McKinsey warns banks that fintech startups and alternative finance pose threat to traditional banking’s profits September 30, 2015 McKinsey has warned banks that fintech startups are a threat to traditional banking’s profits, giving them a choice: fight them or join them. London’s fintech hubs are booming, with over 12,000 startups disrupting financial services with products that are often cheaper for customers. This poses a real threat to banks' profits, according to a report [...]
World view September 29, 2015 From capital flight to monetary wobbles, we highlight the figures that matter from around the world UNITED STATES 13 of 17 FOMC members predict a Fed rate rise in 2015. $1 trillion Total US car loans outstanding reached a record level, rising by $119bn in the second quarter. SOUTH AMERICA Junk S&P’s rating of Brazil [...]
What Jeremy Corbyn means for investors September 29, 2015 Jeremy Corbyn is unlikely to become Prime Minister. Polling by ORB found that one in five Labour voters at the last General Election would switch to the Conservatives because of Corbyn. His net approval ratings are also dire: at minus 18 per cent, according to YouGov. At the same point after he was elected Labour [...]
Animal Spirits Poland is Europe’s economic star. Will politics derail it? September 29, 2015 Each month John Hulsman examines under-appreciated opportunities around the world, uncovering markets that it would be easy to overlook A few years ago, I remember leaving a wonderfully Hapsburgian café in Warsaw with a good friend of mine, an expert in the terribly sad history of Central and Eastern Europe. While I was enthusing about [...]
One in six retired men go back to work – and are happier for it September 29, 2015 Working men might dream of retiring to travel the world or simply relax after slogging it out at work – but once they stop working, it seems many of them crave a return to the office. A new study has found that an increasing number of men u-turn on their retirement plans in favour of [...]
Canary Wharf takes over from Tech City and Silicon Roundabout as London’s hottest Fintech spot September 28, 2015 Much has been made of Silicon Roundabout and Tech City's abilities to crank out tech "unicorns" – but there's a new neighbourhood in techland, and it's muscled in on the areas' fintech sectors. Yep – according to property giant CBRE, Canary Wharf is the new epicentre of London fintech, with 13 of the capital's 140 [...]
London fintech: Insurance tech is here, but it needs to catch up with the world of data science September 28, 2015 Rob Moffat’s recent column on the necessity for the insurance industry to catch up with tech was a welcome call to arms. It throws down the gauntlet to what can be a regressive industry, and plots a course for the future. What he may not have realised, though, is that much of the work he [...]
New pension freedoms leading to prolonged careers as older workers delay retirement September 27, 2015 A QUARTER of older workers could delay retirement after dipping into their pension pots, according to research from pension provider Zurich. One in four (26 per cent) of over 55s in employment said they were planning to work beyond their retirement date after using pension freedoms to release cash from their savings. More than 200,000 [...]
Michael Moritz: Billionaire venture capitalist on leadership and his new book with Sir Alex Ferguson September 27, 2015 If you meet Michael Moritz, you’re speaking to a venture capitalist whose investments include Google, PayPal, Yahoo and LinkedIn. He was the man Steve Jobs described as Apple’s “historian”, and went on to write the first history of the company, The Little Kingdom. His firm, Sequoia Capital, forms close relationships with young founders, whose companies [...]
Avoiding pitfalls in a management buy-out – Investec Comment September 27, 2015 A management buy-out, when a management team buys a company from its existing shareholders, should be a win-win situation. The management team, alongside its private equity backer, gets to acquire the business they have worked hard to build. For the selling shareholder, the business’ management team is in theory the most educated buyer they could [...]
