No, P2P lenders aren’t going to topple banks – but we don’t want to May 25, 2016 Peer-to-peer lending was born a decade ago and has offered an alternative and often more accessible route to funding for thousands of small and medium sized businesses. The sector’s popularity has exploded in recent years, leading many, including a newly published report from Deloitte, to assume that platforms now have the established banking sector in [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 25, 2016 Oil is climbing and China has fixed the yuan at its weakest level in five years. Here's what you need to know before the market open at 14:30 London time. The pre-market is pointing to a strong rise at the open. The S&P is up by 0.36 per cent, while the Nasdaq is up by 0.44 per cent. [...]
Retail Acquisitions may not have been fully aware of the BHS pension position when it first explored buying the retailer May 25, 2016 BHS' pensions fund trustees today told MPs that Retail Acquisitions may not have been fully aware of the pension scheme position when it began the process of buying the business. Speaking in front of the Work and Pensions committee and the Business, Innovation and Skills committee, Chris Martin, chair of the BHS Pension Fund Trustees, pointed [...]
Why long-term investors shouldn’t fear Brexit: Alarming projections have emerged about the impact of Britain leaving the EU on sterling, stocks and bonds. But there are reasons not to expect the worst May 25, 2016 You’d be forgiven for thinking the investment industry is united against Brexit. Accompanied by alarming forecasts about the impact of a Leave vote on sterling or the risk to various sectors of the UK economy, repeated reports have painted the referendum as a choice between emotion and reason, with Remain the only sensible option for [...]
Screen it out: How to stop distractive devices from sapping your productivity May 25, 2016 We live and work in a technologically-driven world, and tech does not come without its challenges. We now receive and process more than double the amount of information per day as we did 20 years ago, and this explosion has profoundly affected our wellbeing. Read more: Employees lose a staggering amount of time to stress – [...]
Don’t blame the global slowdown for Brazil’s economic ruin May 25, 2016 If the diverging fortunes of Africa make it palpably clear that the Brics hysteria about the inevitable rise of most emerging markets is intellectual fool’s gold, what is going on in South America definitively drives a stake through the heart of that argument. For yesterday’s darling Brazil continues to fall off the table, just as [...]
How your pension could cost you £13,500 May 24, 2016 Those who haven't reviewed their pension contributions since a string of rule changes came into force earlier this year could find themselves facing a hefty tax bill, a London accountancy firm is warning today. Blick Rothenberg has cautioned that people who haven't altered the amount they are topping up their pension pot with since the annual allowance was lowered [...]
One in three people can’t make their pay last the whole month May 24, 2016 If you're already having to eke out the last vestiges of your April payday, you can rest assured you're not alone. Over a third of Britons, 34 per cent, fail to make their paycheck last the whole month, according to a new poll of nearly 1,000 people's spending and saving habits from Wizzcash. One of the major reasons [...]
The big squeeze: Should you consider VCTs as part of your retirement planning? May 24, 2016 A total of £429m of new money was raised by Venture Capital Trust (VCTs) managers in 2014-15 – the fourth highest yearly figure ever. Introduced back in 1995, these listed investment vehicles enable investors to access pooled funds of smaller, higher risk firms in a tax-efficient manner, while providing a crucial lifeline to fast-growing UK [...]
China just joined a major blockchain consortium May 24, 2016 A Chinese insurer is the latest business to join the major R3 blockchain consortium and the first financial institution in the country to become a member alongside the likes of Barclays, HSBC and Goldman Sachs. Ping An, the second largest insurance firm in China, has joined the group, which was formed late last year to work on [...]
