City Moves for 29 January 2014 | Who’s switching jobs January 28, 2014 KPMG The professional services firm has announced the appointment of Mike Walters as a partner and head of its financial risk management group. He was most recently at Barclays, where he was global head of compliance. Nikko Asset Management The asset management firm has made two senior appointments. Takuya Koyama has been appointed global head [...]
Profit warnings from UK’s quoted firms up 30 per cent at end of 2013 January 26, 2014 THE NUMBER of UK-quoted companies issuing profit warnings soared by 30 per cent in the last quarter of 2013, as fears of a slowdown in global growth dented earnings, according to EY research released yesterday. UK profit warnings fell to a three-year low earlier in the year but 73 warnings were issued in the final [...]
Exchange traded funds could top hedge fund value by end of year January 26, 2014 THE MOUNTAIN of cash invested in exchange traded funds (ETF) could surpass the size of the hedge fund industry as early as next year, a study released today predicts. ETFs, which are baskets of assets which trade like stocks, currently have about $2.4 trillion (£1.46 trillion) of assets under management, close to the $2.6 trillion [...]
The week in brief January 26, 2014 Telefonica plans £200m media planning pitch The Spanish telecoms company is preparing to launch a media planning and buying review across its European business, according to Campaign. The review, thought to be statutory, is expected to start in April and will be run from Madrid. It includes Telefonica’s £50m account for O2, whose UK media [...]
Growth puts the UK on track to beat its budget deficit target January 22, 2014 THE BUDGET deficit narrowed marginally during December this year, dropping by £2.1bn to £12.1bn, compared to the same month of 2012, suggesting that the Treasury may meet its target on public finances after many revisions. Public borrowing for the financial year up to December hit £96.1bn, falling by almost five per cent compared to 2012-13’s [...]
Forward guidance is crumbling – what comes next? January 22, 2014 Two years ahead of the Bank of England’s original schedule, forward guidance is circling the drain, with unemployment now within 0.1 percentage points of the threshold for reconsidering a rate hike. With productivity and wage growth still much diminished, and without significant improvements to exports or investment, the Bank is expected to alter forward guidance [...]
The entrepreneurial economy is taking off but we’re yet to realise its potential January 21, 2014 AT THE launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2013, Vince Cable announced that “10 per cent of the UK workforce is engaged in entrepreneurship activity.” Then he ploughed on with his speech, leaving the audience wondering precisely what this was supposed to mean. After decades of being politely sidelined, entrepreneurship is political and economic orthodoxy. Few [...]
Why it’s time to stop feeding our addiction to ultra loose monetary policy January 20, 2014 WITH GDP still 2 per cent below its pre-crisis peak and consumer price index inflation falling back to its 2 per cent target, many argue that Britain should stick with extraordinarily loose monetary policy for longer. Just yesterday, the EY Item club urged the Bank of England to bolster its forward guidance policy, and to [...]
City jobs market bouncing back January 20, 2014 CITY hiring is booming on the back of the burgeoning recovery, business groups and recruiters said today, indicating the economy is at last getting back to health. More than 10,000 net new finance workers were hired in the final three months of 2013 and an additional 15,000 net will be taken on this quarter as [...]
The 10 biggest challenges facing small businesses in 2014 January 20, 2014 Business confidence blossomed at the end of 2013, and things have got off to a good start for firms this year too. Figures from the British Chambers of Commerce showed that confidence in a broad-based UK recovery is growing, and net optimism flew to 71 per cent at the end of the year. When it [...]