A quarter of FTSE companies faced shareholder dissent in 2019 February 20, 2020 Investors cranked up the pressure on British companies last year, with a quarter of firms on the FTSE All-Share hit by shareholder dissent, according to new figures. Some 158 of the 641 firms on the index experienced significant investor rebellions in 2019, with executive pay and the re-election of directors among shareholders’ biggest concerns, according [...]
Exclusive: Barclays installs Big Brother-style spyware on employees’ computers February 19, 2020 Barclays has been criticised by HR experts and privacy campaigners after the bank installed “Big Brother” employee monitoring software in its London headquarters. Introduced as a pilot last week, the technology monitors Barclays workers’ activity on their computers, and in some instances admonishes staff in daily updates to them if they are not deemed to [...]
Extinction Rebellion occupies HS2 drilling rig in West London February 18, 2020 Extinction Rebellion have this morning occupied a drilling rig at an HS2 site in West London, claiming that the drilling could contaminate an aquifer which provides almost of quarter of London’s drinking water. Two members of the activist group, including Paralympian James Brown, have climbed onto the roof of the vehicle and have unfurled a [...]
HSBC: Profit plunges as bank plans 35,000 job cuts February 18, 2020 HSBC has outlined plans to offload $100bn (£77bn) of assets and dramatically downsize its investment banking arm in a restructure that will cost 35,000 jobs over the next three years. Profit before tax tumbled by a third to $13.6bn in 2019, HSBC said as it revealed its most radical overhaul since the financial crisis in [...]
Barclays and Downing St have some thinking to do February 17, 2020 Once is unfortunate, twice could be coincidence but three times starts to look like a pattern. We can now say Jes Staley’s unfortunate habit for gathering eyebrow-raising headlines certainly looks like the latter. The latest is the controversy surrounding his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and two watchdogs’ investigation into whether he was [...]
Barclays boss Jes Staley ‘ready to talk to FBI’ about Jeffrey Epstein February 16, 2020 Barclays chief executive Jes Staley is ready to tell US authorities everything he knows about Jeffrey Esptein following revelations that British regulators are probing his links with the paedophile financier. Lawyers for Epstein’s victims have urged the banking boss to speak with the FBI and hand over any information he has on his former client. [...]
Banknote printer De La Rue set for review of finances February 15, 2020 The Bank of England’s banknote printer, De La Rue, is set for talks with its lenders after calling in advisers to review the business. De La Rue’s banking syndicate, led by HSBC, has appointed FTI Consulting to negotiate the future of its borrowing arrangements with lenders, according to Sky News Last November, the firm said [...]
Labour looks destined to sit out the next 10 years in political wilderness February 14, 2020 On Monday Lord Michael Ashcroft published a detailed and searingly honest critique of the Labour party’s failed 2019 election. Based on polling and focus groups of former Labour voters, he painted a picture of a party that had drifted so far away from the values and aspirations of ordinary people that its drubbing was inevitable. [...]
It’s time to make space for cosmic investing February 14, 2020 Valentine’s Day 2020 will be about more than roses and chocolate. It marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most iconic images of all time: a parting photograph of Earth taken by the Voyager 1 space probe. This image became notorious as the Pale Blue Dot, a seemingly insignificant pixel against a vast black [...]
Javid launches parting shot over Treasury ‘impartiality’ February 13, 2020 Sajid Javid launched a parting shot at the Prime Minister yesterday after sensationally quitting as Chancellor, warning that Johnson and his aides were risking the “credibility” of the Treasury. Tensions between Number 10 and Number 11 dramatically came to a head during yesterday’s reshuffle, with Javid resigning in protest over plans to fire his advisers [...]