Three directors to leave Barclays board as bank faces threat from activist investor Ed Bramson March 6, 2019 THREE directors will leave Barclays in May, the bank said today, as it looks to fight off activist investor Ed Bramson’s bid for a seat on the board. The bank said Mike Turner, former chief executive of BAE Systems, would step down as the arrival of new chairman Nigel Higgins “presented an opportunity to review [...]
Legal and General shares fall in wake of record £10bn annuities sales March 6, 2019 Legal and General shares fell four per cent this morning as the insurance group reported record sales of annuities in its full-year results. But investors' confidence was knocked after analysts questioned whether the company could continue raising its dividend at the same time. The figures Profit after tax was down three per cent year-on-year for the [...]
Brexit: Geoffrey Cox and Stephen Barclay head to Brussels for final backstop push March 5, 2019 Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay and attorney general Geoffrey Cox will today head to Brussels in a bid to win changes to the Irish backstop in the run-up to another crunch Commons vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal. The two ministers are hoping EU officials will agree to a time limit to the backstop – the [...]
One in 12 of Europe’s new startups work in AI sector March 5, 2019 One in every 12 newly founded companies in Europe calls itself an AI company, with the field dominated by UK startups, a new study reveals. But two-fifths of the 2,830 startups show little evidence of AI, the report released today from venture capital firm MMC Ventures and Barclays shows. Artificial intelligence, technology which allows software [...]
UK digital advertising spend to grow to £15bn in 2019, report states March 4, 2019 Spending on digital advertising in the UK is set to grow to more than £15bn this year amid a boom in new digital marketing technology, a new report has revealed. Digital ad spend will enjoy double-digit growth in 2019 as the industry moves away from traditional media forms, according to the latest forecasts by Barclays [...]
Ranked: The high street banks with the most IT outages March 4, 2019 UK banks are suffering IT outages or security failures at a rate of more than one a day, new figures from the financial watchdog have revealed. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) now requires banks to publish information on IT failures. Read more: Barclays down: Banking app outage hits customers Analysis conducted by Which found there [...]
KFC taps London fintech startup Flux for paperless payments March 4, 2019 KFC has launched a partnership with London fintech startup Flux which will see the US fried chicken chain go paperless. From today, users of digital banks Monzo and Starling, as well as select Barclays customers in the near future, will be able to receive digital itemised receipts for transactions in their banking apps when they [...]
Claims against banks in Disney tax avoidance case could pass £1bn March 3, 2019 The total damages for banks being sued in relation to a tax scheme that purported to invest in Disney blockbusters could top £1bn, according to a lawyer acting for the claimants. HSBC and Bank of Ireland are being sued by a group of more than 700 investors in the Eclipse film financing scheme after the courts [...]
City Moves for 1 March – who’s switching jobs at SThree, Sedgwick and Monzo? March 1, 2019 Who’s on the move today? SThree SThree, the international specialist STEM staffing business, has announced the appointment of Mark Dorman as chief executive. He will join SThree on 18 March. Mark brings a wealth of relevant experience in scaling international business service operations, delivering value-driven strategies and leading great teams, which will complement SThree’s deep [...]
Ex-Barclays boss John Varley says £322m Qatar payment ‘not conditional’ on its involvement in the bank’s fundraising February 28, 2019 The former chief executive of Barclays John Varley said the bank’s controversial £322m services agreements with Qatar were “not conditional” on the Gulf state’s participation in its financial crisis fundraising, a court heard today. Varley, who is on trial for fraud alongside former colleagues Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath, was in court to [...]