Uber’s former rival Didi launches car rental service August 22, 2016 Not satisfied with winning the ride-sharing wars with Uber after merging in China, Didi is now expanding into other car services. It's launching an online car rental service in the country to capitalise on the billions of domestic tourist trips made throughout the country, which is expected to grow to 5.8bn by 2020. Read more: Uber [...]
Downing Street has hit back after Jean-Claude Juncker described national borders as “politicians’ worst invention” August 22, 2016 Downing Street has rejected Jean-Claude Juncker's assertion that borders are “the worst invention” of politicians. Speaking at the European Forum Alpbach yesterday, the European Commission president called on Europe to show “solidarity” with refugees, adding: “We have the duty not to follow populists but to block the avenue of populists.” “Borders are the worst invention [...]
You wait ages for one cashback card, then this company goes and launches two at once August 22, 2016 Good news for anybody who feels like their card wallet is feeling a bit slim – Asda Money has today announced the launch of not one but two cashback credit cards. The Cashback Credit Card will offer one per cent cash back on money spent across the Asda brands and 0.5 per cent cash back on other purchases. [...]
Baltic Exchange to keep London HQ as it agrees terms of Singapore takeover August 22, 2016 The Singapore Exchange has agreed the terms of its takeover of the City of London-based Baltic Exchange. Under the terms of the deal, Singapore would pay £160.41 per share in cash and £19.30 per share as a special dividend. It gives the Baltic Exchange a total value of around £87m. The terms of the deal [...]
How one simple tech trick saved HSBC customers millions August 22, 2016 It may be all about open banking APIs and blockchain in the geeky world of fintech right now, but banking giant HSBC used one incredibly simple piece of technology that's been around for years to save its customers millions of pounds. The humble text message, first devised in 1984 with the first message making its [...]
Half of Britain’s small businesses say they aren’t worried about Brexit August 22, 2016 Far from adversely impacting Britain's small businesses, many leaders believe that the Brexit vote will cause no significant disruption, but concerns remain within London. Positive sentiment came from nearly half of small and medium sized businesses polled by CitySprint, with over two-thirds of respondents saying that they are either as confident or more confident about trading outlook as this time last year. [...]
We’ve already spent more via contactless than in all of 2015 August 22, 2016 People are swiping their card rather than splashing the physical cash these days as new figures reveal payments made with contactless technology have already overtaken the amount spent in the whole of 2015. Just over £9bn was spent using contactless in the first half of the year compared to £7.75bn in the the entire of last year, the new [...]
Arise, Sir Mo? There will be no formal cap on awards for Britain’s Olympic heroes in the New Years Honours list, Downing St has confirmed August 22, 2016 Britain's triumphant athletes look set to be handed a range of honours in the new year, after Downing Street confirmed there are no formal limits on the number of prizes that could be handed out. The Cabinet Office provides guidance on numbers, but a spokeswoman for Theresa May today said that could even be over-ruled [...]