Ocado founder Gissing to leave as sales increase February 4, 2014 OCADO’s Jason Gissing is to step down, leaving chief executive Tim Steiner as the only co-founder still at the grocer, which posted sales growth of 15 per cent yesterday. Despite growing revenues, the firm suffered a pre-tax loss of £12.5m for the year to 1 December, compared with £600,000 the previous year. The group said [...]
Management shake-up at DLA Piper sees Knowles take chair February 4, 2014 CITY law firm DLA Piper yesterday announced that global co-chairman Tony Angel will step aside next year after just one term in the role, to be replaced by co-chief executive and managing partner Sir Nigel Knowles from January next year. Knowles will be joined at the top by Roger Meltzer, the firm’s dickie-bow sporting co-chair of [...]
Investec sells private banking arm to manager-led consortium February 4, 2014 SALAMANCA Group yesterday bought out Investec Trust, along with the Trust’s managers. The private banking unit has £4.5bn in assets under management, and its sale reflects the widespread trend for banks to sell of the management arms. The unit has been rebranded Salamanca Group Trust and Fiduciary, and will continue to be run by Xavier [...]
Lib Dems block Pickles’ council tax plans February 4, 2014 LIBERAL Democrat leader Nick Clegg has blocked a Conservative plan to prevent councils from increasing council tax by more then 1.5 per cent. The proposal, put forward by communities secretary Eric Pickles, would have forced councils to seek a vote in order to increase tax by more than 1.5 per cent. They can currently raise [...]
House building booms as growth fuels construction February 4, 2014 BRITISH builders were still flourishing as 2014 kicked off, reporting the fastest business growth in the past six and a half years, even in January’s poor weather. Markit’s construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for last month climbed to 64.6, the highest since August 2007, just before the financial crisis. The index is now just shy [...]
Bonus boost at UBS with giant’s investment wing back in profit February 4, 2014 UBS’s investment banking arm swung back to profit in the final three months of 2013, the lender reported yesterday, driving up bonuses. The bank’s overall profits came in at SFr917m (£621m) in the quarter, compared with a loss of SFr1.9bn in the same period of 2012. For 2013 as a whole, it made SFr3.2bn, from a [...]
No end for PPI claims as cutoff date is ruled out February 4, 2014 CUTTING short the PPI scandal by imposing a deadline on compensation claims would hurt victims of the crisis, Martin Wheatley said yesterday. Banks are still unveiling higher and higher estimates of the final cost of the redress payments as the flow of claims from customers shows no sign of ending. But the chief of the [...]
Cable: banks should pass failed SME loan applicants on to rivals February 4, 2014 BANKS could be forced to refer small business customers on to their rivals if they have turned down the firm’s loan application, business secretary Vince Cable said yesterday. Small firms have complained it is difficult to get credit, with some businesses becoming discouraged after being turned down several times. As a result Cable wants the [...]
Lenders pay off £300m of £3bn swaps redress February 4, 2014 BRITAIN’S biggest banks have paid £306.3m to small firms who were mis-sold interest rate swaps, the Financial Conduct Authority said yesterday. The figure for January is almost double the £158.6m completed by December, as the banks get closer to finishing their evaluations of customers and can pay more of the compensation. But around another £2.7bn still remains, [...]
Non-doms’ tax bill to rise as charges go up February 4, 2014 NON-DOMICILED UK residents paid £178m in tax in the last full financial year, according to new figures from Vestra Wealth. The bill for the tax year to April 2012 was up £10m on the previous 12-month period. The residents pay the taxman a fee of £30,000 per year in exchange for their overseas earnings being [...]
