Banks have a duty to regain public trust – and it may take a generation December 14, 2015 Trust in the financial services sector remains stubbornly low. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, only half of the countries surveyed put their faith in financial services. And the picture is even worse for banks. From 2014 to 2015, trust in banks declined in two thirds of the countries covered, with the highest levels of [...]
Uber, drills and the death of ownership: Why the future is renting… everything December 14, 2015 If markets are so great, why do firms exist at all? To a non-economist, that might seem like a bizarre thing to ask. Yet the growth of the misleadingly named “sharing economy” is making it one of the most important questions for understanding the future economic structure of our world. We have traditionally thought that [...]
Amid scepticism that benefit limits for EU migrants are achievable, can Cameron’s renegotiation be judged a failure? December 14, 2015 Brian Monteith, a director of Global Britain, says Yes With or without changes to benefits for EU migrants, real reform was never on the cards. The things that really matter – EU law trumping national law, open borders, having no power to make trade deals on our own, and so on – were never up [...]
Philanthropy is at the heart of the City – and there are more ways to give than ever December 14, 2015 With only 11 days left until Christmas, streets that until recently were sparse and drab with winter gloom are now transformed. People stride around with rolls of wrapping paper, tinsel glints in shop windows, and gingerbready aromas waft down Cheapside. It’s a unique time when the City community is even closer than normal. Our minds [...]
Weak FTSE index should give Osborne sleepless nights December 14, 2015 How many people, back in January, were predicting that the FTSE 100 index would start with a “5” come December? Certainly not the experts at one leading bank (we’ll grant anonymity… for now) who forecast a reading close to 8,000, or its more restrained peers who thought the blue-chip index would be in the low-to-mid [...]
Donald Trump will lose his presidential campaign – but what he represents isn’t going anywhere December 13, 2015 Donald Trump, for all that he is pushing his supposed novelty as the great reason fearful Americans should vote for him, is actually part of a very old American story, even if he is probably personally unaware of this. Before dispatching him to the obscurity he so richly deserves, it is important to place Trump [...]
The rise of the portfolio economy means starting a business is no longer such a high risk gamble December 13, 2015 Starting a business used to be like putting all your chips on red. You won big or you went home empty-handed. With dreams of taking on the world, entrepreneurs had more in common with those who pack their bags for Las Vegas than serious business people. It meant quitting the day job and gambling hard-earned [...]
As the FOMC meets this week, is it now imperative that the US Fed starts hiking interest rates? December 13, 2015 Didier Saint-Georges, managing director at Carmignac, says Yes There are good reasons to be worried by the Fed’s rate rise, as growth remains very shaky everywhere, including in the US. Janet Yellen is obviously acutely aware of this economic fragility, and we would hope she isn’t fooled by headline employment numbers. But the case for [...]
Cashless society: Why businesses need to wake up to the rise of the digital future December 11, 2015 The news that card and electronic transactions have overtaken cash as the UK’s preferred method of payment is a watershed moment for the nation’s businesses. As people increasingly choose their digital wallet over their leather one, any company, no matter what their size or sector, must get ready for a cashless future that is [...]
Bottling airport decision is bad for UK business and casts doubt over new infrastructure commission December 11, 2015 What exactly was the point of the Airport Commission? That was the question being asked last night by, among others, IoD boss Simon Walker. Having launched in 2012, the commission reported earlier this year after an extensive and exhaustive investigation into Britain’s airport capacity. The exercise cost £20m and was designed, in part, to remove [...]