From vicars to City titans: Goldman Sachs, Shell and Barclays among names behind £550m Lloyds legal battle | City A.M. April 4, 2018 Today City A.M. reveals the varied and surprising names behind a massive £550m legal battle with Lloyds over its takeover of HBOS at the height of the financial crisis – and the cast includes major institutions, aristocrats, vicars and politicians. The groups, which includes institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Nomura Asset Management and pension funds [...]
City of London Lord Mayor Charles Bowman “confident” government can agree Brexit transition in 13 days March 19, 2018 London’s Lord Mayor is “quietly confident” the government will secure a transitional Brexit deal in the next fortnight to be ready ahead of the one-year marker for the UK leaving the EU. Charles Bowman, who serves as the figurehead for the City of London Corporation’s lobbying efforts, said the government has indicated it will try [...]
Bad debt Britain: Credit insurer claims hit highest level since the financial crisis March 16, 2018 Credit insurers are being hit with the highest level of bad debt claims for nine years, a clear indication UK businesses are facing the most challenging trading environment since the financial crisis. More than £4m is being paid out each week, the most since 2009, according to figures released today by the Association of British [...]
Investors ignore disruptive weather at their peril March 5, 2018 The "Beast from the East" closed schools, kept trains in their sidings and hit Britain's productivity. But can inclement weather move the stock market by affecting investors' minds? Findings of a research project published in the Journal of Accounting Research in 2015 concluded that financial analysts respond more slowly to the implications of earnings announcements [...]
These are the stocks to long and hortin the aftermath of Italy’s general election, according to algos at Quant Insight March 4, 2018 Italy’s general election today could have profound consequences on European markets, and certain stocks will be winners or losers. Analytics firm Quant Insight, which counts a number of global asset managers and hedge funds on its books, uses powerful algorithms to track which stock could benefit from specified outcomes. Ladbrokes Coral, Capita, Royal Dutch Shell [...]
Liverpool Echo Arena car park fire “to cost insurers more than £2m on car payouts alone” January 1, 2018 The New Year’s Eve fire that destroyed as many as 1,400 cars in a multi-storey car park next to Liverpool’s Echo Arena could end up costing insurers £2m at the very least, City A.M. understands. Firefighters were called to the car park at 4:42pm yesterday afternoon, but were still battling to contain the blaze, which [...]
Insurance premium tax: Insurers fire shot across Treasury’s bows, urging chancellor Philip Hammond against a further hike November 8, 2017 The UK’s biggest insurance body has called on chancellor Philip Hammond not to “punish” the British public by hiking insurance premium tax (IPT) for the fourth time in two years. The government has doubled IPT to a rate of 12 per cent in less than 18 months, with the most recent two percentage point rise [...]
Treasury select committee chair Nicky Morgan: Insurance sector needs to be given “priority” status in Brexit talks October 27, 2017 Treasury select committee chair Nicky Morgan has called on the government to treat Britain’s insurers as a “priority sector” during Brexit negotiations. The influential group of MPs today publishes a report on the impact of a key European directive that shook up how much capital insurers must hold to cover any losses. Morgan called on [...]
Legal & General agrees purrfect Buddies deal to capitalise on pet emotions October 16, 2017 Insurance giant Legal & General is set to capitalise on Britain’s love for pets after agreeing on a deal to buy family-owned pet insurer Buddies. L&G will tomorrow announce a deal to bolt Buddies – founded by married couple Marianne Metaxas and Avi Levine in 2000 – to its existing pet insurance offering. The insurer [...]
Government discount rate U-turn set to hand insurers £2bn boost September 7, 2017 Ministers today handed Britain’s insurance sector a £2bn boost after deciding to row back on a controversial decision to change the way personal injury claims are calculated. Lord Chancellor David Lidington unveiled a number of changes to the Ogden discount rate, which determines how much is paid to claimants. Included in the government proposals is [...]