Creative sector drives growth in October office space take-up as pre-let activity jumps November 25, 2018 Take-up of Central London office space surged last month, with demand from the UK’s creative sector helping to drive growth in the capital’s commercial property market. Roughly 1.3m square feet (sq ft) of office space was let in October, marking a 30 per cent rise on the same month last year, according to new data [...]
Monzo teams up with Paypoint to allow users to deposit cash in shops November 21, 2018 Digital bank Monzo has today announced a strategic partnership with Paypoint, enabling its users to deposit cash into their Monzo account at any of Paypoint's 28,000-strong network of corner shops and local stores across the UK. Deposits can range from £5 to £300, with a fee of £1 per deposit and a cap of £1,000 every [...]
Meet London’s 25 under 25 up and coming tech stars November 20, 2018 Industry network Tech London Advocates has today launched its first 25 under 25 list, highlighting the best and brightest of the UK's next generation of tech talent. Gathering insight and nominations from its community of over 6,000 technology leaders, founders and investors, the list aims to recognise the breadth of tech expertise in the UK and [...]
Tandem Bank takes in £15m from Convoy in Hong Kong expansion November 20, 2018 Fintech challenger bank Tandem has today closed a strategic partnership with Convoy Global Holdings, a Hong Kong-based financial services group which will make the London startup one of the first digital banks to launch in the city. Convoy is investing an initial £15m into Tandem Bank as part of the deal, which will provide Tandem with [...]
Banks should watch out – the fintech era has barely begun November 20, 2018 The fintech sector makes a lot of noise in London. There’s an endless stream of news about open banking and challenger banks, while the traditional finance sector watches on with a mixture of admiration and suspicion. Banks have come under attack, not only from the hype-machine, but more meaningfully from startups. Traditional finance providers that assumed [...]
Draper Esprit and Barclays back London fintech Form3 in $13m funding round November 20, 2018 Payments technology fintech startup Form3 will today reveal the close of a $13m (£10.1m) series B fundraising round, led by Graze and Perkbox-backer Draper Esprit. Existing investors Barclays Bank, Angel Cofund and several other individual backers also participated in the round. Established in 2016, the Monument-based startup builds payments-processing technology for banks and fintech firms [...]
Tax managers enjoy largest salary rise as tougher compliance regulation pays off November 19, 2018 Tax wonks have seen their salaries soar over the last year as businesses grapple with tougher compliance rules in the City. Operational tax managers topped the list of salary increases in 2018, enjoying a 6.7 per cent rise, according to figures from recruitment company Hays. The increase reflects the greater focus on compliance as firms [...]
Monzo needs a dose of Spotify boldness to go from UK unicorn to Silicon Valley titan November 15, 2018 The end of October saw startup bank Monzo confirmed as the latest British unicorn, hitting a valuation of $1.2bn three years after launching. This isn’t London’s first unicorn by any means, with Deliveroo and Funding Circle leading the way. But so far none have come close to the achieving the global domination or $100bn valuations [...]
Transferwise repackages its business banking with a debit card November 14, 2018 Fintech unicorn Transferwise is today relaunching its business banking effort to include a debit card, integration with accounting platform Xero and an open access developer channel. The newly-revised business product will provide a Transferwise Business debit card for spending both online and in-store in 45 currencies, in addition to its previous offering of local bank details [...]
CYBG axes deal with former Barclays boss following Virgin Money merger November 12, 2018 The new owner of Virgin Money has cancelled the bank’s partnership with a technology company run by former Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins. CYBG, which also owns Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, axed the deal following its £1.7bn takeover of Virgin Money in September, Sky News reported. Virgin Money had hired Jenkin's fintech start up 10X [...]