The car insurance boss who wants to motor into new foreign markets August 22, 2010 It is a case of ‘Recession? What recession?’ for motor insurance firm Admiral, which is in the middle of taking on 750 staff in the UK alone this year. And that means an awful lot of meetings for the Cardiff-based firm’s 53-year-old chief executive Henry Engelhardt. The Chicago-born boss meets every one of his new [...]
It’s time to reject the Van Gogh fallacy August 18, 2010 HOW far should your boss mess with your mind? Or to put it another way, is your mental health your employer’s business? First up, let’s have some numbers. Estimates of how many of the British workforce suffer mental health problems a year vary from one in three to one in six – probably it depends [...]
The late-night bank manager is planning a High Street revolution August 8, 2010 THE revolution in High Street banking has begun. That’s the bold claim of Craig Donaldson, chief executive of Metro Bank, the first addition to Britain’s retail banking scene in 100 years. And ground zero is the corner of High Holborn and Southampton Row, where its inaugural branch opened a couple of weeks ago. “The revolution has [...]
Why I’m bearish about house prices August 5, 2010 ONE of the big lessons of the recession – and of several previous downturns, including Britain’s crisis in the early 1990s and the secondary banking crisis of the 1970s – is just how important property is to modern economies. Bubbles in housing or commercial property are invariably devastating; they almost always take the economy down [...]
Expat Expert: the power of local knowledge July 22, 2010 THANKS to globalisation and modernisation, individuals now have unparalleled levels of choice when it comes to relocation overseas. And London remains an extremely popular destination for individuals looking to experience life in another country – not only is it a hub for transport into mainland Europe and across the Atlantic, it has also retained its [...]
Keep your pension in funds July 15, 2010 THE government this week announced that it will abolish compulsory annuitisation, giving millions of pensioners more flexibility in how they generate their income. Annuitisation by age 75 has technically not been compulsory since 2006, but the only other permissable option, an Alternatively Secured Pension, was so highly taxed upon death as to mean only 4,000 [...]
Mortgage overhaul hurts entrepreneurs July 15, 2010 NEWS that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) plans to overhaul the mortgage market may have left some entrepreneurs a little uneasy. From now on, to get a mortgage you need to pass an “affordability” check and self-certified mortgages will be banned. Business groups were quick to state the drawbacks of these plans: “Business owners who [...]
Thinking more inclusively can boost business June 28, 2010 Every entrepreneur I have ever met, and that’s quite a few, has expressed on some level exasperation with the public for not getting what they are bringing to life. The best ones focus on educating their audiences; the ones who never breakthrough drivel in their exasperation. To some extent, they are right. A car is [...]
Cameron to defend UK fiscal squeeze at summit June 25, 2010 David Cameron has defended Britain’s decision to implement the biggest fiscal squeeze in a generation as G20 leaders prepared to meet in Canada to discuss the global economy. Last year’s G20 unity on the need for coordinated action to support the world economy has started to falter as the recovery has got under way. Ahead [...]
BP disaster bill hits $2bn June 21, 2010 Oil giant BP has admitted that the cost of its response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has hit $2bn (£1.3bn) and it has paid out $105m in damages to those affected by the disaster. BP added in a statement that it rejected claims by its partner in the oil well, Anadarko Petroleum that [...]