Afghanistan: Taliban announces ‘amnesty’ and claims women should join new government August 17, 2021 The Taliban has declared an “amnesty” for all government workers in Afghanistan and urged women to join their new government, in an effort to convince the domestic and international community of a more moderate approach as they take control of the country. Two days after the Taliban’s week-long blistering offensive across the country culminated in [...]
Wall Street ends hot streak and opens lower amid China growth slowdown August 16, 2021 Wall Street fell from last week’s record highs at Monday’s open amid concerns about the impact of the crisis in Afghanistan and after China missed expectations on a range of data, signalling that its economy was slowing down. The S&P 500 slid down 0.4 per cent from Friday’s all-time high of the year, while the [...]
Willis Towers Watson names investment head Carl Hess as next CEO August 16, 2021 Insurance giant Willis Towers Watson today named company insider Carl Hess as its next CEO and president, three weeks after the collapse of its planned $30bn (£22.9bn) mega-merger with rival Aon. Hess, who currently heads up the firm’s investment, risk and reinsurance segment, will step into current CEO John Haley’s shoes immediately upon his retirement [...]
London’s newly-listed LendInvest scores £150m partnership with Barclays and HSBC August 16, 2021 Property finance asset manager LendInvest has announced a £150m lending collaboration with two of Britain’s biggest banks, just weeks after its £255m IPO on London’s AIM index. The new tie-up is geared towards financing UK property entrepreneurs and will see the British banks provide funding for short-term mortgages through LendInvest’s digital platform. It’s the first [...]
Meggitt presses ahead and publishes documents for Parker-Hannifin £6.3bn takeover bid August 16, 2021 British defence technology firm Meggitt has published its scheme documents for a recommended £6.3bn takeover by Parker, just five days after it received a proposal for a potentially higher bid from US rival Transdigm. Meggitt said its takeover panel will announce a deadline by which TransDigm must clarify its intentions in relation to its offer, [...]
Morrisons suitor CD&R gears up to beat Fortress bid August 16, 2021 New York bidder Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is gearing up to place its counter-bid to the leading £10bn Fortress offer for Wm Morrison supermarkets before its deadline next Friday. CD&R planted the seed for the ongoing private equity bidding war for the British supermarket in June, when it placed a 230p per share offer [...]
Judge rules Credit Suisse banker was unfairly sacked over rogue trade August 16, 2021 An employment tribunal has found that banker Ellina Volkova, who carried out a rogue trade on behalf of a Russian client that cost the bank £20,000, was unfairly dismissed by Credit Suisse as the bank’s investigation into her behaviour was “unjustifiably delayed.” As part of his judgement, Judge David Massarella found against Volkova’s claim that [...]
Sajid Javid cuts cost of NHS Covid test for travel to £68 August 14, 2021 In a bid to help holidaymakers and drive down the market rate for Covid tests for travel, the health secretary has cut the cost of the travel tests that the NHS provides from £88 to £68 each. Travellers returning from green and amber list countries to England will now pay £20 less per PCR test, [...]
Afghanistan: First troops begin deploying to evacuate British nationals August 14, 2021 The first British troops have begun deploying to Afghanistan to help evacuate UK nationals as the Taliban continues its rapid advance through the country. It comes after Afghan lawmakers confirmed that the Taliban had seized the Logar province, just south of the capital Kabul, on Saturday. Britain’s Ministry of Defence has confirmed that Operation Pitting, [...]
Monzo savings partner pauses products amid money laundering probe August 14, 2021 OakNorth, a Monzo partner that provides savings products for the challenger bank, temporarily withdrew offers for new customers a fortnight after it emerged that the FCA had launched an investigation into the British digital bank over possible money laundering activity. Challenger bank OakNorth, which is one of the lenders that have provided £1bn worth of [...]