New head of global commercial banking at HSBC after top-level reshuffle August 8, 2019 HSBC has promoted Barry O’Byrne to head up the lender’s global commercial banking arm as its previous boss takes the reins as interim chief executive of the company. Read more: Co-op bank narrows losses O’Byrne is taking on the interim role as part of a top-level reshuffle that involved Noel Quinn, HSBC’s former chief executive [...]
Insurer Zurich expects to beat targets as profits jump August 8, 2019 Zurich Insurance Group hailed its best performance in a decade this morning after reporting a double-digit rise in profits and predicting that it would beat previous financial goals it had set. Read more: Aviva confirms strategic review of Asia Europe’s fifth largest insurer reported business operating profits of $2.8bn (£2.3bn) in the first six months [...]
British Airways warns customers of ‘knock-on’ disruption after IT glitch August 8, 2019 British Airways has warned customers there may be some “knock-on” disruption after an IT glitch caused chaos at London airports yesterday. BA said it planned to run a normal schedule but that passengers should check their flight status on its website for updates. Read more: British Airways IT outage forces airline to cancel flights Passengers [...]
Muddy Waters: Shortsellers are targeting Neil Woodford investments after Burford Capital August 8, 2019 The head of Muddy Waters has warned that shortsellers are attacking Neil Woodford investments a day after he shorted Burford Capital, burning almost £1.8bn off the value of the company. “Shortsellers do definitely look for where Neil Woodford is invested, especially when he’s invested outside of large cap value,” said Carson Block. Read more: Burford [...]
Uncertainty hits UK jobs market as hiring wanes August 8, 2019 Hiring remained subdued last month, as ongoing political and economy uncertainty continued to cast a cloud over the UK’s job market. Permanent staff appointments tumbled for the fifth consecutive month in July. Read more: US employment reaches new high The rate of growth in starting salaries awarded to newly placed permanent staff also slumped to [...]
‘Enough is enough’ says police chief, after Leyton machete attack August 8, 2019 A police officer is in critical condition after being stabbed with a machete multiple times during a “frenzied, unprovoked and shocking attack” in east London late last night. The injured officer managed to defend himself with a Taser, but not before being stabbed in the head and body “a number of times”, police said. He [...]
City Moves for 8 August – Who’s switching jobs at 11:FS, AlbionVC and Databricks? August 8, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes 11:FS, AlbionVC and Databricks. 11:FS 11:FS, the challenger firm defining and building digitally native financial services through technology, product and design expertise, has announced that Shaun Meadows has joined the firm as chairman. In the newly created role, Shaun will work with the 11:FS board to review company objectives, examine performance [...]
City grandee Bob Wigley sued over collapse of Yellow Pages-owner Hibu August 7, 2019 City grandee Bob Wigley has been named in a multi-million dollar lawsuit relating to his time as chairman of Yellow Pages-owner Hibu and the company’s collapse in 2013. The lawsuit, which was filed last week in the US, accuses Wigley and other directors and officers of the former FTSE 100 firm of deliberately crashing the [...]
British Airways’ IT glitch rounds off a terrible week for the airline August 7, 2019 British Airways has tonight fixed the IT glitch that led to hundreds of cancelled flights earlier today, but industry experts say the damage to its reputation has already been done. About 117 flights were cancelled at Heathrow and 10 at Gatwick, with hundreds more delayed, leading to frustrated and stranded passengers. Read more: British Airways [...]
Rail firms could seek costs after government scraps franchise bidding August 7, 2019 Two train firms could seek to recover costs from the government after it scrapped the bidding process for one of the UK’s largest rail franchises. The Department for Transport (DfT) insists there is no recourse for the rail firms as they enter into the bidding process at their own risk. Read more: Scrapped: Government cancels [...]