FCA: Ballooning exchange-traded fund sector no threat to financial stability August 8, 2019 Britain’s financial watchdog has said the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) market is not a threat to financial stability and can cope with the sort of liquidity issues that damaged Neil Woodford’s flagship fund. Read more: New business down at Hargreaves Lansdown as Woodford scandal bites The wider world of funds has come under scrutiny after Woodford’s [...]
Battersea Power Station opens Coaling Jetty to the public amid mammoth revamp project August 6, 2019 Battersea Power Station has unveiled its redeveloped Coaling Jetty, which is open to the public for the first time ever. The Grade II*-listed jetty will host live music, food and drink, wellness sessions and family activities for visitors during a string of riverside events this month. Read more: Battersea Power Station home buyers claim refunds [...]
Spudulike closes all branches after sale collapses August 5, 2019 Fast food chain Spudulike has collapsed and shuttered all its branches, making 298 employees redundant, administrators confirmed today The casual dining group, which specialised in baked potatoes, closed all 37 of its stores on Friday after a prospective buyer pulled out of a deal to purchase the company at the last minute. Read more: Landlords [...]
Why has the weaker pound failed to turbocharge the economy? August 5, 2019 The sharp fall in the pound in the wake of the 2016 Brexit referendum would help “rebalance the UK economy”, in the words of Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England. But since then, the UK has struggled to improve its trade position and has certainly not seen any boost to GDP growth. [...]
Focus on London Fields: The attractive Hackney suburb buyers don’t want to leave August 2, 2019 Homeowners who bet on London Fields 20 years ago are some of the canniest in the capital. Then, homes in the leafy-for-Hackney neighbourhood were worth 17 per cent more than the London average, according to Hamptons International – but today that has jumped to a huge 52 per cent, translating to £240,000. “Once an unloved [...]
Government urged to act to secure ‘home ownership dream’ July 31, 2019 The government has been urged to act to help first-time buyers as new forecasts revealed that by 2026 just a quarter of people aged between 25 and 34 will own their own home. A report by Santander found that home ownership within that age bracket will have dropped from 55 per cent 20 years ago, [...]
UK mortgage approvals rise but consumer lending slows July 29, 2019 Britain’s housing market received a modest lift in June as mortgage approvals increased by more than analysts had expected, Bank of England figures showed today. Read more: UK mortgage approvals hit two-year high following Brexit extension Annual lending growth to UK consumers slowed from 5.7 per cent in May to 5.5 per cent in June, [...]
Tradeweb’s CEO on tech, China, and modernising bond markets July 24, 2019 While researching Lee Olesky, the co-founder and chief executive of the fixed-income market platform Tradeweb, I came across an article comparing him to Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos. Both started their companies in the nineties. Both set out to use the internet and ecommerce to disrupt their respective industries at a time when the idea of [...]
UK house sales plummet in June, held back by Brexit ‘ball and chain’ July 23, 2019 House sales crashed 16.5 per cent in June, as the property market took a “wait-and-see” attitude to transactions amid Brexit uncertainty. Monthly HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures showed British residential property sales fell to 84,490, more than one-sixth down on the same period last year. Read more: London house prices suffer worst plunge in [...]
British Gas owner Centrica ‘to cut dividend and sell off oil and gas business’ July 21, 2019 Centrica is said to be planning to cut its dividend and start looking for a buyer for its oil and gas business. The British Gas owner is reportedly planning to cut its payout in a bid to keep its credit rating. It would join the likes of Vodafone, Marks & Spencer and BT in doing [...]