Watches of Switzerland targets £660m London listing May 21, 2019 Luxury retailer Watches of Switzerland said today it is targeting a London float that could hit a valuation of £660m. The company sells luxury watch brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, Cartier and Hublot. Read more: Jaguar sues watchmaker Christopher Ward over D-Type watches It has 125 shops in the UK and 21 in the [...]
BT’s brand value drops as new boss prepares image overhaul May 21, 2019 The value of telecoms giant BT’s brand slumped this year as new chief executive Philip Jansen prepares to overhaul the company’s image. BT dropped two rankings to 10th place this year as its brand value, which is calculated as the net economic benefit its owner would receive if it licensed the brand in the open [...]
Technology spend knocks Nationwide profit down by 15 per cent May 21, 2019 Nationwide saw its profit fall 15 per cent as the building society’s interest income was squeezed by strong market competition and it splashed out on technology, its full year results revealed today. Read more: Nationwide invests in ex-Barclays CEO's firm to boost business banking The figures The UK stalwart’s profit before tax fell to £833m in the [...]
City Moves for 21 May – Who’s switching jobs at Cazoo, Invesco and Headland? May 21, 2019 Today's City Moves includes Cazoo, Invesco and Headland. Cazoo Cazoo has announced Alex Gersh, formerly chief financial officer (CFO) of Paddy Power Betfair, has joined as its first CFO. Having raised over £30m late last year, Cazoo is seeking to transform the used car market in the UK. Alex joins Cazoo after spending 6 years [...]
City Moves for 17 May – Who’s switching jobs at Capital One, Project Etopia and Investcloud? May 17, 2019 Today's City Moves includes Capital One, Project Etopia and Investcloud. Capital One Capital One UK has announced the appointment of Helene Brichet as UK chief financial officer. Helene has spent over 20 years in the financial services sector working in senior leadership positions for international organisations. She joins Capital One from EVO Payments, where she [...]
Barclays, Ruby Wax and mental health: How the banking giant is tackling stress in the City May 16, 2019 Square Mile careers are stereotypically fuelled by mantras such as "work-hard, play-hard", achieving "inbox zero", "surviving the rat race". All are excuses for raising your tolerance to stress. As a result the career pathways of the City are often littered with burned-out workers. Read more: Wellbeing should be top of the business agenda Unsurprising, stress [...]
Capital markets software firm OpenFin backed by Wells Fargo and Barclays in $17m funding round May 16, 2019 Capital markets software provider OpenFin has raised $17m (£13.2m) after being backed by Wells Fargo, Barclays and JP Morgan. OpenFin, the operating system (OS) for finance, provides banks, asset managers and hedge funds with financial desktop systems and access to their own app store. Read more: The financial services sector needs a shot of confidence [...]
Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland among five banks hit with €1bn fine for forex rigging May 16, 2019 The EU Commission has fined five banks €1.07bn (£940m) for rigging foreign exchange markets for 11 currencies, it announced today. Competition regulators fined Barclays, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Citigroup, JP Morgan and MUFG Bank, while UBS was not fined as it revealed the existence of the rigging to the regulator. In the first [...]
Gender agenda: Time for the finance world to up its game May 16, 2019 Next month will be one year since the Treasury Committee published its report on Women in Finance. But has anything happened over this period to provide a ripple of hope for change? To set the scene, back in 2015 the government appointed Jayne-Anne Gadhia to lead a review on women in financial services. In response [...]
Brexit could be cancelled if you vote down May’s deal, cabinet ministers tell MPs May 15, 2019 Brexit could be abandoned entirely if MPs vote down Theresa May’s deal for a fourth time next month, one of the cabinet’s leading Leave advocates has warned. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox urged MPs to “carry out their part of the bargain” which was struck with voters when the they backed a referendum in 2016 [...]