Investment professionals must beware of the cyber risks in portfolios May 25, 2021 | City Talk Internet security blog posts are usually more at home on the inside pages of IT trade publications than on the front pages of international newspapers. The one published by Microsoft Corporate Vice President Tom Burt on 2 March, about the emergence of “state-sponsored threat actor” Hafnium, was a notable exception. A new threat had emerged, [...]
Cash clueless: Nearly half of Brits don’t know what an overdraft or mortgage is May 24, 2021 A new study has found that more than one in four people in the UK don’t feel confident when it comes to handling their personal finances. The research, carried out by debt management company Lowell and shared with City A.M. this evening, found that just a third of people claim to feel “very confident” when handling [...]
Robinhood to allow users to buy into IPOs May 20, 2021 Trading platform Robinhood has said it plans to roll out a platform to allow its users to buy into initial public offerings (IPOs) in a move aimed at democratizing finance. To date users of the commission-free app, as well as other amateur traders, cannot not buy into stock of a newly listed company until its [...]
UK CPI: Inflation rate surges to 1.5 per cent in April May 19, 2021 UK inflation more than doubled to 1.5 per cent in April, up from 0.7 per cent in March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this morning. Economists had forecast a rise of 1.4 per cent, as a jump in electricity and gas bills pushed inflation higher. Core inflation, which excludes energy prices and other [...]
Emerging Asia-Pacific capital markets: challenges and opportunities May 18, 2021 | City Talk CFA Institute has published ‘The Emerging Asia Pacific Capital Markets: Challenges and Opportunities’. The report, compiled by Larry Cao and Luis Garcia-Feijóo, presents perspectives from local authors on the financial history, current status and outlook for 11 countries. Their insights should be particularly valuable for prospective investors. Many have argued that the 21st century will [...]
BoE’s Cunliffe sees strong case for UK digital currency May 13, 2021 Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe today said he could see good reasons for the central bank to launch its own digital currency. Cunliffe said the Covid crisis had accelerated the shift away from ‘public’ cash issued by the BoE and in favour of ‘private’ money used for online payments. “We may not be [...]
BT: Investors unenthused by £2bn pension funding deal as shares drop 6.3 per cent May 13, 2021 BT today announced plans to bring full-fibre broadband to an extra 5m homes as the financial burden of its pension deficit eased. The telecoms firm struck a new deal for its pension, which is one of the biggest in the country at £7.98bn. Some £2bn of deficit will be met through an asset-backed funding arrangement [...]
FTSE 100 outperforms global peers as Wall Street opens lower May 12, 2021 London’s FTSE 100 rebounded today after stronger-than-expected GDP data bolstered optimism about a sharp economic recovery. The blue-chip index rose 0.9 per cent this afternoon, with drinks giant Diageo adding 4.1 per cent after forecasting profit growth and restarting its capital return programme. Elsewhere, Wall Street’s main indexes opened lower this afternoon after better-than-expected inflation [...]
Wall Street closes lower as inflation jitters spark broad sell-off May 11, 2021 US stocks closed lower today as rising commodity prices and labor shortages fed fears that despite reassurances from the US Federal Reserve, near-term price spikes could translate into longer-term inflation. While all three indexes pared their losses from session lows, the sell-off was fairly evenly dispersed across the sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell [...]
More private sector DB pension schemes in surplus than deficit as UK moves toward economic recovery May 11, 2021 The funding of private sector defined benefit (DB) pension schemes in the last year has become healthier, with the number of schemes in surplus greater than those in deficit. Last month, of 5,318 private sector DB schemes, there were 2,622 schemes in deficit and 2,696 in surplus, according to figures from the Pension Protection Fund’s [...]