Me? A Bank CEO?: First Direct’s boss on his unusual route to the top Interview CEO of First Direct Chris Pitt speaks with City A.M.’s Editor Andy Silvester about his unusual route to the top of the bank and setting his sights on even loftier ambitions for Britain’s young people First Direct boss Chris Pitt and I are walking down towards City A.M.’s offices near Monument. It’s a walk down [...]
Marble Arch mound architects slam “nonsensical” premature opening and “barbers” in UK media for negative publicity THE FINGER OF BLAME The Dutch architects behind the universally panned Marble Arch mound have hit out at Westminster City Council, the UK media, the builders of the mound, English Heritage and Historic England for the project failing to live up to its promise. In a post on their website, architects MVRDV say “anyone who visited the Marble Arch [...]
A lack of direction at the top has left Boris vulnerable to scandal Editorial Since being elected in 2019 on a new brand of Conservative politics, Johnson has completely failed to add meat to the bones of precisely what this means. Without a safety net of coherent politics, a checklist of achievements to wave at his many critics, Johnson is more in danger of being waylaid by scandals than [...]
Terry Smith has a point – and the rest of the City should listen too January 13, 2022 Earlier this week we called for more plain speaking in the business world. Terry Smith, the legendary fund manager, has rarely needed such a nudge. Unilever, he said in his letter to investors this week, has “clearly lost the plot.” Smith’s beef was an effort to define the purpose of Hellmann’s mayonnaise. Regardless of whether [...]
Fintech fail: Home Office bars start-ups banked with Revolut from visa sponsorship licence January 11, 2022 The fintech revolution is sweeping through Government – but it appears it hasn’t yet hit the Home Office, which bars start-ups who bank from Revolut from acquiring a vital visa sponsorship licence. Recently-founded businesses looking to gain a licence to “sponsor” foreign workers through the government’s new visa system must submit evidence of a corporate [...]
Britain’s financial future needs catch-up plan for young workers January 10, 2022 If lockdowns have taught us anything, it’s not to underestimate the power of a holiday. Two weeks on the beach feels like a valuable reward after two years of mentally draining restrictions. It is not surprising that travel companies are reporting an uptick in the booking of ‘big’ holidays. Part of that, of course, is [...]
Lack of support is untenable, and the Chancellor must know it December 17, 2021 The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has played a bad hand very well since taking the job in February 2020, just as news of a strange and mysterious virus was beginning to bother the front pages. It has helped that he has been playing with the equivalent of house money – borrowing huge sums in what became, [...]
Believe it or not, there are still reasons to be cheerful for 2022 December 16, 2021 There are, it is fair to say, many reasons to feel a tad disheartened at the minute. Yesterday’s record number of Omicron cases was hardly cheering. Neither is the sight of empty streets and shuttered businesses on a quick stroll around the City. But, believe it or not, there are reasons to be cheerful. Plenty, [...]
Some rationality called for amidst the drumbeat to restrictions December 14, 2021 Who would have thought that just five years after the Brexit referendum, Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin and the CBI would be back on the same side. Truly, Covid-19 has made for the strangest of bedfellows. Both have railed, reasonably, against the new Plan B restrictions which are well on their way to being passed into [...]
City Hall warns failure to fund TfL will leave £2.1bn hole in Treasury’s finances December 14, 2021 A failure to strike a long-term funding deal for TfL would result in a £12bn hit to the capital’s economy, according to new City Hall analysis.
