The pros and cons of crowdfunding July 6, 2017 People are divided about crowdfunding. While many investors and businesses see it as invaluable, it often comes with a number of caveats which shouldn’t be ignored. Equity and debt-based crowdfunding methods are often used by entrepreneurs looking to start or develop their business. However, they differ in that equity-based lets you swap money for shares [...]
Buried treasure: The British shadow economy is worth £200bn June 29, 2017 The British shadow economy accounted for more than £200bn last year, according to new estimates of goods and services kept away from the eyes of authorities. The murky world of the legal goods and services deliberately concealed from governments was worth 11.3 per cent of the UK’s GDP in 2016, according to the Association of [...]
What will happen to sterling if Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour wins the General Election? We asked the experts May 26, 2017 Labour has surged in the polls in the last fortnight, closing the Conservative party lead to as little as five points. The pound moved in the opposite direction against the dollar as traders started to consider the previously unthinkable: a Labour General Election victory. Before everyone gets too excited, it should be remembered that Labour [...]
Fintech: How does Blockchain fit into the future of financial services? May 11, 2017 | City Talk Blockchain is an often discussed, rarely understood topic. To get some perspective on the current thinking regarding blockchain, I had a discussion with Jennifer Qin, Deloitte’s lead partner for its investment management business in the Asia-Pacific region. Qin is a frequent speaker on blockchain technology. Larry Cao, CFA: What is blockchain all about? Jennifer Qin: [...]
Record growth across the board for Moneycorp, the foreign exchange firm, in 2016 March 21, 2017 Moneycorp, the foreign exchange currency provider has reported record income of £137m for the year ending 31 December, an increase of nine per cent year-on-year. The company revealed underlying profits of £22.3 m as well as record revenue growth of 28% in its corporate international payments business. It also stated that it handled over 7m transactions [...]
Emergency rate productivity hit was worth it to save 1.5m jobs, says Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane March 20, 2017 Slashing interest rates in the aftermath of the financial crisis has saved 1.5m jobs, the Bank of England's chief economist said today. Speaking at the London School of Economics, Andy Haldane noted, while the ultra low interest rate environment had hampered productivity, it was worth it to keep over a million people in work compared with a [...]
Opec cuts are unlikely to lift oil prices above $60 a barrel this year, Apicorp report says March 20, 2017 Oil prices have edged lower by more than one per cent today while a new report suggests Opec's production cuts are unlikely to bump prices above $60 a barrel this year. Global benchmark Brent crude fell as low as $51.01 a barrel this morning while West Texas Intermediate slipped to $47.84. The new lows come on [...]
Investment manager Downing plans £100m float to launch new micro-cap trust March 20, 2017 An investment manager has announced plans to raise £100m through a fund float on the London Stock Exchange. Asset management firm Downing today announced plans to launch Downing Strategic Micro-Cap Investment Trust in May through a listing on the main market. The company will target investments in publicly-quoted UK companies with market capitalisations of less than [...]
Sterling drops against the dollar and the euro after Theresa May confirms Article 50 trigger date as 29 March March 20, 2017 The pound has pared earlier gains against both the dollar and the euro, after the trigger date for Brexit negotiations was confirmed this morning. Sterling was up against the dollar, hitting around $1.2431, and the euro, at €1.1546, in earlier trading, but has since declined. At pixel time, the pound was at $1.2383 and €1.152 [...]
Three charts showing why we remain very happy to hold UK banks March 20, 2017 | City Talk Investors have tended to steer clear of the UK’s big banks since the financial crisis bit in 2008, when share prices plummeted and Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) had to be bailed out with taxpayer money. As we tend to do, on our Value Perspective blog, we took a different view – arguing [...]