Sweden bids to prise financial services power from UK after Brexit as minister visits Citigroup and fintech firms in London March 12, 2017 Sweden is the latest European country making a push to win financial services power after Brexit, having sent a minister to London to woo fintech firms and a major Wall Street bank. Per Bolund, the country’s financial markets minister, visited fintech incubator Level 39 in Canary Wharf on Friday before hosting more than a dozen more [...]
Brexit rebels in the Lords must be prepared to back down admits Heseltine March 12, 2017 Tory peer and former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine has warned the House of Lords against waging a long-running battle to make changes to the Article 50 Bill. The unelected chamber installed two amendments to the legislation, on protections for the rights of EU nationals, and offering parliament a “meaningful” vote on any new trading relationship with the EU. [...]
Did Philip Hammond tell cabinet he was breaking manifesto promises? These senior ministers won’t say March 12, 2017 NULL
Bovis Homes confirms merger talks with Galliford Try after rejecting Redrow offer March 12, 2017 Bovis Homes is in £2.5bn merger talks with fellow housebuilder Galliford Try after rejecting a bid from Redrow. FTSE 250-listed Galliford Try said the tie-up would create “a new major housebuilder with national scale and geographic coverage through the combination of the sixth and eighth largest UK housebuilders by completions”. Bovis, which is also on [...]
Google’s DeepMind is in talks with National Grid to apply artificial intelligence to energy use March 12, 2017 The Google-owned star British artificial intelligence company DeepMind is in talks with the National Grid about a potential partnership, with the possibility of using the technology to make the supply of energy across the UK more efficient. “There's huge potential for predictive machine learning technology to help energy systems reduce their environmental impact," said a spokesperson for the [...]
HSBC chairman search: Former man from the Pru Mark Tucker will replace Douglas Flint March 12, 2017 Mark Tucker, chief executive and president of AIA and former boss of Prudential, has been confirmed as chairman of HSBC, marking the first time the bank has appointed an external chairman. Tucker will receive an annual fee of £1.5m and a one-time relocation benefit of £300,000 for moving from Hong Kong to London. He will take up [...]
Brexit secretary David Davis says ministers are planning for “all possible outcomes” of EU talks March 12, 2017 Brexit secretary David Davis has moved to reassure MPs that the government is undertaking contingency planning on Brexit, after a critical report called for more preparations. The Foreign Affairs select committee today warned "a complete breakdown in negotiations represents a very destructive outcome leading to mutually assured damage for the EU and the UK", and [...]
Three major problems with the modern internet keeping Tim Berners-Lee up at night March 12, 2017 Personal data, misinformation (or as it's now been dubbed, fake news) and online political advertising: these are the three major problems of the modern internet that keep the inventor of the World Wide Web up at night. Sir Tim Berners-Lee has shared his thoughts on the 28th anniversary of the day he submitted his proposal for [...]
Article 50: Six risks of a Brexit “no deal”, as MPs warn Theresa May to plan now for negotiation failure March 12, 2017 "No deal is better than a bad deal" Theresa May famously said, outlining her big plans for Brexit last month. But now an influential group of MPs have told the Prime Minister she better start planning for a "no deal" scenario just days before she's expected to start the firing gun on the UK's official exit [...]
Hammond slammed for “rookie error” over national insurance contributions March 11, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond has been criticised for making a "rookie error" with his plans in increase national insurance contributions for the self employed. Former Conservative chancellor Norman Lamont has raised concerns that Hammond's first spring budget has ruined the party's image for pursuing low-tax policies. The changes will mean up to 1.6m people will face [...]