Britain’s big banks decline to follow Lloyds lead on bitcoin credit card bans February 5, 2018 Lloyds Banking Group has banned customers from buying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using credit cards, but other big British banks say they currently have no plans to clamp down on the risky assets. A wave of lenders around the world have placed restrictions on customers using debt to buy digital currencies, including JP Morgan Chase, [...]
Co-operative Bank appoints Bob Dench as new chair to try to steer turnaround February 2, 2018 The Co-operative Bank has poached Bob Dench from Paragon Banking Group to be its new chairman as the struggling lender tries to turn around its business, it announced today. Dench will join the board as chair on 14 March, after Dennis Holt, who has been chair since October 2014, steps down to retire in May. [...]
‘Supermarket giants doomed’ – no, just history repeating February 2, 2018 Investors, analysts, journalists or other market commentators often become convinced some scenario or trend definitely will or will not play out. Check back a few years later, however – always anyone bothers – and that certainty may prove unwarranted. Three or four years ago, for example, many were arguing it was ‘game over’ for supermarket [...]
Dragons’ Den star Julie Meyer’s bust venture capital firm Ariadne Capital owed almost £2m to employees and advisers, administrators’ report reveals February 1, 2018 The venture capital and corporate finance firm of former Dragons’ Den star Julie Meyer, which was put into administration at the end of last year, owes almost £2m to unpaid employees and advisers, City A.M. can reveal. Ariadne Capital, which was founded and owned by TV personality Julie Meyer, owes £530,692 to 14 current and [...]
Dragons’ Den star’s bust corporate finance firm owed almost £2m to employees and advisers, administrators’ report reveals February 1, 2018 The corporate finance firm of former Dragons' Den star Julie Meyer, which was put into administration at the end of last year, owes almost £2m to unpaid employees and advisers, City A.M. can reveal. Ariadne Capital, which was founded and owned by TV personality Julie Meyer, owes £530,692 to 14 current and former employees, according [...]
Craft beer maker FourPure to create 20 new London jobs with £2.5m brewery investment in Bermondsey January 31, 2018 Craft brewer FourPure has put £2.5m into expanding its Bermondsey brewery, increasing capacity by 400 per cent. The project will create 20 new jobs and allow the brand, which is stocked in the likes of M&S, Tesco, Asda and Ocado to keep up with demand. Co-founder Daniel Lowe said the company was now talking to [...]
Facebook, Apple, Alphabet, earnings preview: The “big tech” backlash has yet to reach Wall Street January 28, 2018 A flurry of earnings from the world’s biggest tech companies are this week expected to show consumer and investor appetite has not yet been dampened by a growing backlash. Apple, Facebook, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft are worth almost three trillion dollars between them and make up half of the top 10 most highly [...]
Carillion collapse poses big questions for investors, Jes Staley’s FCA delay goes on and The Range floats chairs January 26, 2018 When in doubt, blame the accountants: a mantra which has gathered momentum after virtually every big corporate collapse since the financial crisis. Carillion is no exception. It seems obvious to ask now why KPMG signed off the construction group’s accounts in March without the merest hint of anxiety. Hindsight being a wonderful thing, the wafer-thin [...]
Sage share price sags after French troubles disappoint investors January 24, 2018 Sage investors were delivered a blow today after sluggish French performance hit quarterly returns. The accounting software giant was the FTSE 100’s biggest laggard, with shares falling almost eight per cent. Organic revenue growth was 6.3 per cent, recurring sales rose seven per cent. “France continues to significantly underperform relative to the rest of the [...]
WEF Davos 2018: Top bankers from Barclays and Citigroup warn of financial stability threats amid the calm January 23, 2018 Global financial regulators have run out of ammunition to fight the next financial crisis, top bankers, investors and economists have warned, with some questioning the sustainability of current market conditions. A decade on from the start of the last global financial crisis interest rates remain at rock-bottom levels, while central banks have barely considered returning [...]