Leaked Labour General Election manifesto reveals Jeremy Corbyn’s plans to renationalise railways, parts of the energy industry and Royal Mail May 10, 2017 Jeremy Corbyn plans to unveil a radical left-wing vision for Britain, including promises to renationalise industries and impose wage caps on companies, according to a leaked draft version of Labour’s General Election manifesto. Under the plan a Labour government would bring the railways, some energy firms, and Royal Mail back into public ownership, according to [...]
Charlotte Hogg’s resignation as Bank of England’s deputy governor was “disproportionate” to her offence, say Bank directors May 10, 2017 Charlotte Hogg’s departure from her role as the Bank of England’s deputy governor was “disproportionate” to her offence, according to directors of the Bank. Hogg resigned from her role in March following a report by the Treasury select committee questioning her competence for failing to disclose that her brother works for Barclays. Hogg joined the [...]
Barclays AGM: Boss Jes Staley apologises to shareholders for whistleblowing scandal and plays down Brexit concerns May 10, 2017 Barclays chief executive Jes Staley today kicked off the bank’s annual general meeting (AGM) with an apology over his attempts to identify a whistleblower. “I made a mistake in becoming involved in an issue which I should have left with the business to deal with. I have apologised to the board, and I would today [...]
Ranked: These are the best London boroughs for tech startups – Havering is in first place, Islington is last May 10, 2017 Startups based in Havering have the best chances of making it compared to those in other London boroughs, according to new research from recruitment firm Talentful. The survival rate for new businesses – i.e. the number of firms that make it through their first year in on piece – in Havering was 91.5 per cent, [...]
Canadian pension fund PSP boss Andre Bourbonnais: We’ve picked London as our base as it’ll be Europe’s financial heartland after Brexit May 10, 2017 One of Canada’s largest pension fund managers has picked London as its new European headquarters, insisting the UK capital “is and will remain the financial centre of Europe”. The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP), which serves the Royal Canadian Mounted Police alongside other civil servants and boasts C$125.8bn (£70.7bn) of assets under management, will [...]
Chatbots could save business $8bn a year by 2022, with banks and healthcare gaining the biggest cost savings May 9, 2017 Chatbots could save business billions of pounds a year with banking and healthcare expected to be the biggest sectors to benefit. Responding to customer queries using automated messages for instance, or advising patients on symptoms, could save $8bn (£6bn) in costs every year across global business by 2022, analysts at Juniper Research forecast. “We believe [...]
Bank of England opens way to blockchain for payments but says it is not yet “mature” enough May 9, 2017 The Bank of England has rejected blockchain as the basis for a new payments system, but said it wants to leave the door open for other banks to use the technology to settle transactions. The new payments system will be designed to interface with separate payment platforms underpinned by the distributed ledger technology that underpins [...]
Energy price cap: Here’s how the City is reacting to the Conservative plan to cap energy prices May 9, 2017 Yesterday, Prime Minister Theresa May promised the Conservative party will put a cap on energy prices if it holds a majority after the election. The decision has caused an eruption of opinions from energy bosses, consumer groups and business firms. Here’s what they’re saying… “Poorly justified political meddling” The Institute of Economic Affairs said the [...]
Towergate to merge with four UK insurance firms, Autonet, Chase Templeton, Ryan Direct and Price Forbes, forming an “independent market leader” May 9, 2017 Insurance firm Towergate is to join forces with four other firms in a shake-up of the UK insurance sector. US private groups HPS and Madison Dearborn (MDP) will merge the firms they already own into one company. Autonet, Chase Templeton, Ryan Direct and Price Forbes will join Towergate. Read more: City watchdog fines Towergate and [...]
Highland Europe leads $40m investment in StarLeaf, a UK tech startup making video conference calls loads easier May 9, 2017 Highland Europe has led a multimillion pound investment in a high growth startup specialising in video conference calling technology. Cambridge-founded StarLeaf has landed $40m (£31m) from the venture capital firm which has previously invested in Brandwatch, WeTransfer and Outfittery, along with Grafton Capital. Read more: Meet the 17 high-growth startups being hot-housed by the LSE [...]