How can it be both the best of times and the worst of times for markets? September 12, 2019 As the sleepy months of late summer fade away, investors put down the classics and pick up the financial pages as markets resume their usual commotion of activity. We should use it to reflect on what has been a great year for investors, despite the recent market wobbles. Indeed, equities continue to rally, with the [...]
Santander issues first end-to-end $20m blockchain bond September 12, 2019 Santander said today it has become the first financial institution to digitise the process of issuing bonds on a public blockchain. The Spanish banking giant used the public ethereum blockchain to tokenise the bond securely and register it on the blockchain – a sort of digital public ledger that can record transactions in close to [...]
How much stimulus will the ECB deliver? September 12, 2019 | City Talk A great showman always leaves people wanting more. In his penultimate showpiece, ECB chief Mario Draghi may do exactly that. Expectations ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting are running very high. Whilst it seems the ECB will throw the kitchen sink at slow growth and persistently lacklustre inflation, markets seem to want the [...]
John McDonnell poised to back widening of UK financial transactions tax September 11, 2019 Shadow chancellor John McDonnell is set to extend Labour’s plans for a new tax on UK financial transactions in a move that could bring in an extra £2.1bn to the government’s coffers. Under Labour’s existing plans, the 0.5 per cent duty on share trading would be extended to other asset classes. Labour say this would [...]
UK litigation funder Augusta raises $115m from US investment manager September 11, 2019 The UK’s largest litigation funder by case volume Augusta said today it had raised $115m (£93m) from an unnamed US investment manager. Managing director Louis Young said: “This development is a strong endorsement of the litigation funding industry and in particular, our market-leading experienced team”. Litigation funders back individual legal cases or portfolios of cases [...]
Hong Kong bourse proposes £32bn merger with London Stock Exchange September 11, 2019 Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has made a surprise proposal to buy the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in a £30bn tie-up, it said this morning. Read more: London Stock Exchange seals $27bn Refinitiv deal Yet it said the deal is subject to LSE’s mammoth $27bn (£22bn) merger with financial data provider Refinitiv falling through. [...]
Recruitment firm raises £45m in latest funding round September 11, 2019 Online graduate recruitment company Jobteaser has raised £45m to help roll out its careers advice to “hundreds of thousands” more students across the UK and Europe. The funding round, which was led by Highland Europe and backed by existing investors Alven, Idinvest Partners, Seventure Partners and Korelya Capital, brings the total amount raised since the [...]
Petropavlovsk swings into profit as processing plant comes online September 10, 2019 Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk put a bruising boardroom battle aside to swing into profitability in the first half of the year. The company said today that profit before tax hit $16.8m (£13.6m) in the first six months of the year, versus a loss of $33.1m over the same period in 2018. Read more: Petropavlovsk investor [...]
Debate: With its valuation in question, is WeWork’s IPO really a good idea? September 10, 2019 With its valuation in question, is WeWork’s IPO really a good idea? Yes – Andrew Boyle is founder and chief executive of LGB & Co. WeWork’s objectives of establishing a dominant market position and global brand demand substantial funding, so an IPO makes sense from the firm’s perspective. For investors, it offers a chance to [...]
How did banks get their PPI sums so wrong? September 9, 2019 | City Talk Lloyds, RBS and CYBG have all had to admit they’ll take much larger hits for PPI claims than originally thought. The end is in sight for banks and PPI claims, but what’s been made abundantly clear is just how badly they estimated the losses. The total cost to Britain’s banks from PPI is now a cool £50bn. These [...]