Asleep at the wheel: MPs and campaigners blast transport top dogs over botched HS2 contract April 20, 2017 A whistleblower exposed a conflict of interest at the heart of a £170m High Speed 2 contract, it emerged yesterday, triggering fresh criticism of the government’s handling of procurement on its flagship £56bn rail project. American firm CH2M was awarded the development partner contract on HS2 in February, beating Bechtel and a joint venture between [...]
Biometric banking: Mastercard’s created a credit card with fingerprint recognition to replace pins April 20, 2017 You can ditch your pin next time you’re at the till – just a fingerprint is needed to pay with Mastercard’s latest credit card. Inspired by the likes of Apple, where a touch of your finger can unlock the iPhone, the card company is trialling the biometric technology to make it easier to pay. Here’s [...]
London fintech startup investment is on the rebound in the first quarter of 2017 thanks to Funding Circle, Monzo and Currencycloud deals April 20, 2017 Investment into fintech startups in London is on the rebound, fresh figures seen exclusively by City A.M. suggest. Startups working in the hot tech space attracted £177m in funding in the first three months of the year, more than any quarter in 2016 and its highest since the second quarter of 2015. It comes after [...]
Bolstering regional infrastructure will add £175bn to the UK economy by 2024, says the CBI April 20, 2017 Unlocking higher productivity through bolstering regional infrastructure links could add £175bn to England’s economy by 2024, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Of that, £12.7bn is attributable to London. Read more: Government should cut business rates if there’s a Brexit slowdown: CBI The CBI has released a new report noting infrastructure as a [...]
VAT fraud and error on online marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay costs the UK £1bn, National Audit Office says April 19, 2017 The UK is losing up to £1bn a year in VAT because of fraud or error by sellers on websites like Ebay and Amazon. The National Audit Office (NAO) said the consumer regulator Trading Standards found companies failed to remove sellers often based in China that were flouting VAT rules, even after being informed about [...]
Uber granted appeal in landmark legal case over employment status of drivers as workers or self-employed April 19, 2017 Uber has been granted an appeal in a landmark legal battle over the employment status of its drivers in the UK. The multi-billion dollar startup will return to court later this year to argue against an employment tribunal ruling which last year said that Uber drivers should be classed as workers and are not self-employed. [...]
Does earning £70,000 make you rich, as Labour’s John McDonnell suggests? April 19, 2017 The nation’s chattering classes were in uproar today after Labour’s shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, suggested his party will shift the tax burden to “the rich” – which he defined as those earning “above £70,000 to £80,000 a year”. Does £70,000 really make you rich? Objectively, it isn’t a difficult question to answer: annual earnings of [...]
Michael Spencer’s Nex Group (formerly known as Icap) plans to ditch Broadgate for Spitalfields Market April 19, 2017 Michael Spencer’s Nex Group is plotting a move from Broadgate to Spitalfields Market. The company formerly known as Icap said it was in advanced negotiations with Ashurst regarding leasing 115,000 square feet of office space in the London Fruit and Wool Exchange for its new UK headquarters. Read more: Icap charity day: Here are some [...]
It looks like BT is ramping up its experiments with blockchain technology, patent filings reveal April 19, 2017 BT is ramping up its work on blockchain technology, with several patents related to the distributed ledger technology filed in recent months. The FTSE 100 telecoms firm which also provides IT services to high profile clients globally, such as Nationwide Bank, has filed at least six patents since the start of the year in relation [...]
China’s Bright Food loses its taste for Weetabix and sells it to the American Post Holdings: Where did it all go wrong? April 19, 2017 It was announced yesterday that Chinese company Bright Food is to sell Weetabix to the American Post Holdings. Bright Food acquired the British stalwart in 2012 with a view to introducing breakfast cereal to the lucrative Asian market, but recently put the brand up for sale when it became clear it had struggled to crack [...]