Hong Kong falls into recession amid ongoing unrest October 31, 2019 Hong Kong has officially entered a recession for the first time in a decade after the its economy contracted for a second successive quarter, as the territory prepares for Halloween protests. The financial hub’s economy shrank by 3.2 per cent in the three months to the end of September, much more than the 0.6 per [...]
EU mulls new anti-money laundering body following scandals October 31, 2019 The EU is set to explore the creation of a new central authority to tackle money laundering after a series of high-profile scandals highlighted the bloc’s weakness in preventing dirty cash flowing through its banks. Finance ministers from EU countries are expected to mandate the European Commission to recommend a new “independent” enforcement body with [...]
Keith Morgan to stand down as head of British Business Bank October 31, 2019 Keith Morgan, head of the state-owned British Business Bank (BBB) will stand down at the end of next year after eight years at the helm. Morgan, who has been chief executive of the UK’s development bank since its formation in 2013, will stand down at the end of 2020 to ensure an orderly transition to [...]
Technical issue with Revolut app leaves customers unable to sign in October 30, 2019 Some Revolut customers have been left unable to sign in to the banking app due to a technical issue. Customers of the fintech giant took to Twitter to report seeing an error message when they tried to log in to its app, with some complaining of long waits to speak to customer service agents. Read [...]
Effigy of speaker John Bercow to go up in flames to celebrate bonfire night October 30, 2019 An 11-metre effigy of outgoing Commons speaker John Bercow holding the heads of Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn will go up in flames on Saturday to celebrate bonfire night. Bercow – alongside the prime minister and Labour leader – was today unveiled as this year’s Guy for the Edenbridge Bonfire Society, which has poked fun [...]
Wework could be worth ‘zero’, says Bill Ackman October 30, 2019 Influential investor Bill Ackman said he thinks there is a risk of Softbank having to write off the entirety of its multi-billion-dollar investment in Wework. “I think WeWork has a pretty high probability of being a zero for the equity, as well as for the debt,” Ackman told the Robin Hood investor conference in New [...]
Suspended Woodford fund outperforms FTSE benchmark October 30, 2019 Former star fund manager Neil Woodford’s suspended Income Focus Fund has outperformed the FTSE all-share benchmark in the two weeks since it was frozen. In a letter to investors this morning, Link Fund Solutions – which is managing the suspension – revealed that the fund’s returns had grown 1.39 per cent, while its benchmark return [...]
Hong Kong stock exchange boss questions ‘one country, two systems’ October 30, 2019 Charles Li, head of the Hong Kong stock exchange (HKEX), has publicly questioned the “one country, two systems” framework governing the territory’s relationship with mainland China. In a speech in London last night, Li said the model had “fundamental flaws” in how it was implemented from the outset, the Financial Times reported. Read more: Carrie [...]
Standard Life Aberdeen to offer nine months’ fully paid parental leave October 30, 2019 Investment company Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) is to offer all its employees nine months of fully-paid leave when they become parents, and one year’s total leave. SLA said the leave would be available to all new parents, irrespective of gender, family situation, or how long they have worked for the company. Read more: Martin Gilbert [...]
Pet Sematary trailer ‘inappropriately targeted’ at children, watchdog rules October 30, 2019 The advertising watchdog has censured film studio Paramount Pictures after a “frightening” trailer for the horror film Pet Sematary was shown before Youtube videos likely to appeal to children. The trailer – which opened with a girl walking through some woods with a voiceover stating: “Something up in those woods, it brings things back; sometimes [...]
