New £50 note featuring WW2 codebreaker Alan Turing enters circulation June 23, 2021 A new £50 banknote celebrating mathematician Alan Turing, whose codebreaking skills helped Britain win WW2, entered circulation today. Turing is best known for designing machines to decrypt coded messages during WW2, as well as making discoveries in developmental biology. “Placing him on this new banknote is a recognition of his contributions to our society, and [...]
More than eight in 10 UK firms plan on hybrid workforce after the pandemic June 23, 2021 Some 84 per cent of UK businesses plan on having a hybrid, flexible or remote workforce after the pandemic, according to new research. The State of Hybrid Work study, carried out by tech firm Owl Labs and covering 500 business leaders, found that only 16 per cent of companies expect workers to return to the [...]
US stocks muted ahead of Fed Chair Powell’s testimony while FTSE climbs June 22, 2021 Wall Street was subdued at the open today as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks for hints on how the central bank is balancing inflation risk with its promise to ensure a jobs market recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 0.3 per cent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.05 per cent. Meanwhile, [...]
BoE appoints former Citibank economist Catherine Mann to rate-setting panel June 22, 2021 Britain’s finance ministry has today named former Citibank economist Catherine Mann as the newest member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Mann’s three-year stint on the nine-member panel, which sets interest rates and oversees the BoE’s £895bn bond-buying programme, will replace Gertjan Vlieghe on 1 September, who is stepping down after six [...]
Watchdog warns Monzo and NatWest over banking transaction history breaches June 22, 2021 Britain’s competition watchdog has issued a warning to banks including Monzo and NatWest over breaching rules requiring them to send banking transaction histories to former account holders. Nearly 150,000 customers were not provided with the necessary information quickly enough, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said today. Monzo was responsible for the largest portion of [...]
Bumble closes for a week to let staff recover from Covid burnout June 22, 2021 Dating app Bumble has temporarily closed its offices this week to give its 700 employees the chance to de-stress and recover from Covid burnout. The dating app, where women are in charge of making the first move, told its staff worldwide to switch off and focus on themselves. The decision was praised by Bumble’s head [...]
National Express acquires Spanish bus firm Transportes Rober for £11.13m June 22, 2021 National Express today announced that it has acquired Spanish bus group Transportes Rober for £11.13m. Rober has operated the urban bus contract in Granada for more than 20 years and is a major hub for long haul connections. National Express said the deal represented a further step in “consolidating the regional and urban bus markets”, [...]
Gear4music doubles annual profit as Brits turn to instruments during lockdown June 22, 2021 Gear4music saw its annual gross profit almost double to £46.4m as Brits turned to musical instruments during lockdowns. The online musical instrument retailer’s revenue also shot up by 31 per cent to £157.5m in the year ended March 2021. Gear4music pushed its active customers up by 32 per cent during the period to 1.06m, as [...]
Hospitality hiring crisis drives up wages by 14 per cent as venues turn to temporary workers June 22, 2021 Hiring bottlenecks in the UK’s hospitality sector are prompting pubs and restaurants to turn to temporary staff to keep up with demand. It has also forced companies to increase wages by as much as 14 per cent, according to new research from Indeed Flex, an online marketplace for flexible workers. Analysis of pub, bar and [...]
US stocks surge after worst week in nearly four months June 21, 2021 Wall Street rallied today, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average completing its strongest session in over three months as investors piled back in to energy and other sectors expected to outperform as the economy rebounds from the pandemic. The S&P 500 value index, which includes banks, energy and other economically sensitive sectors and has led gains in [...]