UCAS forms at the ready: Manchester Metropolitan University is offering students the chance to get paid while studying, and Pinsent Masons is just one of the companies paying students to study March 4, 2016 With competition for entry-level jobs scarily high, choosing whether to plump for a university degree or some extra years of work experience can be a daunting decision. However, some employers and educational establishments are looking at ways to offer bright young things the best of both worlds. In just under a fortnight's time, Manchester Metropolitan University [...]
Mastercard plots £1bn bid for Vocalink after banks told by regulator to give up stakes in payments handler March 3, 2016 Mastercard is plotting a bid for bank-owned payments handler Vocalink, it has been reported. Sky News said the credit card issuer has approached the board of Vocalink over a deal that could be worth up to £1bn. The approach comes shortly after the new payments industry regulator said Vocalink’s current ownership structure is "hampering competition and [...]
Consumer goods groups challenge financials to become biggest sector in FTSE 100 as Barclays, HSBC, RBS and Standard Chartered share prices plummet year-to-date March 3, 2016 Consumer goods groups are challenging the dominance of financial firms in the FTSE 100 for the first time in a decade. The two sectors are neck-and-neck, with consumer goods actually overtaking financials briefly during February, rising to account for 20.85 per cent of the FTSE 100, compared with 20.61 per cent, before slipping back down again. [...]
New Barclays much like the old Barclays, a hard pill to swallow for GlaxoSmithKline and Wilson’s next Legal & General move March 3, 2016 John McFarlane is a man fond of bold actions and even bolder words. The Barclays chairman confidently predicted last July that the bank’s shares – then worth 260p – would double within three years. After this week, though, even returning to the anaemic level of last summer looks a lofty ambition. “Investors” and “long-suffering” have become inseparable [...]
City Moves for 3 March 2016 | Who’s switching jobs March 3, 2016 Watson Day Chartered surveyor firm Watson Day has appointed Richard Turnill as a partner. He joins partners Nick Threlfall, Ian Gutteridge, Julian Scannell and Kevin Dempster, who founded Watson Day in 1989. Richard qualified as a chartered surveyor in 2007, following a graduate position at Cluttons. In 2009 Richard joined Glenny’s south east London and [...]
Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered have lost billions since the start of the year – the British economy needs a vibrant banking sector March 3, 2016 Spare a thought for Britain's banks. Between them, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered have lost almost £40bn in value since the start of the year. A savage cocktail of market volatility, increased costs, low interest rates, fines, regulatory burdens and sluggish global growth is taking its toll. In a dramatic illustration of the [...]
Cyber crime going underreported as businesses cough up ransoms – often in bitcoin – for hackers to keep their data safe March 3, 2016 Businesses are paying out hefty cash ransoms to cyber criminals as they scramble to prevent online bandits from releasing large caches of their customers’ stolen personal data. Experts believe that several big firms have shelled out to hackers, often in the form of bitcoin, in order to save face and stop the data leaks going [...]
Barclays’ share price fall and profit losses and Sports Direct’s looming FTSE demotion remind us of the lasting impact of corporate failings March 2, 2016 Barclays has hit the headlines again with news of a dramatic fall in share prices and profit losses. Like many of the world’s big banks, the organisation has been hampered by sins of the past, which have eroded employee and consumer trust. Its response has been one of drastic internal restructuring, and assertions of a new approach [...]
Will Barclays’s restructuring programme actually improve prospects for the bank? March 2, 2016 Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says Yes. Jes Staley, the new boss of Barclays, clearly takes the view that big is not necessarily beautiful when it comes to banking operations. The sale of the group’s African business and accelerated wind-down of non-core assets push Barclays further along the path of becoming a simplified [...]
New Barclays chief executive Jes Staley gets a frosty reception in the City as investors reject his case for slashing dividends, sending share price down more than 10 per cent March 2, 2016 New Barclays boss Jes Staley received a frosty reception in the City yesterday, as investors rejected his case for slashing dividends, sending the bank’s share price down by more than 10 per cent and wiping £2.3bn off its market value. Investors recoiled when Barclays said it planned on paying a dividend of 3p for this year [...]