‘Putin is not dying,’ Kremlin says November 6, 2020 The Kremlin has dismissed “nonsense” claims Putin will quit the presidency amid fears for his health. This morning The Sun reported the Russian president, 68, is ill and poised to quit amid fears he has possible symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The Sun cited Professor Valery Solovei, a Russian political pundit, who suggested earlier this week [...]
New boss at Pizza Express as slice taken out of debt pile November 6, 2020 Pizza Express has appointed a new chairman and chief executive, Allan Leighton and David Campbell respectively, and reduced its debt pile by £400m after completing its recapitalisation. The new capital structure has reduced debt by more than £400million, from £735million to £319million, and includes the immediate injection of £40million of new capital. The business also [...]
PwC buys mindfulness app for all staff amid coronavirus crisis November 6, 2020 Audit giant PwC has bought a 12 month subscription to a mindfulness app for all 22,000 staff across the UK business. City AM understands the chosen app is ‘Headspace’, a mobile app that aims to help users feel less stressed through a combination of meditation, mindfulness and better sleep. In a note to all partners [...]
Zurich spends £1m on employee upskilling drive November 5, 2020 Insurance giant Zurich has spent £1million upskilling existing employees to combat an upcoming skills shortage. Zurich has identified 270 robotics, data science and cyber security jobs that, if employees are not reskilled, could go unfilled by 2024. The business is on a mission to retrain 3,000 UK employees – two-thirds of its workforce – over [...]
HMRC urges traders to prep for end of Brexit transition period to avoid disruption November 5, 2020 HMRC has sent 250,000 letters and emails to traders urging them to act now to avoid Brexit-related disruption when the transition period comes to an end. New border controls will come into force at the end of the transition period on 1 January 2021. Some customs processes are complicated and can take several weeks to [...]
Coronavirus pressure drives down number of permanent jobs November 5, 2020 The number of permanent staff appointments fell in October as rising Covid-19 cases weighed heavily on recruitment plans, with jobs in retail, hotels and catering hit particularly hard. Greater uncertainty drove a marked rise in temporary placements, according to the latest KMPG and REC report on jobs, and overall demand for staff fell. Widespread reports [...]
Lloyd’s to revamp company cultural following sexual harassment incidents November 5, 2020 Lloyd’s of London recently quizzed employees on its culture in a bid to improve its work environment for women. The move follows reports of sexual harassment at the firm in recent years. Last month Lloyd’s launched its 2020 culture survey, the second culture survey carried out by the business. The market’s first 2019 survey found [...]
FCA bans three financial advisers for sex crime convictions November 5, 2020 Three former financial advisers have been banned from working in the financial services industry following sexual assault and other non-financial convictions. Russell Jameson, Mark Horsey and Frank Cochran were each convinced of crimes of a sexual nature in 2018. City regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has now banned them from working in financial services. [...]
Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial results due before New Year November 4, 2020 The Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford could present late-stage trial results before the year end, the chief trial investigator for the vaccine has said. Working out whether or not the vaccine worked would likely come this year, according to Oxford Vaccine trial chief investigator Andrew Pollard. After that the data would have [...]
Brexit: UK and EU clash on share trading rules November 4, 2020 Square Mile banks and asset managers can use exchanges from the European Union to trade shares from January, creating a cross-border clash in securities rules for investors.
