City economists divided on interest rate path as Bank of England official adds to November hike talk October 5, 2017 The City is divided over the future path of interest rates set by the Bank of England, as one of its leading policymakers gave another clear sign that an interest rate hike could come in November. Ian McCafferty, an external member of the Bank’s rate-setting monetary policy committee (MPC), reiterated his view that economic conditions [...]
Robotaxi for who? The 16 stocks UBS believes will benefit from fleets of driverless cars (and the 13 that won’t) October 5, 2017 The rise of the robotaxi – fleets of futuristic looking autonomous cars carrying people around cities and beyond – threatens to bring mass cheap and efficient transport to the world’s roads. That’s good for consumers, but what about business? Well, some stand to benefit more than others, according to UBS, which estimates they will be [...]
Hermes GPE raises $620m from pension funds to plough in to co-investment deals October 5, 2017 Hermes GPE, the firm which invests in private equity funds and deals, has raised around $620m (£472m) for its co-investment strategy. The fund raked in commitments from a club of pension funds, professional investors and asset managers – including the Local Pensions Partnership, a collaboration between Lancashire County Pension Fund and the London Pensions Fund [...]
Why cinema is doomed: The picture house has weathered the storm of piracy, but the real cliff edge is still to come October 5, 2017 In April of last year, AMC, on the verge of buying out Odeon and becoming the largest cinema chain in the world, announced it was considering allowing people to use their phones during screenings. Its CEO, Adam Aron, justified this by saying, “When you tell a 22- year-old to turn off their phone, they hear [...]
HSBC, ING, BNY Mellon among seven banks working on blockchain syndicated loans with R3 and Finastra October 5, 2017 HSBC, ING, and BNY Mellon are among seven top banks that are working together to create a platform for syndicated loans using blockchain technology. BNP Paribas and State Street are also among the financial institutions who have been named as involved in the project. Well-known blockchain consortium R3 and Finastra – the UK financial software [...]
Dialog Semiconductor, the UK-based German chipmaker and supplier to Apple, has acquired US tech firm Silego for $306m October 5, 2017 A UK-based German chipmaker which supplies Apple has snapped up a US tech firm in a deal worth up to $306m. Dialog Semiconductor will buy California’s Silego Technology in a $276m cash deal with a further consideration of $30.4m it announced on Thursday morning. Silego makes Configurable Mixed-signal ICs (CMIC) – that is, chips which [...]
Revolution Bars (RBG) share price dips as Deltic muscles in on Stonegate’s Vodka Revs bid with new offer October 5, 2017 Nightclub operator Deltic has put the brakes on an agreed deal between Revolution Bars and Slug and Lettuce owner Stonegate Pub Company, with its own all-share proposal. Shares in Revolution were down two per cent at the time of writing. Students’ favourite Revolution has already agreed to a £101.5m takeover offer made by Stonegate, but [...]
Unhappy Valley: Europe gets tough on tech giants Amazon and Apple as Margrethe Vestager sets sights on US firms’ tax deals in Europe October 5, 2017 Brussels is cracking down on Silicon Valley tech giants and their tax arrangements in Europe, leaving the door open to further action after fresh rulings against Amazon and Apple. Competition chief Margrethe Vestager indicated the European Commission (EC) will likely scrutinise more so-called sweetheart tax deals as she slapped the online retailer with a €250m [...]
DEBATE: Should we be worried about facial recognition? October 5, 2017 Should we be worried about facial recognition? Dr Tom Chatfield, and tech philosopher and author of Critical Thinking, says YES. Imagine. A super-high resolution drone camera captures ten thousand faces from a crowd in one shot; an algorithm processes and identifies over ninety per cent of them within moments; the results are cross-referenced with billions [...]
Bank of England deputy governor pushes for EU and UK commitment to Brexit transition by Christmas October 4, 2017 The Bank of England’s deputy governor will tonight urge UK and EU politicians to agree transitional arrangements for financial services by Christmas, as regulators push for continued close cooperation after Brexit. Sam Woods, who leads the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), is expected to warn that firms will be forced to start putting their plans for [...]