Half of BMW’s sales to be electric by 2030 March 17, 2021 One in every two cars sold by BMW will be a zero emissions vehicle by 2030, the German carmaker predicted today. The plans, which the auto maker set out this morning, are less ambitious than those of some of its rivals. But, chief executive Oliver Zipse said, BMW could speed up its plans if consumer [...]
Shakespeare: So far, consumers remain on John Lewis’ side March 17, 2021 Retailer John Lewis has announced hundreds of jobs are at risk as the brand considers the permanent closure of more department stores following the “economic earthquake” of the Covid-19 pandemic. Staff were already told earlier this year that there would be no annual bonus this year. The chairwoman of the John Lewis Partnership, Dame Sharon [...]
Water bills: CMA settles long-running price controls dispute March 17, 2021 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today published its findings on the price controls for four water companies for 2020-2025. The group set a headline rate of return to investors of 3.2 per cent compared with 4.6 per cent in the previous price control period. It said the return is the minimum that is sufficient [...]
Governments are quick to demonise Bitcoin as an environmental menace March 17, 2021 Governments are quick to demonise Bitcoin as an environmental menace, says Crypto AM columnist 'That Martini Guy'.
Bitcoin was created for the eventualities now facing the world March 17, 2021 Writing exclusively for Crypto AM, Dr Chris Kacher explains how cryptocurrency can take the driving seat with fiat as the passenger.
UK airports saw fewest passengers last summer since 1975 March 17, 2021 Airports saw the lowest number of passengers pass through their gates last summer since 1975, new figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) show. Just 14.2m people travelled through UK airports last year from July to September, while across the whole year there were just 73.8m air passengers. The majority of these – two-thirds – [...]
Aviva boss Amanda Blanc appointed Women in Finance Champion March 17, 2021 Amanda Blanc, chief executive of Aviva, has been appointed the Treasury’s Women in Finance champion. She succeeds Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, former chief executive of Virgin Money, who led the 2016 review into the representation of women in the industry. The Treasury launched its Women in Finance Charter after the review and it now has over [...]
How can investors access the UK’s industrial recovery? March 17, 2021 The UK has barely begun to edge out of its third Covid-19 lockdown but economic activity in some sectors is already racing ahead. While consumer-facing services businesses still await a return to “normal”, the industrial manufacturing and construction parts of the economy are recovering strongly. We can see signs of this in the CIPS/Markit manufacturing [...]
London remains Europe’s major global finance centre despite Brexit hit March 17, 2021 London has held on to the second spot in a respected international study of financial centres, despite the double whammy of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. London sits behind only New York and remains Europe’s only major global financial centre, remaining a number of spots ahead of Frankfurt and Zurich. But Asian competitors Shanghai, Hong [...]
Illuminate Financial closes $100m round with backing from JP Morgan and Barclays March 17, 2021 London-based VC firm Illuminate Financial has closed a $100m round with backing from JP Morgan Chase and Barclays. The fund, which is Illuminate’s second, was anchored by Deutsche Borse and IHS Markit, with additional backing from Draper Esprit and family offices. It was launched in early 2019 before closing in January 2021. “It has been [...]