Tech outages at financial firms double as watchdog warns of data breach risk November 27, 2018 IT failures at financial institutions have more than doubled in the last year, the Financial Conduct Authority has revealed, as firms fight to update their legacy technology to keep apace with fintech startups. In the 12 months to October, the UK's financial firms reported a 138 per cent increase in technology outages to the FCA, as [...]
Barclays fights off cyber attack attempts every day, says digital defence head November 26, 2018 Barclays fights off attacks from cyber criminals every single day, according to the head of the bank’s cyber security operations centre. Former Europol cybercrime centre head of operations Paul Gillen told City A.M. that the number of attempts against the lender each day was “substantial”. However, the attacks vary in degree with the most common [...]
Stress in the City: How the UK’s top law firms manage employee wellbeing November 26, 2018 The legal world has been rocked by the recent suicide of a US partner which has led to an examination of the high-stress, long-hours culture prevalent in elite law firms. The widow of Sidley Austin partner Gabe MacConaill, who killed himself last month, wrote a heartbreaking open letter in the American Lawyer magazine detailing the [...]
City Moves for 22 November – who’s switching jobs at Carter Jonas, Rathbones and RBC? November 22, 2018 Who’s making moves? Carter Jonas Carter Jonas, the national property consultancy, has recruited education specialist Carolyn Puddicombe as a partner in its commercial team. Puddicombe will lead Carter Jonas’ Education business and be based predominately in the firm’s UK headquarters in London, One Chapel Place, and its regional hub office in Oxford. Carolyn will work [...]
UK pharmaceutical company BTG shares soar as Boston Scientific announces £3.3bn takeover November 20, 2018 Shares in UK pharmaceutical company BTG soared more than 34 per cent this morning after US-based Boston Scientific proposed a £3.3bn takeover of the company. The London-listed company, which focuses on cancer, vascular conditions and emphysema treatments, saw shares jump from 620.5p to 826.01p following the announcement. BTG said the offer was “fair and reasonable” and [...]
Draper Esprit and Barclays back London fintech Form3 in $13m funding round November 20, 2018 Payments technology fintech startup Form3 will today reveal the close of a $13m (£10.1m) series B fundraising round, led by Graze and Perkbox-backer Draper Esprit. Existing investors Barclays Bank, Angel Cofund and several other individual backers also participated in the round. Established in 2016, the Monument-based startup builds payments-processing technology for banks and fintech firms [...]
Global dividends reach record levels but UK held back by weak pound November 19, 2018 Global dividends rose to $354bn (£276bn) as corporate profits led to record third quarter payouts but the UK was stunted by a weaker pound. The amount paid to the shareholders of the world's 1,200 largest companies rose 5.1 per cent in the third quarter, according to a report from asset manager Janus Henderson. Underlying growth [...]
Alliance of business leaders urges MPs to scrap May’s Brexit deal November 17, 2018 More than 200 chief executives, founders and entrepreneurs have signed a letter calling on Conservative MPs to vote down Prime Minister Theresa May's proposed Brexit deal, urging them to cast aside their political differences. The document, coordinated by members of the Alliance of British Entrepreneurs (ABE) and seen by City A.M., asks MPs to be subjective in [...]
Stephen Barclay replaces Raab as Brexit secretary, as Amber Rudd returns to government as work and pensions secretary November 16, 2018 Stephen Barclay has been confirmed as the new Brexit secretary, while former Home secretary Amber Rudd has been appointed as the Work and Pensions secretary. Barclay, the MP for North East Cambridgeshire, was previously a minister at the Department for Health and Social Care. He takes over from Dominic Raab, who quit his role yesterday [...]
RBS and Nordea dropped from the list of the world’s most important banks November 16, 2018 The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Nordic bank Nordea have been removed from a list of the world's most important banks by the Financial Stability Board (FSB). The FSB's list is a compilation of all banks required to hold extra capital equivalent to at least one per cent of its risk-weight assets, due to their size and impact [...]