The Conservative party’s love affair with the City is back on October 8, 2019 Have the Tories fallen back in love with business? In place of lectures from Theresa May about executive pay, this year’s Conservative party conference featured the new Prime Minister exulting on stage about the wonders of “dynamic free-market capitalism”. And on the conference fringe, finger-wagging panels about corporate governance reform were conspicuous by their absence. [...]
Londoners need homes – and a full review of green belt land October 8, 2019 Building more homes is not just common sense, but good business sense too. London needs more homes to keep talent here and to maintain social cohesion and diverse communities. This is not a controversial view. Londoners know that we are in the grip of a housing crisis: a YouGov survey commissioned by London First and [...]
BP and the Royal Shakespeare Company: A drama of misplaced corporate philanthropy October 8, 2019 Last week, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) ended its eight-year sponsorship programme with BP. This was the result of a campaign led by Ella Mann, an ecology student from Oxford, who pleaded with the RSC to end the deal, saying it was clear that the arrangement was “putting a barrier” between young people and the [...]
Government almost matching Labour’s spending pledges, says IFS October 8, 2019 The government is set to break its own spending rules next year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank has warned, with its plans now closer in cost to Labour’s 2017 manifesto pledges than its own from that year. Read more: Sajid Javid confirms budget will take place later this year The IFS today [...]
Lack of clarity over AI definition ‘will confuse’ regulators October 8, 2019 The lack of clarity over what technology is classed as artificial intelligence (AI) poses a major challenge to future regulation in the financial services industry, a new report has warned. Read more: UK must adapt to automation or firms will suffer, MPs warn Research by the International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) found that the lack [...]
Ex-Tory MP Heidi Allen joins Liberal Democrats October 7, 2019 Former Conservative MP Heidi Allen has joined the Liberal Democrats, the party announced this evening. The MP for South Cambridgeshire left the Conservative Party in February 2019 over its stance on Brexit. She plans to contest her seat as a Liberal Democrat when an election is announced. Read more: Ex-Change UK MPs set up new [...]
Tide secures £44.1m in ‘one of the largest ever’ fintech series B funding rounds October 7, 2019 Fintech company Tide has raised £44.1m in its first round of Series B equity funding in a bid to increase its business banking market share. Read more: Scottish fintech paysend closes £8.5m series B round Tide announced it had secured the funding yesterday in what it is calling “one of the largest ever” series B funding [...]
Number of deepfake videos online almost doubles October 7, 2019 The number of “deepfake” videos – which use artificial intelligence technology to superimpose images onto existing footage – on the internet has surged over the last nine months. Researchers at cyber security firm Deeptrace found 14,698 deepfake videos online last month, compared to 7,964 in December last year. Read more: The threat of deepfake videos [...]
Kaspi.kz IPO: Kazakh fintech postpones London float October 7, 2019 The London float of Kazakh fintech group Kaspi.kz has been postponed due to “unfavourable market conditions” in the technology sector. Read more: Fund veteran Martin Gilbert leaves Standard Life Aberdeen to join Revolut The initial public offering (IPO) was set to be the largest by a Central Asian company on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) [...]
Trading places: A tour around the new £1bn Goldman Sachs London HQ October 7, 2019 For Goldman Sachs bankers used to living life in the fast lane, the slow lifts at their recently-opened London HQ are a new source of frustration. “Don’t get me wrong, the place is great, but it takes two minutes just to go up a few floors,” grumbles one employee. Read more: Why Transferwise denied a [...]