Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne bails himself out with a u-turn on tax credit cuts November 25, 2015 George Osborne rowed back on controversial and unpopular cuts to tax credits – but admitted that the U-turn will be offset by an £11.6bn raid on British businesses. The chancellor also avoided potential pitfalls such as having to make cuts to the police force, after an unexpected £53.2bn jump in expected tax receipts over the course of [...]
City Moves for 26 November 2015 | Who’s switching jobs November 25, 2015 EDENTREE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT David Katimbo-Mugwanya has been appointed fixed income fund manager at the investment management firm. He joins from Epworth Investment Management, where he managed both institutional client and charity portfolios. WESLEYAN The mutual financial services provider has appointed Ahmed Farooq as chief financial officer. He joined Wesleyan in 2010, and was previously managing [...]
Wall Street treads water – New York Report November 25, 2015 GAINS in healthcare and consumer stocks yesterday, after encouraging data showed modest economic growth, failed to move the indices as investors geared down for today’s Thanksgiving break. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.2 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 17,813.39, the S&P 500 lost 0.27 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 2,088.87 and the [...]
Sports Direct, Debenhams, Tesco and House of Fraser: What does Mike Ashley own and how much is he worth? November 25, 2015 It's been a busy year for Mike Ashley, who has been buying up retailers and football clubs left, right and centre. But what exactly does he own, and how much has it cost him? And what on earth do his Sports Direct shareholders make of all the investing? Sports Direct International Ashley owns 58 per [...]
Business secretary Sajid Javid: Job cuts at Deutsche Bank are a “tragedy” November 25, 2015 Business secretary Sajid Javid has enthusiastically endorsed the Square Mile , saying the rest of the country could “learn a lot from the City” and calling recently-announced job cuts in the banking sector a “tragedy”. Speaking at the City A.M. awards dinner tonight, Javid said that while financial services has become an “easy target” for politicians, the [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: Why the Government Digital Services needs a boost from George Osborne November 25, 2015 Pity the bureaucrats this morning. Civil servants across Whitehall have been asked to impose more major cuts to departmental spending. BIS faces a cut of 17 per cent by 2020, while Transport will lose 37 per cent. Others, however, have been spared – some quite unexpectedly. The Arts Council’s budget will be increased, in spite [...]
Black Friday 2015 is about more than just John Lewis, Tesco, and Amazon: Small businesses getting in on the shopping frenzy through eBay November 25, 2015 Brace yourselves: there are now less than 48 hours to go until the year’s biggest shopping frenzy hits, with UK shoppers predicted to part with a record-smashing £1bn this Black Friday. Retail giants like John Lewis, Asda, Tesco and Amazon may be reaping the biggest rewards from the massive Black Friday sales spike – but [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne boosts spending on housing, but can the government really build 400,000 more homes? November 25, 2015 Britain’s housing supply crisis isn’t a new problem – but today George Osborne made another government pledge to increase the stock. Osborne’s plans include selling off prisons and offering more capital to affordable housing. To top it off, there is to be a new help-to-buy scheme for London, to give residents a leg up onto [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: No, Mr Osborne, this is not a crisis of home ownership, it’s a housing crisis – where was the pledge to fix the rental market? November 25, 2015 The chancellor thinks we’re in the middle of a home ownership crisis. We're not, we're in the middle of a housing crisis. At least the Conservatives are consistent. Their one-track focus on home ownership and home ownership alone as the only solution for the UK’s housing crisis never wavers. Despite that the Conservatives still had [...]
New European Union rules to prevent market rigging November 25, 2015 New rules have been laid out by the European Union to prevent market benchmarks, like Libor and Euribor, being rigged by banks. Benchmarks will now be supervised to varying degrees depending on their size, a statement from EU president Luxembourg said. When applied, the new rules will strengthen confidence in financial markets "preventing new manipulation [...]