City old-boys rock band split had nothing do to with PwC says bassist September 23, 2015 Former City rock star and PwC advisor Andrew Sentance has denied claims that the accountancy giant came between him and his work with group Rock In The City. Sentance split from Rock In The City, a group of senior financiers singing all about the daily lives of the Square Mile’s economists, earlier this month. The [...]
Chinese like the UK but British brands need a lift September 23, 2015 I'm writing this while travelling on the Chancellor’s business and culture delegation to China. The purpose is to grow stronger links with what will long remain the world’s fastest-growing economy. Both western and local companies will increasingly need good marketing data, which is why YouGov has established offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong and [...]
Eurozone shoppers in good spirits despite September dip in sentiment September 23, 2015 Consumer confidence in the Eurozone has dipped this month to its second lowest level of the year, according to preliminary figures published by the European Commission (EC) yesterday. The EC’s confidence indicator slipped 0.2 points to a score of minus 7.1. Despite the negative figure, confidence remains at levels consistent with spending growth and is [...]
Sadiq Khan: Can a Labour mayor make City Hall pro-business? Labour mayoral candidate on what separates him from Jeremy Corbyn September 23, 2015 Sitting in a cafe around the corner from the Labour party’s headquarters in Westminster, Sadiq Khan says that he and the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, are not always in agreement. “Ken Livingstone as the Labour mayor often disagreed with the Labour leadership, Boris Johnson as the Conservative mayor often disagreed with the Conservative [...]
British superyacht sector cruises ahead with revenue up by 10pc September 23, 2015 Superyachts are riding the wave of the UK’s economic recovery, research released today shows. The British superyacht industry’s revenue grew to £542m in 2014/15, up by 10.2 per cent from last year, according to statistics from trade body Superyacht UK. The research also shows that the industry now employs 4,000 full time workers, up 6.9 [...]
London tops 2015 global financial centre rankings and knocks New York into second place September 23, 2015 London is the world’s leading financial centre according to a global study published today, after wrestling back the top spot from New York. The City benefited from renewed political certainty following May’s General Election, the authors say. Yet they warn that, despite storming back to the top of the rankings, London faces future [...]
London house prices: Flats in the capital cost 67pc more than in 2005 and are set to keep climbing September 23, 2015 London flat prices have outstripped every other property type in every other region of the UK over the last decade, according to research published by a major mortgage provider this morning. Affordability is set to continue falling as data from HMRC yesterday showed the market was hotting up with 106,480 homes sold during August – [...]
Greek bank shares bear brunt of the debt crisis September 22, 2015 Greek bank shares have shouldered the brunt of the country's debt crisis, with one index showing they've shed around three quarters of their value so far this year. The FTSE/Athex banks index, which includes banks listed on the Athex and Cyprus Stock Exchange, slumped 8.56 per cent to 241.37 points today. This means it's tumbled 63 per [...]
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton puts Keystone XL oil pipeline and pharmaceutical industry in the firing line September 22, 2015 Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton finally announced last night that she opposed the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which is to transport Canadian oil to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico via Nebraska. She said in a meeting in Iowa that it was “a distraction from the important work we have to do to combat climate change”. [...]
UK housing market: Interest-only home loans going out of fashion as take up slumps, say Council of Mortgage Lenders September 22, 2015 Warnings that interest-only mortgages are a “ticking time bomb” appear to be filtering through to the market, with figures out yesterday showing a 16 per cent drop in the number of such loans outstanding. A quarter of the reduction is the result of loans reaching maturity and being redeemed while a further 40 per cent [...]