Hospitality groups gear up to take on insurers over business interruption cover April 23, 2021 Hospitality companies hit hard by the pandemic are forming groups to take on their insurers, in the hope of receiving business interruption cover they believe they are owed. The hospitality businesses involved believe they are owned payouts from their insurers after the coronavirus and subsequent restrictions left them unable to serve customers for months at [...]
Financial services leaders team up to launch net zero alliance April 21, 2021 Leading financial services firms have today announced the launch of a new alliance to reach net zero emissions ahead of President Biden’s climate summit. The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) will bring together existing and new net zero initiatives and will be made up of 160 of the world’s biggest banks, asset managers [...]
Leading investors call on banks to set tougher net zero targets April 19, 2021 A group of investors managing $11 trillion in assets is calling on banks to set radically enhanced emissions targets ahead of a key meeting aimed at tackling climate change. The group, which includes Aviva Investors and Legal & General Investment Management, said banks have a “critical role” in aligning the economy with net zero targets. [...]
Aviva brings executive committee to one-third women with new senior hire April 13, 2021 Aviva has added another c-suite female to its arsenal with the appointment of Cheryl Toner as chief customer and marketing officer. Toner will start at Aviva in May 2021, where she will join the group executive committee, a senior committee where women make up a third (33%) of its members. Aviva’s board, which Toner will [...]
Markets: Indexes in London and New York push further into record territory April 8, 2021 FTSE roars to highest levels since February 2020 as Wall St inches up
Some 1,200 HSBC staff to permanently work from home April 7, 2021 HSBC is moving more than 1,200 staff in the UK to permanent working from home contracts, marking yet another company making major changes to its working patterns post-pandemic. Around 70 per cent of the bank’s 1,800 call centre staff based across England, Wales and Scotland have volunteered to never return to the office, employment union [...]
Silicon Roundabout: What will London’s tech hub look like after lockdown? April 1, 2021 The cluster of tech companies in East London, also known as Silicon Roundabout, was largely born out of the last financial crisis after soaring rents pushed companies out. This time round the fate of East London may look a little different as tech companies make remote working the norm. Remote working is here to stay [...]
Deliveroo IPO: Is the gig economy empire crumbling? March 31, 2021 This morning, a courier came to drop off a package. He was almost back inside his van before I could open the door. Last week, another showed me a 10 second timer on his performance device – the time he said he was allocated to ‘drop off’. Neither of these were probably classified as ‘workers’, [...]
China tightens grip on Hong Kong as it limits parliament to ‘patriots’ March 30, 2021 China has passed new laws slashing the number of directly-elected politicians to Hong Kong’s parliament, further tightening Beijing’s control over the financial hub. The changes will almost halve the number of representatives who are directly elected and increase the number of Beijing-approved officials. The overhaul is intended to ensure that only “patriots” can rule the [...]
Deliveroo stumbles to London float with pricing at bottom end March 30, 2021 Deliveroo will price its initial public offering at 390p per share, the bottom end of previously touted valuations for the food delivery firm. The price would indicate a lower-than-expected valuation of £7.6bn, after a string of UK fund managers said they would not take part in the deal. The fund managers cited concerns about Deliveroo’s [...]