Christmas quiz 2015: How much do you remember of the year in business, politics and economics? December 23, 2015 Deloitte chief economist Ian Stewart asks some of the trickiest business, politics and economics questions of the year. Answers can be found below. 1 According to the OECD, Mexicans work the longest hours. In 2014, the average Mexican worker put in 2,228 hours, equivalent to a 43-hour working week with no holidays. Which country’s workers [...]
Warning shot to the City as trader Tom Hayes’ conviction over Libor scandal upheld December 22, 2015 The City was sent a stark warning yesterday that authorities will continue to crack down on financial crime as Court of Appeal judges upheld Tom Hayes’ conviction for Libor rigging. Hayes, who was found guilty on eight charges of conspiracy to defraud and sentenced to 14 years in August for his role in the manipulation [...]
Bank of England: Mass migration can depress low-skilled wages December 22, 2015 Mass migration into the United Kingdom can depress wages, especially those in low-skilled jobs, a new report has suggested. The Bank of England's report on the impact of immigration on occupational wages finds that a 10 percentage point rise in the proportion of immigrants is associated with a two per cent reduction in pay in [...]
Charts of the year, from miners’ woes to Ukip’s rise and wage growth to the EU migrant crisis December 22, 2015 The past 12 months have been a time of upheaval across the political and economic world. We've looked back at some of the watershed moments of 2015 in charts to show the scale of some of the changes that occurred this year. EU migrant crisis The migration crisis has dominated the news in 2015, playing [...]
European banking watchdog delays bonus cap as it recommends scrapping bonus deferral for smaller lenders December 21, 2015 Smaller banks should be exempt from some regulations relating to bankers’ bonuses, the European Union banking regulator said today as it pushed back the start date for a controversial cap on remuneration. The European Banking Authority said while “smaller and non-complex” financial institutions would still be hit with a so-called bonus cap, they should not [...]
Bank of England’s Martin Weale says an interest rate rise is less urgent December 21, 2015 Bank of England rate setter Martin Weale has signalled a less hawkish tone on interest rates, saying the need for them to rise was "less immediate". Downward pressure on inflation, weak wage growth and falling commodity prices has given the monetary policy committee (MPC) more breathing space than expected, Weale told the Daily Telegraph. "I initially thought that the weak [...]
City Moves for 21 December 2015 | Who’s switching jobs December 20, 2015 HAMPSHIRE TRUST BANK Karen Brown and John Pollington have joined Hampshire Trust Bank’s Property Finance team as directors while Daniel Norman has been appointed as Property Finance Lending Manager. Karen, who has 12 years’ property finance experience, is based in Harrogate. Prior to joining Hampshire Trust Bank she ran her own training company and before [...]
UK house prices: Home ownership is a distant dream even for middle England December 20, 2015 Almost half of people who don't own their own home believe they never will as the time needed to save for a deposit hits an astonishing 24 years. Even a quarter of the richest of non-home owners think they will never get a foot on the first rung of the property ladder, new research reveals. "Low to middle [...]
EU referendum: Challenger bank boss says smaller UK lenders would be better off outside of the EU December 20, 2015 The boss of a leading challenger bank has said that Britain's smaller lenders may be better off if British voters back leaving the European Union. Paul Lynam, chief executive of Secure Trust and head of the British Bankers' Association (BBA) challenger bank panel, told City A.M. over the weekend: "Arguably a Brexit would put the UK in more control [...]
More public sector bosses will have to return their golden goodbye bonuses under clawback rules December 20, 2015 More highly paid public sector workers who leave their job with a generous golden goodbye, only to return to another public organisation soon after, will have to return the payout as the government cracks down on so-called boomerang bosses. Clawback laws introduced earlier this year will be expanded and the threshold for those the law applies to will be [...]