One in six employers feel their staff are still unclear about pension freedoms, more than six months after they came into force November 16, 2015 One in six employers have noticed staff are still scratching their heads over pension freedoms, despite the new rules having been in force since April, according to a study by Close Brothers Asset Management. However, some staff are getting the hang of the rules. In the survey of almost 900 UK employers, 21 per cent said [...]
Insurance Fraud Bureau: Crash for cash style fraud drops almost £60m in three years as criminals move onto new claims November 16, 2015 Crash for cash style fraud – where people stage motor accidents to claim fraudulently on insurance – has dropped by nearly £60m in the last three years, according to a report by the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) released today. Figures from the fraud-fighting not-for-profit found that the total value of such scams is now worth [...]
Standard & Poor’s: Abrupt climate change could challenge insurance industry November 16, 2015 Insurers could be underestimating how climate change will affect their business, according to a study released today by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. Miroslav Petkov, director, insurance ratings at Standard & Poor’s, said: “Our analysis indicates that insurers' capital management will be sufficient to manage the additional strain of a reduction of about 0.5 per [...]
Retiring baby boomers creating skills gap headache for more than three-quarters of employers November 16, 2015 More than three-quarters (77 per cent) of finance directors are worried that their business will struggle with skills gaps over the next five years as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age. Research released today by recruitment consultancy Robert Half found that, of the more than 200 senior finance executives surveyed, 88 per cent were [...]
UK pension freedoms could be costing people £104m, as they fail to shop around for the best annuity deal November 16, 2015 People who have purchased an annuity over the last six months without shopping around for the best deal are set to collectively lose out on £104m over the course of their retirement, according to figures released today by Retirement Advantage. The calculation was based on data collected for the first six months of pensions freedoms, [...]
Finance executives feel UK business outlook is bleak, and confidence is low across Europe in general November 16, 2015 More than a quarter (29 per cent) of UK chief financial officers (CFOs) feel less optimistic about the financial prospects of their business than they did three months ago, according to a Deloitte report released today. Of the UK CFOs questioned for Deloitte’s latest European CFO Survey, which surveyed a total of 1,298 CFOs across [...]
Connected living market set to be worth $1 trillion worldwide in five years’ time, and £30bn in the UK November 16, 2015 The connected living market – where technology is used to foster better connectivity between people – could be worth $1 trillion globally by 2020, according figures released by PwC today. The professional services firm also predicts that the market, which includes devices like smart meters for homes and online platforms for professional networking, could be [...]
New doubts for future of Tata Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, as European chief warns the site must be sold by April November 15, 2015 Tata Steel’s European chief executive Karl-Ulrich Kohler has warned that its Scunthorpe steel plant must be sold by April as it has no future as part of the company’s business. The company has been seeking a buyer for the plant as part of a wider sale of its long products business, which manufactures items like [...]
Finance executives feel UK business odds are bleak, and confidence is low across Europe in general November 15, 2015 NULL
Almost a third of London employers are struggling with productivity levels, compared to just less than a quarter of employers in the UK as a whole November 12, 2015 Nearly a third (32 per cent) of London employers think that productivity is a problem for their business, according to figures shown exclusively to City A.M. by Group Risk Development (GRiD). By comparison, in a report released earlier by GRiD, just 23 per cent of employers across the UK as a whole said that productivity [...]