Office Space: The weird and wonderful Shoreditch HQ of tech firm TransferWise September 26, 2019 Tech start-ups are famous – or perhaps infamous – for their idiosyncratic offices filled with ping pong tables and hammocks and games consoles. But what happens when the start-up grows up? This is the position in which TransferWise finds itself: now eight years old, with nine offices around the globe and a total head-count of [...]
Reality is finally catching up with overblown Silicon Valley rhetoric September 26, 2019 Rhetoric, the art of persuasion, was the backbone of a classical education. Today the term is more often pejorative: rhetoric is found wherever reality isn’t. No fantasy, however, can be long sustained. If rhetoric is to deliver its original purpose and persuade, it cannot escape reality for long. So Silicon Valley is discovering. For over [...]
Mind the gap: The daily commute is exacerbating inequality September 26, 2019 Now that summer is over and that holiday feeling has worn off, millions of UK employees are back to the grind of the daily commute. For many of us, it is the least inspiring part of the day, and most organisations do not give a second thought to how their employees make it to their [...]
How banks should be looking at the climate change challenge September 26, 2019 Mitigating the impact of climate change is not just an environmental responsibility – it is also an economic necessity. This is a clear message as global leaders met for the UN Climate Summit this week in New York. The impact of climate change will only intensify over time: rising seas and greater storm surges alone [...]
Strap in, impeaching Trump is going to be a bumpy a ride September 26, 2019 On Tuesday night, speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry into the unlawful conduct of the US President. Donald Trump is therefore almost certainly going to become the third American President in history to be impeached by the House – the first step in a long process that could signal [...]
Gone phishing: How easy is it to fall for a fake email? September 26, 2019 Some time ago, I received an odd email allegedly from Google, saying that it had received a request to delete my Gmail account. According to the message, I had just 48 hours to cancel the request. All I had to do was click on a link and enter my account details. I had not made [...]
Ecommerce needs a new approach to fraud prevention September 26, 2019 In 2018, global ecommerce sales reached £2.27 trillion – a staggering number, and an 18 per cent increase over 2017. That growth will continue, as ecommerce reaches new markets and consumers become more comfortable with shopping online. It’s a huge opportunity for retailers, but there’s a risk that threatens to hold it back – fraud. Ecommerce purchases [...]
City Moves for 26 September – Who’s switching jobs at Aldermore, TORI Global and FDM Group? September 26, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes Aldermore, TORI Global and FDM Group. Aldermore Claire Cordell has been appointed chief financial officer (CFO) and an executive director of specialist bank Aldermore. Claire joined Aldermore in 2014 having oreviously held senior finance roles at RSA Insurance and Credit Suisse, and currently works as the company’s director of finance. Claire [...]
Car production numbers post rise for the first time in 15 months September 26, 2019 Britain’s crisis-hit car manufacturing industry regained some speed in August, despite the threat of a “hammer blow” no-deal Brexit still looming. Car production rose 3.3 per cent in August to 92,152 units, the first increase in 15 months, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Read more: Car industry investment grinds to [...]
HSBC’s SME loan fund to double help for international businesses September 26, 2019 HSBC is set to double the amount ringfenced for international businesses in its small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) loans fund this year, with the help available for the agriculture sector also set to rise. The bank’s 2019 SME fund will total £14bn, a £2bn increase on last year’s figure and the largest fund since the [...]