The government has given “categorical assurance” that blockchain technology will not be used to monitor benefit claimants after trial with Govcoin, Barclays and Npower | City A.M. March 27, 2017 Lord Henley, parliamentary under-secretary for the department of work and pensions (DWP), has given “categorical assurance” that blockchain technology will not be used to monitor or control those claiming benefits after a small scale trial of the technology for making payments. “The department of work and pensions has absolutely no access to any claimant information [...]
Tech workers are twice as productive for the UK economy, Tech Nation 2017 report finds March 22, 2017 Those working in the booming digital technology sector are boosting the UK’s economic productivity more than twice as much as other workers, fresh research reveals. Tech industry workers’ contribution to the economy is put at £103,000 per year in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) compared to the £50,000 contribution of non-digital workers, Tech City [...]
Banks don’t want a red tape Brexit bonfire, but lower taxes would sweeten the deal March 20, 2017 Banks are calling on the government to slash taxes for the sector to sweeten the deal for Brexit and ensure the country remains competitive. Research carried out for the British Bankers' Association (BBA), which was published in November, revealed banks' collective tax bill had shot up to £34.2bn for the year to March 2016, up 3.6 per cent compared [...]
Three charts showing why we remain very happy to hold UK banks March 20, 2017 Investors have tended to steer clear of the UK’s big banks since the financial crisis bit in 2008, when share prices plummeted and Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) had to be bailed out with taxpayer money. As we tend to do, on our Value Perspective blog, we took a different view – arguing [...]
Three charts showing why we remain very happy to hold UK banks March 20, 2017 Investors have tended to steer clear of the UK’s big banks since the financial crisis bit in 2008, when share prices plummeted and Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) had to be bailed out with taxpayer money. As we tend to do, on our Value Perspective blog, we took a different view – arguing [...]
Now banks have pulled their Google ad spend as Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Lloyds pile on pressure March 20, 2017 Google is facing growing pressure over claims it's profiting from hate speech as some of Britain's biggest banks are the latest to pull their ads from YouTube. Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Lloyds have suspended their advertising with the tech giant following an investigation which revealed household brand names were appearing next to offensive and extremist [...]
Behind the Panmure Gordon takeover deal: Bob Diamond buyside shuns big banks for unknown entity Hopton Advisers March 19, 2017 Although the £15.5m Panmure Gordon takeover is small, the deal is also a high-profile one for the City of London. It’s not every day the former chief executive of Barclays, Bob Diamond, launches a takeover bid for a City institution like Panmure. Therefore, some will have been surprised by the names of the advisers working [...]
Deutsche Bank kicks off its €8bn rights issue on Tuesday as German lender attempts to bolster its capital March 19, 2017 Deutsche Bank announced today it is due to press go on its €8bn (£6.9bn) rights issue on Tuesday, as the German banking giant tries to shore up its capital. The Frankfurt-headquartered lender announced a slew of plans to improve its capital position earlier this month, including, in addition to the rights issue, holding onto its Postbank division, streamlining [...]
Will fortune favour brave Bob Diamond’s Panmure Gordon takeover, Unilever’s flawed logic and the IoD’s Simon Walker heads back to his PR roots March 17, 2017 He's back – and brave. Conventional wisdom has it that smaller City brokers are destined either to merge or die, so a Bob Diamond-backed move for Panmure Gordon represents a bold bet that he and his partners can forge a fresh path for one of the broking world’s most venerable names. Boldness isn’t a fitting adjective [...]
Editor’s Notes: Only a lack of ambition can hold Britain back, says the Legatum Institute’s researcher tasked with finding the upside of the Brexit vote March 17, 2017 Britain faces an enormous challenge in the wake of Brexit, but the prize is more than worth the fight. That’s according to one experienced former trade negotiator who now finds himself at the heart of the UK’s trade debate. Shanker Singham is director of economic policy and prosperity studies at the Legatum Institute in London. He’s [...]