Lancashire offset Covid losses with strong investment portfolio February 10, 2021 City-based insurer Lancashire left 2020 “relatively unscathed” as its investment portfolio offset nearly $150m in losses linked to the pandemic and natural catastrophes, the company announced this morning. The Group credits the positive fiscal year to its investment portfolio, which ranges from political risk to AV52 markets. Gross premiums written increased by 15.2 per cent [...]
Ministers in talks with US and Singapore over international vaccine certificate February 10, 2021 Ministers are in discussions with other countries over the creation of an international vaccine certification system that would allow a partial resumption of travel, the transport secretary has said. Grant Shapps told the BBC he has spoken to his counterparts in the US and Singapore about the creation of an internationally recognisable system of proving [...]
Etihad Airways will only fly with fully vaccinated crew February 10, 2021 Abu Dhabi airline Etihad Airways will only operate flights with vaccinated pilots and cabin crew, the company said on Wednesday. The airline has made a coronavirus vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical group Sinopharm available to all employees, as well as the Pfizer-BioNTech jab. It is not yet clear how many cabin crew and pilots have [...]
Exclusive: ‘Normal’ bank lending to SMEs down 10 per cent in 2020 as emergency loan use explodes February 10, 2021 Non-emergency lending by banks to SMEs dropped 10 per cent in 2020, while emergency coronavirus funding ballooned. ‘Normal’ lending to SMEs fell from £168bn in December 2019 to £152bn a year later, research by debt specialist ACP Altenburg Advisory found. At the same time, emergency coronavirus funding via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBLIS) [...]
Von der Leyen: ‘Mistakes were made’ ahead of EU/UK vaccine debacle February 10, 2021 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has admitted “mistakes were made” ahead of the EU’s brief and disastrous decision to block vaccines travelling to the UK. Speaking this morning, Von der Leyen said the EU Commission would do its “utmost to protect the peace in Northern Ireland.” The EU Commission president admitted the bloc [...]
Greene King pubs boss pleads for reopening date as industry wrote off 2020 with £7.8bn sales hit February 10, 2021 The boss of FTSE-listed pubs giant Greene King is among brewers asking the UK government for reopening dates and a way out of restrictions that have left a £7.8bn hole in industry sales.
Lambeth to receive surge testing amid concerns over South African Covid mutation February 9, 2021 Extra coronavirus testing will be carried out in Lambeth following confirmed cases of the South African Covid variant in the south London neighbourhood. Surge testing and genomic sequencing will be carried out in the SE27 0, SE27 9 and SW16 2 postcodes in Lambeth. People living within the targeted areas are strongly encouraged to take [...]
Airline shares tumble as hotel quarantine spells travel chaos until Easter February 9, 2021 Shares in the UK’s largest airlines tumbled more than three per cent this afternoon as the health secretary’s announcement of new hotel quarantine measures spelt prolonged chaos for the travel industry. Easyjet shares fell more than 4.5 per cent to 788p, while Tui shed 4 per cent and British Airways owner IAG dropped 3.3 per [...]
London facing ‘cultural catastrophe’ due to Covid-19 pandemic February 9, 2021 London’s creative and commercial sectors will have to team up to tackle the “cultural catastrophe” caused by coronavirus, the City of London Corporation has said. In a report published today, the corporation warned of the “devastating” impact of the pandemic and outlined steps needed to restore the capital’s competitive advantage as a cultural and commercial [...]
Financial markets continue to hang on two Vs: vaccine and virus February 9, 2021 Global equities bounced strongly last week, gaining nearly 5 per cent and more than reversing their losses from the previous week. Stock markets ended the week at new highs and opened again higher yesterday. The market correction ended up lasting no more than a week. “So too did the surge in GameStock which has fallen back [...]