The Crime Lord: Peter Capaldi on the manosphere, London and rocking out with his band as he approaches 70
Citigroup in lengthy legal dispute with German tax authorities on allegations linked to dividend stripping March 22, 2016 Banking giant Citigroup has today confirmed that it is tied up in a lengthy legal dispute with the German tax authorities regarding accusations linked with dividend stripping. Dividend stripping, or cum-ex trading, involved using a now closed legal loophole to claim tax credits for both buyers and sellers of shares by buying shares just before their dividends [...]
Law firm Ashurst launches Ashurst Advance to boost its research and development and innovation March 22, 2016 Law firm Ashurst has today launched Ashurst Advance, a new team which will be focused on developing legal services innovations for clients. In particular, Ashurst Advance will be performing research and development (R&D) activities and examining how lawyers can improve client service through factors like better use of technology and more efficient processes. "What is really [...]
Every one per cent of growth in the UK’s legal sector adds another £379m and 8,000 jobs to the economy, finds report March 22, 2016 Legal eagles are adding a substantial chunk to the UK's bottom line, as the legal sector is now valued at over £25bn, a report out today has found. The study published today by the Law Society discovered that every one per cent of growth in the UK's legal services sector adds an additional £379m to the economy and [...]
The Investment Association reveals productivity plan aimed at bolstering the UK economy through long-term investment March 22, 2016 The Investment Association has today unveiled its plans to boost the UK's productivity through long-term investment. Among the Productivity Action Plan's key areas of focus for removing barriers to long-term investment are improving investor engagement, enhancing company reporting to better show to what extent firms are contributing to the economy and contributing more to the debate on tax [...]
Shore Capital share price rises despite scrapping its dividend as chief executive warns the outlook for markets may not improve March 22, 2016 Shore Capital's share price has risen in trading today, despite the company axing its dividend and warning challenging markets could continue. The company reported strong profit growth in its preliminary results for its year ended December 2015, mostly due to the sale of a number of radio spectrum licences in Germany to Deutsche Telekom AG. The sale of six [...]
Less than half of cybersecurity experts are sharing information with each other, even though the overwhelming majority who are see great benefits from doing so March 22, 2016 Clearly nobody ever told IT departments that to share is to care, as less than half of cybersecurity experts share information on threats with others in their profession. According to research released today from McAfee Labs, the threat research division of Intel Security, only 42 per cent of the cybersecurity professionals they surveyed use shared threat intelligence, [...]
Financial Ombudsman explains frequent problems with debt management companies after it reveals that debt charities are receiving 4,000 new requests for help a day March 22, 2016 The Financial Ombudsman has today explained the most common problems it hears about regarding services offered by debt management companies. In its most recent newsletter, the Ombudsman reveals that debt charities are now receiving 4,000 new enquiries a day. Juliana Francis, senior ombudsman, explained that the complaints received regarding debt management companies, which she calls among the [...]
UK pensions freedoms: Number of defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension transfers lower than expected, finds Financial Reporting Council report March 21, 2016 We hope you didn't bet your pension pot on there being a big switchover from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) schemes when the pension freedoms came into force last year – research published today by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) discovered that there has been relatively low levels of scheme swapping. The study by [...]
Outcry from Unite the union as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) set to launch “shameless” raid on its staff’s defined benefit pensions March 21, 2016 Unite has today heavily criticised what it described as a "shameless" decision by banking giant Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to pass on £18m a year in costs of running its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to its employees. RBS' decision is a result of changes to the pension system, which effectively increased the rate of both [...]
Actuaries set out guidelines to protect against risks like Libor manipulation and PPI mis-selling, urging firms to focus more on the quality of their risk data March 21, 2016 The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) has today published a document full of ideas of how financial services firms could better handle operational risk, lowering the likelihood of incidents such as Libor rigging and PPI mis-selling. In its paper aimed at banks, insurers and other financial services firms, the IFoA's Operational Risk Working Party examines how businesses [...]
