A sharing economy must be a trusting economy April 18, 2015 Husayn Kassai is CEO and Co-Founder of Onfido. Trust is the foundation stone of all transactions. We traditionally rely on meeting people and building trust over time, but in an on-demand world, we don’t have the luxury of being able to wait. We’re moving from a world where people tend to know each other and interact with a [...]
Britain’s anti-immigration arms race could make the housing crisis worse April 16, 2015 With the polls still tight, the battle between the two main political parties over who has the strongest policy on controlling immigration is reaching its peak. Yet the contest to be crowned toughest on immigration threatens to jeopardise efforts to address one of the other big issues of the election campaign – the chronic shortage [...]
Don’t get suckered by the anti-Europeans: The EU is already being reformed April 16, 2015 As the election nears, policy promises are coming thick and fast: “the NHS, schools, the economy and jobs will be safe in our hands and ruined in theirs” – or words to that effect. Likewise, when it comes to Europe, the differences between parties appear stark. But they all make one point in different ways: [...]
China is not in trouble: Its economic potential is only just being realised April 16, 2015 The question of whether China will experience a hard or soft slowdown from the towering growth figures it has become accustomed to crashed back into the news this week. The latest official figures showed that GDP grew at its slowest pace for six years in the first quarter of 2015, at an annualised rate of [...]
As Greece comes close to defaulting on its debt, is a Grexit now more likely than not? April 16, 2015 George Efstathopoulos, co-portfolio manager at Fidelity Solutions, says Yes As liquidity constraints in Greece become more real, a Grexit is growing more likely by the day. While a possible Greek default on its payments to the IMF (recently suggested by Greek officials) may not directly result in Grexit, such an event could be perceived as [...]
Japan Inc remains a man’s world – but that might finally be changing April 15, 2015 Learners of Japanese soon run into the phrase “shou ga nai”. Roughly translated as “it can’t be helped”, it neatly sums up a fatalistic philosophy in tune with a nation beset by earthquakes, tsunami, volcanoes and typhoons. Until recently, Japan’s record on gender equality also fell into the “shou ga nai” category. Even with a [...]
A new type of company is emerging – and it’s time our politicians noticed April 15, 2015 Business is changing. The predominance of companies for which profit is everything – and everything else is nothing – is waning, and a new wave of entrepreneurs and socially-minded individuals is on the rise. If I could give one piece of advice to the next government, it would be this: don’t just do what’s best [...]
Jean-Claude Juncker must wake up: Only Treaty change will keep Britain in the EU April 15, 2015 A common theme in all the party manifestos this week has been a commitment to EU reform – aside from Ukip, which would like Britain to leave immediately. And many of the reforms proposed are familiar: overhauling the disastrous Common Agricultural Policy, ending the EU Parliament’s travelling circus, and completing the Single Market have been [...]
As the EU files an antitrust complaint against Google, is its dominance actually dangerous? April 15, 2015 Steve Kuncewicz, a media lawyer at Bermans, says Yes Much as the public may not really care about how their search results are presented to them, Google’s ubiquity may be about more than it just being the best at what it does. This case turns on how Google presents search results relating to its competitors, [...]
After core inflation fell to a nine-year low of 1 per cent in March, should we be worried? April 15, 2015 Ashraf Laidi is chief global strategist at City Index, says Yes As UK inflation extends its hold in zero territory, it may only be a matter of time before core inflation (stripping out volatile factors like food) creeps closer to zero. A continuation of this trend may imply that disinflationary pressures coming into the production [...]