Murdoch gets green light for merger of the Times and the Sunday Times July 23, 2019 The government has given the go-ahead for plans to merge parts of the Times and the Sunday Times, as the newspapers look to adapt to shifts in the media industry. Read more: UK government set to give green light over Murdoch newspaper merger Rupert Murdoch’s News UK empire put forward proposals earlier this year to [...]
EU’s Michel Barnier knocks hopes of Brexit deal under Boris Johnson July 23, 2019 The EU today refused to countenance an alternative to the Brexit deal on the table now Boris Johnson is set to become the UK’s new Prime Minister. Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier today said he would “work constructively” with Boris Johnson to achieve a Brexit deal. Read more: All the Tory ministers who have quit [...]
City law firm Simmons & Simmons buys legal engineering startup to turbocharge Libor replacement July 23, 2019 City law firm Simmons & Simmons today said it had acquired legal engineering firm Wavelength to help its clients on large projects such as the replacement of Libor. Wavelength describes itself as the first regulated legal engineering business in the world. Its chief executive Peter Lee said Wavelength applies data science, technology and design to [...]
Passport-maker De La Rue under investigation by fraud squad over suspected corruption July 23, 2019 Passport and banknote-maker De La Rue said today it is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over suspected corruption. De La Rue told the stock market this afternoon that the SFO had opened an investigation into the company and its associated persons in relation to suspected corruption in South Sudan. De La Rue’s [...]
Ranked: These are the UK’s worst broadband and mobile firms July 23, 2019 Plusnet has topped a list of highest number of complaints for a broadband provider for the second quarter in a row. The Sheffield-based telecoms firm received 31 complaints per 100,000 customers between January and March, according to figures published today by regulator Ofcom. Read more: Which telecoms companies have the worst customer service? Plusnet was [...]
‘Clouds gather’ for manufacturers as output hits lowest point since financial crisis July 23, 2019 British manufacturing output shrank at the fastest pace since the financial crisis over the last three months, according to research. Nineteen per cent of manufacturers reported that output rose while 30 per cent said it fell. This gave output a minus 11 per cent balance for the three months to mid-July. The Confederation of British [...]
City watchdog hits Standard Life Assurance with £30m fine for annuity sales failings July 23, 2019 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today fined Standard Life Assurance (SLA) £30.7m for failings around its sales of annuities. The FCA said SLA had failed to put in place adequate controls to monitor the quality of calls between its call handlers and its customers. At the same time SLA offered staff large financial incentives to [...]
Countdown to Brexit: What Boris Johnson must do in his first 100 days as Prime Minister July 23, 2019 The political world has thrown up some unexpected events in recent years, but Boris Johnson failing to win the Conservative leadership contest today would surely top the lot. The former foreign secretary has been the favourite to succeed Theresa May even before she announced her resignation, and today the election results showed he won with [...]
Boris Johnson wins race to be UK Prime Minister by a landslide July 23, 2019 Boris Johnson will become the UK’s next Prime Minister after he overwhelmingly defeated rival Jeremy Hunt in the Tory leadership race. Johnson won 92,153 votes compared with 46,456 for Hunt on a turnout of 87.4 per cent. Read more: Boris Johnson’s to do list in his first 100 days as Prime Minister The former mayor [...]
UBS posts best second quarter in almost a decade despite wealth management troubles July 23, 2019 UBS reported its strongest second-quarter set of results in almost 10 years this morning, trumping analyst estimates for net profit despite nursing losses in its flagship wealth management unit. While the Swiss group also echoed a number of its global financial peers by posting a fall in investment banking, retail and corporate banking helped push [...]