Startup city: Square Mile investors make London the top place after Silicon Valley for tech firms September 22, 2021 London is second only to Silicon Valley for the best place for startups to thrive, according to a definitive ranking of the world’s major tech and business hubs. The capital tied with New York in second place to the Californian area synonymous with billion-dollar valuations and tech bros – and far ahead of the next [...]
Nation of entrepreneurs: UK home to more small businesses than any other country in Europe September 22, 2021 The number of small businesses has skyrocketed in the past year. With a wave of redundancies and furloughing alongside spending more time at home, people took the opportunity to set up their own small businesses. This has meant that the world has seen an increase in ‘micro enterprises’, businesses with less than 10 employees. To find out which countries [...]
‘Quality losses’ matter more to investors than ‘quality gains’ September 21, 2021 | City Talk People dislike losses more than they like gains. Known as loss aversion, this phenomenon, or behavioural bias, serves as a cornerstone of prospect theory, developed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky more than 40 years ago. A forthcoming paper, which I co-authored with Didem Kurt, Koen Pauwels and Shuba Srinivasan, applies this theory to product [...]
Not such a green City: Two thirds of firms have zero plans for sustainability September 20, 2021 More than two thirds of all businesses across the UK have no environmental sustainability policy, according to new research shared with City A.M. this morning. A survey by recycling group Suez and the British Chambers of Commerce found that 64 per cent of around 1,000 businesses surveyed said they had no such plan. Overall only [...]
Pension pots: How much is enough? September 14, 2021 As you approach retirement, one of the biggest questions you’re likely to have is, “Have I saved enough?” There’s no golden rule for how much money you’ll need in retirement, as much will depend on when you retire, what you plan to do in retirement, and how long you live. However, having a rough idea [...]
60 Seconds With… Fashion guru and placemaker Yasmin Jones-Henry September 14, 2021 Yasmin Jones-Henry works in the space where fashion meets finance, and where culture meets commerce. She has made her name describing the crucial role culture can play for the new generation of investors, and putting forward the business case for diversity in the fashion and culture sectors. Through her work with Futurecity, a ‘placemaking agency’, [...]
Socially responsible investing and performance: a long-term winner September 14, 2021 | City Talk Companies with stronger ESG ratings outperform, particularly in times of crisis, as we witnessed during 2020, says Coline Pavot, La Financière de l’Echiquier (LFDE)’s head of responsible investment research. Companies that rank well according to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria tend to outperform the average and have greater resistance to crises. This was confirmed [...]
All eyes on digital assets: Brevan Howard targets crypto September 13, 2021 Hedge fund Brevan Howard will “significantly expand” its focus on crypto and digital assets with the launch of a new unit focused on the sector, in the latest move indicating growing institutional appetite for the asset class. Brevan, one of Europe’s largest hedge funds, announced it has launched a new division, dubbed “BH Digital”, which [...]
Bottom-up ESG: New platform wants to give retail investor army voting power for £1 September 9, 2021 Tulipshare is targeting the next generation of shareholders by tapping into their booming interest in retail investment and demand for a corporate ESG overhaul. The new UK-based activist investment platform wants to enable individuals to “vote with their money” for change from the inside at Amazon, Coca-Cola and Apple by investing as little as £1. [...]
Does the IPCC report change anything? September 8, 2021 | City Talk The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published its sixth assessment report (AR6) this week. It has captured headlines around the world, and sets a sobering backdrop in the run-up to COP26, which will bring global leaders together to agree the next leg of global action to tackle the defining challenge of our era. [...]