Nearly half of Brits would squander their wealth to make sure they qualify for council care cost coverage in their old age November 23, 2015 Almost half (43 per cent) of people would be willing to deliberately deplete their assets to make sure their council pays for their care in old age, according to figures released today from specialist insurer Partnership. By comparison, less than a quarter (23 per cent) said they would be prepared to do the same when asked [...]
UK’s anti-money laundering controls are not fit for purpose, allowing billions of pounds of dirty money to seep into the country every year November 23, 2015 The UK’s anti-money laundering (AML) safeguards are not fit for purpose and require a radical overhaul, a report released today has found. According to the study by Transparency International UK (TI-UK) , the current system, which involves 22 different organisations across a range of sectors having some degree of responsibility for supervising and enforcing the [...]
Legal services business Parabis Group to enter a pre-pack administration process November 22, 2015 Legal and professional services provider Parabis Group is to be broken up and sold off as part of a pre-pack administration process, Sky News reported late on Saturday. Sources told Sky News that the move would save “all but a handful” of the 2,000 jobs at the company and the sales would raise just over [...]
Insurance giant Axa planning to sell off wealth management division in UK November 22, 2015 Axa has brought in advisors to help it sell off some of its UK businesses, including parts of their wealth management division, the Sunday Times reported today. Sources told the Sunday newspaper that the insurer, who is headquartered in France, had grown weary of the UK’s regulatory environment and had called in bankers at Barclays and [...]
US Treasury Department shakes up inversion rules to deter companies moving to lower tax jurisdictions, but may not present risk to Pfizer and Allergan deal November 20, 2015 The US Treasury Department late last night revealed new measures to limit the tax benefits of corporate inversions, which companies were using to move their residence into a lower tax jurisdiction when acquiring an overseas business. The notice issued last night curbs companies’ ability to combine their assets with an overseas entity they are merging [...]
Public Accounts Committee slams Network Rail for serious planning and budgeting failures, including an “unacceptable” £1.2bn overspend on Great Western Main Line project November 20, 2015 Network Rail's five-year investment programme contains serious planning and budgeting failures, according to a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report released today. In particular, the report calls the projected £1.2bn overspend on electrifying the Great Western Main Line between London and Cardiff “staggering and unacceptable”, and says there is “far too much uncertainty” about costs and delivery [...]
Volkswagen scandal compensation: Australian law firm launches new class action claim on behalf of VW car owners November 19, 2015 An Australian law firm today launched a class action lawsuit on behalf of owners Volkswagen (VW) cars. Maurice Blackburn Lawyers has said that more than 10,000 people have already registered for their class action claim, which will also cover affected Skoda and Audi vehicles and will target the German parent companies, not just the Australian [...]
July Budget 2015 measures have boosted people’s incentive to work, despite proposals to cut in-work tax credits – Institute for Fiscal Studies November 19, 2015 Measures announced in the July Budget strengthened the incentive to work, despite the proposed in-work tax credits cuts, according to a study released today by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The report found that the complete package of changes, which included raising the personal allowance for income tax and introducing the National Living Wage, has [...]
Banking is less of an old boys’ club but there’s still work left to do to improve diversity in the industry November 19, 2015 A report released today has praised the banking industry for its efforts to improve diversity but cautions that there is still more to do. In particular, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) paper highlights that 31 per cent of board directors at FTSE 100 banks are women, compared to 26 per cent for FTSE 100 companies overall. [...]
UK climbs one position to 15th place in a ranking of effective business tax systems, but drawn-out compliance times stop it from placing higher November 19, 2015 The UK has claimed 15th place in a ranking of countries with effective business tax systems, climbing up one position from last year, according to a report published today by the World Bank Group and professional services firm PwC. The league table, which assesses countries on how easy it is to pay taxes based on [...]
