Travelex owner Finablr planning for ‘potential insolvency’ March 17, 2020 Finablr, the owner of foreign exchange firm Travelex, has appointed advisers to prepare for a possible insolvency after the FTSE 250 company became mired in an accounting scandal. In an update to the stock exchange this morning, Finablr’s board said it had engaged an accounting firm “to undertake rapid contingency planning for a potential insolvency [...]
Ferguson shares tumble on coronavirus impact warning March 17, 2020 Shares in plumbing group Ferguson slumped over 13 per cent in morning trading after it warned it could not confirm its full-year outlook due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company also reported a 5.7 per cent drop in pre-tax profit for the six months ending 31 January, which fell to $640m (£522m). Revenue rose 1.1 [...]
Transferwise partners with Alipay as it targets expansion into China March 17, 2020 Transferwise has teamed up with Chinese payment platform Alipay to offer its users money transfers to China, as the London-based payments company moves to expand into the lucrative market. Under the partnership, Transferwise’s users will be able to send Chinese yuan from 17 currencies to users of Alipay, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba. Alipay [...]
EU watchdog tightens short-selling rules as coronavirus sell off worsens March 16, 2020 Hedge funds and other investors will have to give regulators more information about the stocks they are betting against, the European Union’s market watchdog has announced, warning that the stock market rout triggered by coronavirus could last weeks. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) lowered the threshold for reporting short-selling — essentially a bet [...]
Travelex owner Finablr in danger of collapse as shares suspended March 16, 2020 Payments company Finablr has warned it is in danger of collapsing as trading in its shares was frozen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In a dramatic update to the stock exchange this morning, the Travelex owner said it had found around $100m (£81m) of undisclosed financing, which meant it no longer had any certainty [...]
Revolut finance chief steps down after five months March 16, 2020 David MacLean is stepping down as chief financial officer of Revolut after just five months in the role. City A.M. understands that MacLean is leaving the company, which recently tied with Klarna as Europe’s most valuable fintech startup, for personal reasons. Revolut has appointed an interim chief financial officer, but has not yet appointed MacLean’s [...]
London Stock Exchange gets US approval for Refinitiv deal March 16, 2020 US regulators have approved the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) takeover of financial data firm Refinitiv, the bourse said today. LSE said that the US Committee on Foreign Investment had determined that there were no national security concerns related to the $27bn (£22bn) deal, which was first announced in August last year. The all-share deal would [...]
FTSE 100 plunges despite Fed’s coronavirus ‘bazooka’ March 16, 2020 The FTSE 100 has plunged despite the US Federal Reserve slashing interest rates to near zero in an emergency move to curb the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The blue-chip index was last down seven per cent as traders reckoned with the ongoing spread of coronavirus and shrugged off the Fed’s surprise intervention. Airlines and [...]
EU rejects UK’s call for quick agreement on financial services equivalence March 16, 2020 The EU’s head of financial regulation has rejected the UK’s calls for the City’s future access to the bloc’s markets to be settled by the end of June, warning that Brussels’ decision will be based on the extent Britain wants to deviate from EU rules. UK chancellor Rishi Sunak last month called on the EU [...]
ECB stimulus measures underwhelms investors disappointed by lack of rate cut March 12, 2020 The European Central Bank has unveiled a fresh stimulus package to help fight the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic , but markets were left dismayed as the ECB unexpectedly stopped short of an interest rate cut. With millions of European citizens under lockdown and equities across the continent in freefall, the ECB had come [...]
