RSA share price ticks up with strong second quarter August 4, 2016 Insurers RSA claim they are on course for another bumper year after posting a big jump in operating profits and hiking its dividend in the first six months of the year, sending the shares up 2.7 per cent at the open. The figures Pre-tax profits came in at £148m for the first half of the year. This [...]
Aviva hikes dividend by 10 per cent as operating profit rises 13 per cent – but combined operating ratio deteriorates August 4, 2016 Insurance giant Aviva has hiked its dividend after posting "encouraging" results for the first half of 2016. The figures Operating profit was up 13 per cent to £1.33bn, from £1.17bn last year, with operating earnings per share up one per cent to 22.4p, from 22.1p in the first half of 2015. General insurance net written premiums [...]
Economists call for Bank of England cash handouts to prop up economy August 4, 2016 A group of economists has called on the Bank of England and the government to sanction direct cash handouts – so-called helicopter money – to stimulate the economy in the wake of the EU referendum. In a letter to the Guardian ahead of the Bank of England's crunch meeting today, economists from a number of universities [...]
Former chancellor George Osborne is responsible for turning the minimum wage into a political football August 4, 2016 Last summer, then-chancellor George Osborne unveiled his first post-coalition, true-blue Budget – and with it, a big jump in the minimum wage. This somewhat confusing re-brand saw the minimum wage become the “National Living Wage” (NLW), which Osborne decided would jump from £6.50 an hour to £7.20, and keep rising to £9 in time for the [...]
City Moves for 4 August 2016 | Who’s switching jobs August 4, 2016 Colliers International Colliers International has appointed Patricia Walsh as its new head of property management accounts following the retirement of Steve Tutton after 12 years of service. Patricia joins Colliers from Lee Baron where for the last seven years she has held the position of director of finance. Prior to that she held positions at Cushman and [...]
Over to you, Mark II: City A.M. Shadow MPC votes for interest rate cut August 4, 2016 City economists have called on Mark Carney to pull the trigger and cut interest rates for the first time in seven and a half years today. City A.M.’s Shadow monetary policy committee (MPC) voted five to four in favour of slashing rates to a new all-time low of 0.25 per cent. Futures markets indicate a [...]
A rate cut could wipe £1.4bn off operating profits at the UK’s top banks August 4, 2016 Profits will be decimated at the UK’s top banks if, as widely expected, the Bank of England cuts interest rates to a historic low of 0.25 per cent today. New analysis by the banking practice of consultants Simon-Kucher and Partners predicts that lower rates would wipe £1.4bn off the operating profits at the UK’s top [...]
One in three London civil servants should be relocated outside the M25 to boost productivity August 4, 2016 One in three civil servants should be relocated outside London to boost productivity in public services, according to new report from think tank Policy Exchange, which comes as HMRC signs a lease for new offices in Croydon. According to Policy Exchange, roughly 25,000 civil servants could leave the capital in a bid to deliver more [...]
The UK has been “a difficult friend” to efforts to clamp down on tax evasion, Margaret Hodge has claimed August 4, 2016 International efforts to tackle tax evasion amount to little more than a sticking plaster, according to MPs, with the UK taking the blame. A new report from an all-party group chaired by Labour’s Margaret Hodge has slammed efforts by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to tackle corporate tax planning. In particular, the group [...]
Almost 80 per cent of directors support the end of the government’s plans for a fiscal surplus by 2020 August 4, 2016 A survey of more than 1,000 members of the Institute of Directors has shown a dramatic swing towards support for further government spending. 78 per cent of IoD members said they backed the axing of the government's manifesto pledge of a fiscal surplus by 2020. It's a huge reversal of a similar poll in May [...]