Letting agents are facing an epidemic of their own making April 25, 2018 If you’ve ever had to deal with a letting agent, you may be so traumatised from the experience that you’ve resolved never to move house ever again. You tiptoe around the property, praying that the ceiling doesn’t cave in – just so you won’t have to dial that dreaded number. If you’re under 40, you’ll [...]
What’s the point of a tax code that’s 10 times longer than the complete works of Shakespeare? April 25, 2018 Here’s an exclusive for City A.M. readers: Tolley’s, the tax bible, will be expected to run to a staggering 25,272 pages this year. That is just over 20 copies of War and Peace, and almost 10 times the length of the complete works of Monday’s apparent birthday boy, William Shakespeare. If you took a conservative [...]
DEBATE: Would banning fast-food outlets near schools help tackle childhood obesity? April 25, 2018 Would banning fast-food outlets near schools help tackle childhood obesity? Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, says YES. As a children’s doctor and expert in obesity, I see the damage daily: children as young as seven with conditions associated with obesity such as type 2 diabetes, asthma and [...]
Persimmon is under pressure on paying the “real living wage” at today’s AGM amid wider shareholder revolt on executive pay April 25, 2018 Major investors with £23bn under management are today set to pile the pressure on housebuilder Persimmon to pay its employees the “real living wage”. At Persimmon’s annual general meeting, the company will be presented with a petition calling for it to accredit with the Living Wage Foundation, a campaigning group supported by the likes of [...]
Chancellor Philip Hammond has good reasons to stick to his guns April 25, 2018 The government is now raking in more money than it spends on “day-to-day” activities, posting a current budget surplus for the first time since 2002. Yesterday’s figures, which apply to the 2017-18 fiscal year, are undoubtedly good news and credit must go to chancellor Philip Hammond for his steadfast approach to improving the UK’s public [...]
Fund manager Pimco close to £5bn deal for Bradford & Bingley mortgage book April 24, 2018 The UK government is close to selling a £5bn Bradford & Bingley mortgage book to a major bond fund manager, it has been reported. Bradford & Bingley’s loan book was nationalised in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. UK Asset Resolution (UKAR), the government body set up to manage nationalised banking assets, could [...]
Neil Woodford denied another payday as his Woodford Patient Capital Trust failed to perform for investors last year April 24, 2018 Renowned fund manager Neil Woodford was denied another payday today, as the annual results of his Patient Capital Trust revealed poor performance. The trust, which is dedicated to long-term investments in a mix of high risk early stage companies and “high conviction” larger businesses, saw its net asset value per share slump by two per [...]
Metro Bank bosses fend off potential shareholder revolt with ease April 24, 2018 Metro Bank today brushed aside a potential shareholder revolt over high pay for its boss and payments to the wife of its chairman as investors overwhelmingly backed the challenger’s leadership. More than 96 per cent of the voting shareholders backed the re-election of chairman and founder Vernon Hill, while 93.5 per cent approved the remuneration [...]
TSB boss Paul Pester promises compensation over online banking meltdown April 24, 2018 TSB has taken down its online banking systems with its boss today issuing a fresh apology to customers and a promise to compensate those affected. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) this evening pledged to investigate TSB’s problems while monitoring the situation to ensure members of the public “are not left out of pocket”. TSB’s mobile [...]
EU commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis kicks off fresh row over City’s future market access post-Brexit | City A.M. April 24, 2018 A fresh row has flared up in the City after EU commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis outlined his views on how the UK’s financial services industry will access EU markets post-Brexit. Dombrovskis, who leads the team developing economic and capital markets union in the EU, doubled down on the European Commission’s position that a system of “equivalence” [...]