CMC confirms it will float on the London stock market earlier than expected in February 2016 and hopes to raise more than £240m, despite market swings January 13, 2016 Spread-betting company CMC Markets today confirmed it was proceeding with plans to float on the London stock market. The long-awaited announcement followed weeks of speculation in the City that financier and former Conservative treasurer Peter Cruddas was looking to take his company public with help from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, who have been advising CMC on the [...]
Bonus clawback rules: The Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey wants tougher bonus buy-outs January 13, 2016 The Bank of England (BoE) wants banks to be able to claw back their employees' bonuses even after they've moved to a new company. The Bank's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has put forward new rules to tackle the issue surrounding bonus buy-outs, which can help individuals evade a body of regulation designed to stop banker misconduct in the wake [...]
Family debt jumped 42 per cent to more than £13,500 in six months January 13, 2016 With growth in the economy looking shaky, it seems the amount people are borrowing has increased: new figures showed family household debt rose a whopping 42 per cent to £13,520 in the final six months of last year. The figure, which excludes mortgages, is up from £9,520 in summer 2015, and £9,050 last winter. It's also [...]
It’s official: Your boss can snoop on your private emails and messages, European Court of Human Rights rules January 13, 2016 Snooping or monitoring: call it what you will, but after a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights, your boss is allowed to do it. The ruling dismissed a case in which a Romanian employee's Yahoo Messenger conversations were monitored by his boss. Bogdan Mihai Bărbulescu was a sales engineer at a company in Bucharest when [...]
EU migrant crisis: Europe can turn the current human disaster into an economic opportunity January 13, 2016 This quarter’s CFO Global Business Outlook Survey – the quarterly survey of over a thousand global Chief Financial Officers – reveals that optimism is now stabilising at levels compatible with low but positive economic growth. On the other hand, European and US CFOs list the difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified employees as one of [...]
Buying a house? It will only takes you 53 minutes to decide whether to go for it January 13, 2016 It's one of the most important, and expensive, decisions you will make, but most of us only take 53 minutes to decide whether to buy a house according to a new survey. UK house-buyers are more pensive than a year ago, the same survey by eMoov.co.uk in 2014 revealed people only needed 38 minutes to [...]
Job cuts at BP show that Scotland would be in a financial mess if it was independent, claims Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone January 13, 2016 The decision by BP to cut 600 jobs from its North Sea business is proof that an independent Scotland would have been a "financial mess", a Member of Scottish Parliament has claimed. Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said the announcement of job cuts was devastating for individuals and families, urging first minister Nicola Sturgeon to draw [...]
Where to invest in property in 2016: The 14 European cities better to invest in than London January 13, 2016 London's reputation as one of the best places to invest in property has slipped, according to a new report, as investors look towards rapidly changing smaller cities with more opportunities for growth. The capital has slipped to number 15 in the ranking of cities in the emerging trends in real estate report from PwC and [...]
Why the mid-life crisis is a myth: Life (and happiness) really does begin at 40, it turns out January 13, 2016 Thinking of buying a sports car? Stop: mid-life crisis is no longer an excuse, after a new study found people's happiness tends to rise as they progress through life – suggesting the mid-life crisis is actually a myth. The 25-year study, by the University of Alberta, found happiness tends to keep rising into people's 40s [...]
London house prices: Your home is paying off your annual commute in around a fortnight if you live in Surbiton, Tandridge, Harpenden, Henley and Epsom January 13, 2016 Have you found yourself grumbling about the ever-increasing cost of commuting, even when your train is delayed/cancelled/diverted for no apparent reason? If you're a property owner, it's time to turn that frown upside down. New research suggests that if you travel into London from the commuter belt, your home is actually paying off the cost of your annual [...]