Bitcoin bubble grows as banks fall flat December 1, 2017 | City Talk Bitcoin continues to defy expectation. It recently reached and passed a milestone, that of the $10,000 mark, an incredible feat considering it was worth less than £1,000 at the start of 2017. Nobody can quite agree as to why it’s so strong, but a parallel to its soar in value is its huge popularity in [...]
The Bank of England has just given a coded warning about the danger posed by a no-deal Brexit. It’s terrifying November 30, 2017 | City Talk On Tuesday, the Bank of England released the details of its latest banking industry stress tests. The results made for some soothing sounding headlines – the UK financial system is strong enough to withstand a "disorderly Brexit". In other words, Britain’s banking system can withstand leaving the European Union (EU) without a trade deal. While [...]
No royal rally can change Britain’s harsh economic realities November 29, 2017 | City Talk What a difference 24 hours makes. Monday morning’s headlines in Britain were dominated by the familiar themes of Brexit-inspired political tension and economic listlessness – yet by Tuesday morning Brexit was briefly forgotten as the nation digested the news of a royal engagement. The Daily Mail’s coverage was typically low-key, with readers treated to a [...]
Markets crave political stability after the last few months November 27, 2017 | City Talk Last week started with a potential political catastrophe as Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats were forced to concede that coalition negotiations with the Free Democrats and Green Party had collapsed two months after the German elections. The election result was bad enough for Mrs Merkel’s party – its worst election result since the end of World [...]
Brexit lurks behind Britain’s cautious Budget November 24, 2017 | City Talk British Chancellors are used to facing intense scrutiny on Budget Day. Yet Philip Hammond spent weeks in the spotlight in the run-up to his November Budget. Brexiteers within the ruling Conservative Party want Theresa May to sack him because of his apparent lack of commitment to the Brexit cause, and for not being upbeat enough [...]
Autumn Budget 2017: Hammond changes corporate capital gains tax rules November 22, 2017 Corporation tax was maintained at 19 per cent in today's budget, however, the chancellor announced chances to the way companies' chargeable gains are calculated. The corporate indexation allowance allows for the effects of inflation when calculating the chargeable gains of companies or organisations. Philip Hammond announced today that the indexation allowance will be frozen from [...]
Autumn Budget 2017: Chancellor Philip Hammond’s speech in full November 22, 2017 You can read the chancellor's Budget speech in full here: Mr Deputy Speaker I report today on an economy that continues to grow, continues to create more jobs than ever before and continues to confound those who seek to talk it down. An economy set on a path to a new relationship with our European [...]
The Royal Family is worth £1.8bn to the UK economy every year says report November 20, 2017 Britain’s royalty contributes nearly £1.8bn to the UK economy every year, according to a new analysis of the value of the monarchy to be published today. The biggest single benefit offered by the monarchy to UK economy comes in a £550m annual boost to tourism, according to Brand Finance research. The total monetary value of [...]
UK retains seventh spot in ease of doing business ranking October 31, 2017 The UK retained its spot as the seventh best nation in the world for ease of doing business, according to an influential ranking published today. The US leapfrogged the UK to move up to sixth overall, according to the 15th annual Doing Business report from the World Bank, published today. In 2015 the UK came [...]
Co-working space startup Huckletree raises £4.5m in second fundraising round October 11, 2017 Co-working space startup Huckletree has announced a funding round of £4.5m with investment manager Meyer Bergman. Huckletree joins the London-based real estate investment group's portfolio alongside retail space marketplace Appear Here and app company POQ Commerce. The latest round of investment follows a £2.4m Series A fundraising in 2015, and will support the London based [...]