Legal aid competition scrapped September 5, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT yesterday scrapped plans to automatically award legal aid contracts to the lowest bidder, following an outcry by lawyers. Justice secretary Chris Grayling said he would scale back planned market reforms, which lawyers feared would see large outsourcers such as G4S take work away from high street solicitors who currently dominate the sector. Legal aid – [...]
Banks in a flap as Zapp’s app sparks a scrap September 5, 2013 BANKERS have launched a complaint against upcoming rival mobile payments app Zapp, accusing the platform of unfairly presenting its position as an industry-backed development, City A.M. has learned. Competition is heating up in the sector as banks and app providers grapple for a share of the new and potentially huge market. The Payments Council has [...]
Phones 4u sells off UK’s biggest mobile phone insurer for $160m September 5, 2013 HIGH STREET retailer Phones 4u yesterday dialled up a £100m deal to sell the UK’s biggest mobile insurer to a Wall Street-listed insurance giant. The phone shop’s parent company, Phones 4u Finance, will sell Crewe-based Lifestyle Services Group (LSG) to Assurant for $160m (£107m) after being approached by Assurant to buy the business earlier this [...]
Grapple investors share £40m pot after payment firm swoops September 5, 2013 LONDON-based design agency Grapple Mobile was snapped up by Monitise yesterday, bagging its founders a large share in the £39.4m price tag. Grapple is a design agency which provides smartphone solutions for brands such as Whitbread, Sky & B&Q. Yesterday Monitise bought its entire share capital for £16.5m, with a further payment of up to [...]
Monitise shows strong revenue growth as mobile money flows September 5, 2013 MOBILE payments firm Monitise reported a doubling of revenue to £72.8m in its full year results yesterday. “Monitise has delivered another financial year of very strong growth that reflects our standing as a category-leading specialist,” said Monitise chief executive Alastair Lukies. Monitise now annually accounts for more than $50bn (£32bn) of payments and transfers through [...]
Buxton sounds bullish note on UK market rally September 5, 2013 VETERAN fund manager Richard Buxton has spelled out an ultra-bullish vision for the UK economy next year, tipping blue chip stocks to soar past record levels. The former Schroders stalwart, who left the business for rival Old Mutual Global Investors in June, said the FTSE 100 would top 7,300 next year – rallying past its [...]
Icap closes in on deal to end probe over Libor allegations September 5, 2013 BROKER DEALER ICAP is believed to be in advanced talks with US and British regulators over a deal to end an investigation into its alleged role in the manipulation of benchmark interest rates. According to people familiar with the negotiations, an agreement with the US Justice Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the [...]
Canopius premiums soar in first half September 5, 2013 Lloyd’s of London insurer Canopius yesterday announced a substantial rise in premiums after its takeover of Omega pushed it to a record set of interim results. Post-tax profits grew by £10m to £42m for the first six months of 2013, while gross written premiums – equivalent to revenue – hit £527m.
Lloyds appoints new SME bank head September 5, 2013 Ex-Standard Chartered banker Tim Hinton is moving to Lloyds to head its mid-market and small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) banking business, the bank announced yesterday. The unit covers firms from startups to those with sales of up to £750m per year. Hinton has spent 27 years at Standard Chartered, most recently as global head of [...]
Vodafone debt rating upgraded September 5, 2013 Following Monday’s groundbreaking $130bn (£84bn) sale between Vodafone and Verizon, Vodafone had its debt rating upgraded to stable yesterday, removing the risk that it could be downgraded in coming months. Standard and Poor said that it estimates Vodafone will reduce its total debts by £14bn using the proceeds from the sale to Verizon of the [...]
