Funding Circle hopes to grow enough to tap securitisations November 18, 2014 CROWDFUNDING company Funding Circle hopes it will be big enough in the coming years to parcel up loans and sell them on to external investors, opening up a new source of finance for the alternative lender. Currently, it is backed by individual and institutional investors, and makes loans to small businesses. In the final quarter [...]
Indivior IPO: Reckitt Benckiser splits off addiction unit November 17, 2014 Addiction treatment firm Indivior is set to join the FTSE100 as parent Reckitt Benckiser yesterday said it would float the business as a separate entity. However, the drug business may not remain listed in London for long – 80 per cent of its revenues come from the US, and its chief executive Shaun Thaxter expects [...]
Ed Miliband re-launches PM campaign with new battle against zero-hour contracts November 17, 2014 Businesses and unions are digging in for an election-year battle over zero-hour contracts and what they mean for workers Ed Miliband re-launched his campaign to be the next Prime Minister last week, with a new attack on zero-hour contracts and the treatment of workers. Businesses hit back immediately, arguing the contracts give workers flexibility, allow [...]
The number of UK businesses breaks 3m mark November 16, 2014 The number of active firms in the UK has broken through the 3m level for the first time, as a surge in entrepreneurship takes hold, according to Barclays and the Business Growth Fund (BGF). School leavers setting up firms have been joined by a growing number of older workers who find themselves out of a [...]
Small factories suffer from fall in demand from Eurozone buyers November 16, 2014 Britain’s manufacturers are being propped up by strong domestic demand, as orders from the troubled Eurozone drop sharply, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said today. The proportion of small- and mid-sized firms reporting rising output outweighed those reporting a fall by a margin of nine per cent – down from 15 per cent three [...]
London Stock Exchange share price rises as boss Xavier Rolet pursues his American dream November 13, 2014 The US is set for a “golden decade”, London Stock Exchange (LSE) boss Xavier Rolet said yesterday, praising the shift to business-friendly policies in American politics. Rolet is boosting the group’s American revenues in a bid to make the most of what he predicts will be a boom in the US. After other exchanges tried [...]
Virgin Money IPO: Jayne-Anne Gadhia to get £1m bonus, but misses a bigger payout on low valuation November 13, 2014 Virgin Money’s chief executive yesterday received a bonus of almost £1m for successfully floating the business at a valuation of £1.25bn. Jayne-Anne Gadhia was given around one-third of a million shares, amounting to 0.086 per cent of the bank’s stock and valued at just under £1m. But she missed out on a bigger [...]
Standard Chartered boss denies troubled bank needs rights issue November 13, 2014 STANDARD Chartered has a substantial capital buffer and is well ahead of regulatory requirements, its chief executive Peter Sands said yesterday. He denied claims from analysts that the bank needed to tap investors with a rights issue to raise more funds. “I am very clear on this, we have a strong capital position – on [...]
Minister says save more, spend less November 13, 2014 THE ECONOMY needs more thrifty savers and fewer debt-fuelled splurges, Treasury minister Andrea Leadsom said yesterday. She called for more competition in the banking market, as well as a new drive to promote financial education. Banks and building societies “help people fulfil their ambitions – whether that’s buying your first house, saving up for a [...]
Forex rigging scandal: RBS, UBS, HSBC, JP Morgan and Citi set for lawsuit storm after £2bn FCA fine November 12, 2014 Funds, companies and other traders hurt by banks manipulating the foreign exchange markets could make claims totalling many billions of pounds, lawyers said yesterday. Five banks were fined a total of £2bn by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission authorities because their traders fiddled key currency benchmarks. But the [...]