Airbnb reveals its UK tax bill amid Tory calls for a digital services tax October 2, 2018 Airbnb paid just shy of £600,000 in UK tax last year, City A.M. can reveal, as chancellor Philip Hammond raises calls for a unilateral digital services tax on tech firms. In financial accounts seen by City A.M. and due to be published on Companies House later this week, Airbnb paid just £596,992 in corporate tax in the year [...]
Why the Internet of Things is just one part of a much bigger prize September 9, 2015 By now you’re most likely familiar with the Internet of Things, the phrase often used to describe the growing network of once-inanimate objects that are becoming smart, Wi-Fi-connected devices. Some are extremely innovative – a British inventor has just created smart wallpaper, which uses magnetic charges to flip ‘physical pixels’ in fabric, creating potentially [...]
Catastrophic EU VAT rules are destroying the digital sector September 8, 2015 In January, new EU VAT legislation was imposed on the broadcasting, telecoms and digital sectors, causing a crisis for SMEs. Thousands of businesses have closed, geo-blocking (the refusal of non-EU businesses to sell into the EU) is rampant, and the legislation threatens to wreck the Digital Single Market. In simple terms, the new [...]
How Britain’s booming startup scene can be supercharged by empowering smaller investors September 7, 2015 Many congratulations to City A.M. on its tenth birthday. It has been a remarkably successful decade for the adventurous upstart. But the anniversary reminds me of a rather less happy fact. By the time it is ten years old, there is only a one in 100 chance that a UK firm will have reached [...]
UK oldest bank C Hoare & Co comes into digital age with fresh app August 9, 2015 C Hoare & Co, the UK’s oldest private bank, is moving into the digital age with the launch of a mobile app. The bank, which has offered services to figures such as Lord Byron and Jane Austen, will launch the app more than 340 years after its historic foundation in 1672. The creation of a [...]
To stay ahead in a digital economy, we must dismiss the myth that digital skills are only for a certain few July 31, 2015 To stay ahead in a future digital economy, leaders of any business need to culturally prepare for radical change. Today, the digital skills that underpin the success of our future economy lie in the hands of a small group of people. How many business leaders can confidently say they understand what goes on behind the [...]
The UK must digitally disrupt to grow the economy and create jobs, or be disrupted July 23, 2015 Not many things are guaranteed in life, but the power of technology to disrupt our lives is one that is. Whether we look at the creation of the first personal computer in the 60s, the arrival of the World Wide Web in the 80s, or the smartphone connected world we now occupy; digital technology has [...]
The blockchain won’t just change banking – it could help you buy your house July 21, 2015 There’s been a lot of attention focused on Bitcoin in recent years but arguably the most intriguing aspect of this crypto currency is the technology that underpins it – the blockchain. The blockchain facilitates Bitcoin and works by sequentially ordering blocks of transactions into a chain which is distributed to and can be viewed [...]
Apple Pay fail: If your iPhone or Apple Watch battery dies on the Tube, TfL says you’ll have to stump up the maximum fare July 16, 2015 The cracks in Apple's new contactless system (or perhaps, more specifically, the lifetime of its devices' batteries) are starting to show. As part of a detailed set of advice for commuters using their iPhones and Apple Watches to effortlessly waft through ticket barriers on the Tube, TfL has warned of the very real possibility [...]
Apple Pay in the UK: Like not laughing at a Michael Mcintyre gag, resistance is futile July 16, 2015 When Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook revealed its physical wallet-replacement service last September, I recall a tut and an eye roll at yet another Apple product announcement. A form of contactless payment, re-marketed as a physical wallet-replacement service, would be with us this summer. Where's the innovation in that? In many ways Apple [...]