while Theresa May’s preferred option would cost a fraction of that, it could take up to five years to implement. Jon Thompson, chief executive of HMRC, confirmed that the new customs partnership – in [...]
What does the new Italian government mean for markets? May 23, 2018 | City Talk Occasionally, there is a major change of government that should command the attention of investors. The election of Donald Trump as US president was such an event. Most European continental elections make little difference to markets, as the economies in the Eurozone are strictly controlled by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the rules of [...]