Peter Thiel’s just plunged more cash into this fintech startup July 20, 2016 Renowned investor Peter Thiel is ploughing more cash into a fintech startup he first invested in earlier this year. Retail banking platform Deposit Solutions has raised €15m in a new funding round from top investors, valuing the firm at €110m. In addition to Thiel, the Hamburg-founded fintech firm landed investment from another prior investor, FinLab, [...]
Manny leaves Man Group: Arsenal and Remain supporter heading for Pimco July 20, 2016 On 30 April, as Arsenal faced Norwich at the Emirates Stadium, fans staged a protest with some targeting long-serving (and highly-paid) manager Arsene Wenger. Man Group chief executive Emmanuel (Manny) Roman – who, it was today announced, is leaving for Pimco –may well have felt some sympathy for his fellow Frenchman. The Gunners supporter was, after all, [...]
Four European hidden gem stocks for your portfolio July 20, 2016 Europe's investment markets are wallowing in an unprecedented level of support from the European Central Bank (ECB). They are being cossetted by a massive €1.7 trillion QE programme, much of which is likely to find its way into stock markets and raise share prices. Negative interest rates are also encouraging banks to invest and the ECB [...]
Women have some catching up to do with their pension pots July 20, 2016 Ladies are lagging behind gentlemen in the retirement savings stakes, research out today has found. The study by Aegon UK found a mere 10 per cent of women are prepared for retirement, compared with 14 per cent of men. Women's pensions pots look particular measly in comparison to men's, with women having £20,000 stashed away on average [...]
UK shares and property worst hit as investor confidence plummets after Brexit vote July 20, 2016 Investor confidence has suffered a “substantial drop” since the EU referendum, a new report has found. Lloyds Bank said its investor sentiment index, launched in March 2013, has fallen to its lowest ever level, turning negative for the first time. It found investor confidence is increasingly negative in relation to asset classes exposed to the UK. Read more: [...]
Pokémon Go: Should you invest in Nintendo? Investors are set for share price slump, but longer term virtual reality games will prove a winner July 20, 2016 The craze for newly-released mobile game Pokémon Go has sent shares in co-owner Nintendo up 75 per cent. Pokémon Go has been downloaded over 15m times since it was released last week. It currently ranks as the fastest adopted game in history. So far, it’s available to play in the UK, US, Germany, Australia and New [...]
Fairway friends: Why golf is the best way to seal the deal July 20, 2016 Business is about building and maintaining profitable relationships. It’s not always about making money in the short term, but about finding people who you can trust, and can work with to ensure mutual success. Many City firms would be quick to distance themselves from an “old boy network”, but there is no doubt that personal [...]
Retiring to Europe? You should wait until Brexit negotiations on pensions and healthcare access have concluded July 20, 2016 Many Brits approaching retirement dream of moving to the continent. But Brexit has thrown a spanner in the works. Since the referendum, sterling has plummeted against a basket of foreign currencies, including the euro, and question marks loom over expats’ ability to settle elsewhere in Europe. Things look even more chaotic when it comes to financial [...]
Pension auto-enrolment is getting more UK workers saving for the future July 20, 2016 In a sign that UK workers are starting to save again since the financial crisis hit, new data shows that the total annual pension contributions made in the UK has increased by nearly a fifth since 2010. Analysis of HMRC data by Prudential shows workers paid £9.03bn into pensions in 2014-15, up from the £7.71bn contributed in 2010-11. [...]
Embrace culture to boost your business, new report tells the boardroom July 20, 2016 Boardrooms need to focus their efforts on instilling the right culture to protect their business interests and boost their bottom lines, a report out today argues. Based on discussions with chairmen, chief executives, investors and stakeholders, the research from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) made seven key observations which needed to be acknowledged to improve [...]