Swiss franc crisis: Alpari disconnects phone lines as spreadbetting platform problems leave trader in shock January 18, 2015 Traders using Alpari’s spreadbetting platform have reacted with anger to the firm’s problems and its failure to communicate with clients who were locked out of their accounts. When the firm folded it initially told customers it had gone into insolvency, only to change the announcement on its website to say it could be sold [...]
China’s Hutchison Whampoa pushing ahead with £9bn O2 takeover talks January 18, 2015 Hutchison Whampoa, the owner of the UK’s fourth-largest mobile network Three, is continuing talks with Spain’s Telefonica to buy its UK network O2. Telefonica was in talks with BT to sell O2, valued at around £9bn, but the deal fell apart when BT opted for exclusive deal talks with Orange and Deutsche Telekom to buy [...]
Davos 2015: World Economic Forum to get back to basics January 18, 2015 Over the last 44 years the world’s political and business elite has migrated to the serene Swiss Alpine town of Davos to discuss the key challenges facing global development in the ensuing year. The 2015 meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) will be much of the same: 40 heads of state will make up [...]
Building societies struggle as rest of finance sector sees growth January 18, 2015 Finance firms ended 2014 strongly, except for building societies, new survey data shows. Business volumes were reported to have increased by 64 per cent of financial services firms in the three months december, according to figures released by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers. This compares to seven per cent of firms [...]
Insurer optimism hit by declining profits January 18, 2015 OPTIMISM among life insurers deteriorated in the final quarter of 2014, as costs rose and profitability declined. According to the latest financial services survey from CBI/PwC, costs are expected to continue to grow and the reduction in profitability is expected to continue. PwC’s Jonathan Howe said: “It is not surprising to see a significant fall [...]
Demand for engineers leads to hiring growth January 18, 2015 THE JOB market is booming, new survey data shows. Professional recruitment firms have 29 per cent more vacancies than this time last year, according to figures released today by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (Apsco). The biggest jobs growth was in engineering with a 53 per cent increase in the number of permanent vacancies. [...]
London house prices still marching upward January 18, 2015 LONDON house prices are 0.9 per cent higher this month than in December. The price of a residential property in Greater London increased by £5,314 on the month, figures released today by online market Rightmove reveal. There was a large disparity between the monthly price change in outer London – where prices dipped 0.5 per [...]
London record population of 8.6m will not cramp style January 18, 2015 London’s population is forecast to hit its highest-ever level this year, surpassing its pre-war peak of approximately 8.6m. Yet it remains one of the least densely populated major cities in the world, according to research by LSE Cities, based at the London School of Economics. “It is one of the least dense megacities [...]
SMEs fuel biggest demand for regional office space since crisis January 18, 2015 A RESURGENCE in demand from small and medium-sized enterprises in the regions helped boost office take-up to its highest level since the start of the downturn, according to research released today by CBRE. The property advisory firm said 6.35m square feet of office space was transacted on last year in the UK’s nine key regions [...]
Banks warn that Bitcoin could help terrorists January 18, 2015 CRYPTOCURRENCY Bitcoin could make it easier for terrorists to evade the intelligence services, according to Britain’s leading banks. In a document sent to the Treasury, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) warned that the partial anonymity Bitcoin provides, and its structure as a peer-to-peer currency provide opportunities for criminals. The BBA said banks “need to be [...]