Retired workers should be allowed to sell their pensions to the highest bidder, says minister Steve Webb January 4, 2015 Retirees may soon get the right to sell off their savings for a lump sum, according to pensions minister Steve Webb. Liberal Democrat Webb said that he wanted to go further than the reforms outlined by George Osborne at the last budget, which, from this April, allow workers to trade their pension savings for [...]
London technology sector booms: Start-ups receive twice as much venture capital funding in 2014 December 30, 2014 The amount of venture capital funding given to technology start-ups in London hit a record high this year. According to research group CB Insights for London & Partners, investors put $1.4bn (£0.9bn) into the capital’s young companies over the last 12 months. This is twice as high as last year and 20 times higher than [...]
10 times London was awesome in 2014 December 23, 2014 As if we didn’t already know how awesome London was, in 2014 it proved itself better than any other city (especially New York) in almost every way. 1. Best city in the world London is an economic powerhouse, technologically ready and a city gateway making it a transport and tourism hub. Basically, that makes London the [...]
Pensions pots to Kristofferson: Hermes Investment chief Saker Nusseibeh’s bid to make the City think differently December 21, 2014 “I do genuinely play guitar still, badly; I refuse to look at Harley Davidson stocks – because to me it’s a religion, not a motorbike company and I’m growing my beard to try and look like Kris Kristofferson,” Saker Nusseibeh, chief executive of Hermes Investment Management tells me. “Does this make me a better or [...]
Gimme 5 December 21, 2014 …APPS FOR CUTTING DOWN ON STRESS Schedule Planner Free Staying on top of your daily routine and tasks is surely one of the best ways of making your working day less “mindless”, or stressful. And Schedule Planner is one of the most-loved planning apps out there. It’s designed with busy users in mind, and the [...]
Firms’ £1.8bn bill as pension deficits grow December 18, 2014 PROFITS at Britain’s leading firms are being dragged down by sustained pension fund deficits, thanks to falling bond yields, according to a study out today from Mercer. This problem is exemplified in AA corporate bond yields, which have fallen to 3.38 per cent as measured by the Markit iBoxx >15 year index. This figure is [...]
Let’s empower London’s fintech innovators to banish rip-off remittance fees December 18, 2014 HUNDREDS of thousands of Londoners will work extra hours this Christmas in difficult and low paid jobs so they can send money to relatives living abroad. Remittances like these now outstrip the amount sent in donor aid to sub-Saharan Africa. But these remittances will be reduced in value by money transfer charges as high as [...]
My year-ahead predictions: Divergence will be a crucial theme December 16, 2014 For the most part, 2014 has been volatile for global financial markets, with several key markets likely to record losses for the year. In the context of a recovering world economy, it has been disappointing. We predict more of the same next year, with the US and UK economies doing well, and emerging markets and [...]
Belgian unions strike over pension reforms December 15, 2014 Belgian unions grounded all flights, halted all trains and closed hundreds of factories and offices in a nationwide strike yesterday in protest over the government’s planned pension reforms and budget cuts. In Brussels, police held back striking workers who rioted outside the offices of Flemish separatist party N-VA, one of the four parties in the [...]
Alibaba moves London tech headquarters to Canary Wharf December 14, 2014 Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has moved its London headquarters from Mayfair to Canary Wharf as the Docklands continues to develop as a rival tech hub to Old Street. Alibaba, which raised a record $25bn (£15.9bn) when it went public in September, is now based on Level 28 of the iconic One Canada Square, just below [...]
