Investors put off by complicated wealth management tools July 31, 2025 Half of people who want help investing, feel “dissatisfied” with traditional wealth management tools, believing them to be too expensive or complex, a new survey has found. Two thirds of UK investors believe not enough people invest due to being unable to use complicated wealth management tools, according to research from wealth management platform Stratiphy. [...]
Rachel Reeves could use bank windfall tax to plug Labour’s U-turns July 31, 2025 Rachel Reeves could launch a fresh tax grab on banks to plug the spending holes left by Labour’s recent U-turns, new analysis has found. The Chancellor is poised to hike taxes in the Autumn Budget after a series of government policy switches eroded her already wafer-thin fiscal headroom of £9.9bn. This comes as fresh research [...]
Investors continue to opt for gold driving global demand July 31, 2025 Global demand for gold shows no sign of slowing down as investors and central banks continue to hoover up the safe haven asset. The precious metal rallied over the first half of the year, recording a 26 per cent rise against the dollar and outperforming almost all other major asset classes, according to the latest [...]
FTSE 100 giants Rolls-Royce and Shell lead City market rally July 31, 2025 A fleet of corporate news helped the FTSE 100 edge up in early trading on Thursday with a number of rallies from the index’s heavyweights. Positive updates from Rolls-Royce and Rentokil helped London’s flagship stock market rise 0.5 per cent to 9.182.34 as markets opened. Rentokil topped the risers with a 11 per cent surge [...]
Banks back in crosshairs as Labour eyes tax hikes July 31, 2025 George Osborne’s likely payday from the sale of Robey Warshaw to US giant Evercore won’t be the first time he’s extracted money from the banking sector. In his inaugural 2010 Budget he announced a UK bank levy of 0.05 per cent on certain bank liabilities. Conceived in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the [...]
Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget still causing negativity – CBI July 30, 2025 A streak of negative business sentiment has now lasted 10 months, a leading industry body has suggested, in further evidence that employers have struggled to turn a page on Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £40bn tax raid at last year’s Autumn Budget. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly told MPs that business confidence was edging higher, [...]
Revolut mulling plans to take on China’s fintech giants July 30, 2025 UK fintech juggernaut Revolut is weighing expansion into China in a move that would see the company take on the likes of Ant Group-owned Alipay and Wechat. The firm told investors on a pitchdeck during its secondary share sale last year it was assessing “hiring, licensing [and] scoping” opportunities in China. The fintech was also [...]
Motor finance: ‘Nothing is certain’ as banks await historic ruling July 30, 2025 The Supreme Court will hand down what could be the “most consequential ruling for lenders” in recent history on Friday in the dramatic culmination of the motor finance saga. In a twist, the highest court in the land surprised the market last Friday evening after updating its system with the information that it will announce [...]
Cut tax for under 35s or watch them leave the country July 30, 2025 The most pressing choice I faced over the past week was whether to swim in the pool or the sea. We lounged our way from lazy lunch to long dinner, occasionally mustering the energy to stroll to the boulangerie. As I put the key in the front door of our south London home last night [...]
IMF upgrades world economy’s growth forecast as Trump’s tariffs reduced July 29, 2025 The world economy will not suffer as badly from President Trump’s tariffs as previously thought, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted. Global growth is set to be three per cent this year, the IMF said, which is higher than its previous 2.8 per cent forecast made in April. The world economy will grow by [...]