Wikileaks founder Julian Assange ‘too ill’ to appear in court via video link May 30, 2019 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was too ill to appear via video at a court hearing in London today, his lawyer has said. Assange, who is facing extradition to the US on 18 charges related to the leaking of confidential government documents, was due to appear at a hearing via video link from Belmarsh prison. Read [...]
Outsourcer Amey agrees terms for £300m deal to escape Birmingham roads contract May 30, 2019 Contractor Amey is close to reaching a £300m agreement that would see it pay its way out of a maintenance contract for Birmingham’s 1,600-mile road network, it is reported. Read more: Amey 'offers £300m' to Birmingham city council to escape road contract Amey’s deal with Birmingham City Council and the government will see it pay [...]
Toasting a deal: Bollinger takes stake in wine merchant backed by Michael Spencer May 30, 2019 Champagne house Bollinger has snapped up a minority stake in a UK fine wine merchant backed by City grandee Michael Spencer. Societe Jacques Bollinger (SJB), the family group behind one of France's most prestigious champagne firms, is understood to have acquired a minority stake of up to 10 per cent in BI Wines & Spirits [...]
Apple, Google and Whatsapp slam GCHQ over ‘ghost’ eavesdropping plans May 30, 2019 Major tech giants including Apple, Google and Whatsapp have launched a searing criticism of government plans to spy on encrypted messages, warning of “serious threats” to cybersecurity and human rights. In an open letter published today almost 50 companies, civil society groups and policy experts urged GCHQ to drop proposals that would see law enforcement [...]
TfL awards £1bn Silvertown Tunnel contract to Aberdeen Standard-backed consortium May 30, 2019 A consortium comprising Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI), Cintra and Macquarie Capital will build the £1bn Silvertown tunnel under the river Thames. The project, which will connect the Greenwich peninsula to Silvertown through an under-the-water tunnel, will come within Transport for London’s (TfL) ultra-low emission zone, meaning vehicles that do not meet certain emissions standards will [...]
Metro Bank shares slip as US law firms launch fraud probes after accounting error May 30, 2019 Shares in Metro Bank fell more than seven per cent this morning as two US law firms announced they are investigating whether securities fraud took place at the challenger bank. Read more: The next Northern Rock? Metro Bank has had a troubled week Pomerantz and Levi & Korinsky have launched probes into activity at the [...]
Private bank Raphaels fined £1.89m for failures that left customers cashless on Christmas Eve May 30, 2019 Private bank Raphaels has been fined £1.89m for poor controls over its outsourcing arrangements. The 230-year old bank was fined £775,100 by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and £1.1m by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in connection with the failings between April 2014 and December 2016. The weaknesses in its systems came to light on [...]
Investors given second chance to buy a piece of Star Wars May 30, 2019 | City Talk By Rodney Hobson from interactive investor. This iconic brand has rewarded shareholders handsomely, and could do again, argues our overseas expert. Investors could be forgiven for thinking they had missed their chance to buy into The Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) when the shares shot up 10% one April day, and then went on to set new [...]
Welcome to the future: EE 5G lands in London and five other UK cities May 30, 2019 EE’s 5G network went live in six cities today, bringing the new technology to the UK for the first time. Read more: EE and Vodafone ditch Huawei devices from summer 5G rollout London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Belfast are the first locations to benefit from the new mobile network, which will offer users data speeds [...]
City fintech Yapily scores $5.4m from Transferwise founders and Localglobe May 30, 2019 London fintech startup Yapily has closed $5.4m (£4.3m) in seed funding from King’s Cross-based venture capital firm Localglobe and HZ Holtzbrinck Ventures. Other investors included Transferwise co-founders Taavet Hinrikus and Ott Kaukver, and C-suite executives from Twilio and Unicredit. Read more: Transferwise is Europe's most valuable fintech at $3.5bn Yapily will use the funding to [...]