Challenger bank Paragon boosts mortgage lending despite crackdown on buy-to-let loans January 23, 2018 Mortgage specialist Paragon has pulled a rabbit out of the hat once more, as it has boosted mortgage lending by 84 per cent year-on-year despite a government crackdown in its core buy-to-let market. The challenger bank increased its buy-to-let mortgage book by 85 per cent to £342.9m, battling through stricter underwriting rules introduced by the [...]
IG Group boss hits out at Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo and “crazy” football advertising amid spreadbetting crackdown January 23, 2018 The boss of Britain’s biggest spreadbetting firm has slammed football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for fuelling problem investing. Peter Hetherington, the chief executive of IG Group, also labelled the level of complex financial product advertising at football games a “disgrace”. “The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo tweeted his 49m followers what a great idea it was to [...]
Uber boss Dara Khosrowshahi says company can be profitable within three years January 23, 2018 The chief executive of ride-hailing app Uber has said the company can be profitable within three years. Speaking to Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Dara Khosrowshahi said the firm is becoming more efficient, though it will still maintain its expansion push. “At some point we absolutely have to become profitable and that’s [...]
Boris Johnson shot down by PM over pre-briefing Cabinet January 23, 2018 Boris Johnson’s planned ambush of Prime Minister Theresa May over diverting £100m of Brexit dividends to the NHS during Cabinet has failed. Not only did the foreign secretary not have the opportunity to press for a specific sum to be deployed into the pressured health service, he was also reminded that he should not be [...]
Carillion cost: The government is paying millions of pounds a day to keep public sector projects going January 23, 2018 Hundreds of Carillion’s public sector contracts are costing the government millions of pounds in temporary funding every day, according to official statistics. Carillion’s failure just over a week ago prompted the government to step in and use Treasury funds to ensure public sector works continued. The failed contractor held 450 contracts with the UK government, [...]
Thousands of Sainsbury’s jobs at risk as UK supermarket shakes-up management January 23, 2018 Thousands of Sainsbury’s jobs are at risk as the supermarket seeks to shake-up its management structure. The announcement comes shortly after Tesco put more than 1,500 staff into a consultation period as it prepared to cut around 800 jobs. Read more: Tesco announces it is cutting 800 jobs Structural changes in the retail industry, combined [...]
London’s new electric black cab has its first driver as tough rules on zero emission capable taxis come into play January 23, 2018 The first of London’s new electric black taxis is ready to pick up passengers after it was handed over to a driver this week. Black cab driver David Harris is the first to receive the keys to London Electric Vehicle Company’s new TX electric taxi, which has six passenger seats, power sockets and USB ports, [...]
Bitcoin price down after South Korea reveals ban on anonymous cryptocurrency trading from 30 January January 23, 2018 South Korea’s financial regulator has announced that from 30 January, the use of anonymous bank accounts in cryptocurrency trading will be banned. Traders will only be able to make deposits in their cryptocurrency exchange wallets if their name matches that on their bank account, the Financial Services Commission said today. South Korea is a hotspot [...]
Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox takeover of Sky would be against the public interest, says Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) January 23, 2018 An initial report from the competition watchdog has found the merger of Fox and Sky in its current form would result in the Murdoch family and too much influence over public opinion and news providers in the UK. Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox plans to take control of the 61 per cent of shares it [...]
BitFlyer, the world’s largest bitcoin (BTC) exchange for volumes, is launching in Europe to support euro (EUR) trading January 23, 2018 The world’s biggest bitcoin exchange by trading volumes is opening its doors in Europe for the first time amid a major boom in cryptocurrencies. BitFlyer initially launched in Japan in 2014 and in the US late last year, with $250bn worth of cryptocurrency trades going through the platform in 2017. Read more: Capital One has [...]