Hargreaves Lansdown adds record number of new clients August 7, 2020 Hargreaves Lansdown reported a jump in full-year profit after adding a record number of new clients. The figures The investment platform said profit before tax increased 24 per cent to £378.3m in the year ended 30 June. Revenue grew to £550.9m, jumping 15 per cent from £480.5m the previous year. Total assets under administration increased [...]
Standard Life Aberdeen profit hit by coronavirus and £25bn Lloyds withdrawal August 7, 2020 Standard Life Aberdeen’s pre-tax profit slumped 30 per cent to £195m in the first half of 2020 after Lloyds withdrew £25bn in the peak of the pandemic. The figures Fee-based revenue fell 13 per cent to £706m as clients pulled their money out to lower fee assets and Lloyds’ scheduled withdrawal of assets. That missed [...]
Trump issues executive order against Tiktok and Wechat over China links August 7, 2020 US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order promising a ban on Chinese-owned apps such as Tiktok and Wechat within 45 days. The two apps must be removed from Apple and Google’s app stores and all business ceased with US companies by the deadline. Tiktok owner Bytedance is currently in negotiations over a sale [...]
BP ready to offload gas and oil assets even if crude prices bounce back August 7, 2020 BP will look to sell a considerable portion of its oil and gas assets even if crude oil prices rebound from the crash caused by Covid-19. Moving forward, the FTSE 100 group wants to invest in more renewable energy – a strategy that was discussed at the company’s executives meeting in July, according to Reuters. [...]
Dominic Cummings’ lockdown trip harmed confidence in Covid-19 response August 7, 2020 A breach of lockdown rules by top aide Dominic Cummings directly harmed public confidence in the UK government’s coronavirus response, a study said today. The incident caused a clear decrease of public confidence in the government’s ability to handle the pandemic, which started from the day the story broke and has not recovered since, a [...]
Beavertown launch a park delivery service in Clissold Park August 7, 2020 Oof, it’s going to be a hot one this weekend. But if you’re in Stokey, the ever inventive Beavertown brewery is around to help you out with their new ‘SOS’ service. Together with location service what3words, they’re promising to hand deliver a free can of their north London-brewed beer to picnickers in Clissold Park this [...]
A pre-mixed Bloody Mary to your door? Cheers to that… August 7, 2020 We’ve all had the occasional, ahem, slow morning after a big night out – but fear not, because help may be on its way. Drinks firm Bloody Drinks have launched the first premium Bloody Mary in a can – and even better, if you live in east London, you can get it sent to your [...]
It’s time epidemiological models faced the same scrutiny as banks August 7, 2020 After the global financial crisis of 2009, Basel, the international standard setting body for banking regulation, conducted a thorough analysis of banks’ internal models. Banks had been allowed considerable discretion in the way in which they modelled their risks to justify the amount of capital they should hold against them. Basel’s analysts found that the [...]
DEBATE: Are the new planning reforms what’s needed to help alleviate Britain’s housing crisis? August 7, 2020 Are the new planning reforms what’s needed to help alleviate Britain’s housing crisis? James Heywood, head of welfare and opportunity at the Centre for Policy Studies, says YES. The new planning White Paper is surprisingly radical and, though the devil is in the detail, the reforms it sets out are hugely encouraging. Our current Kafkaesque [...]
Wanted: A plan to save London August 7, 2020 The motto of the City of London is “Domine dirige nos”: Lord, direct us. But who is directing the capital as we struggle to comprehend the future in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic? In the UK, we are notoriously poor at strategic planning (except, perhaps, in times of war). Partly, this is an ideological [...]
