Bob Diamond ditches Barclays Wealth as his charity’s bankers January 4, 2015 Former Barclays boss Bob Diamond has hired State Street as the banker for his charitable foundation, its annual report shows. The Diamond Family Foundation used to use Barclays Wealth as its bankers, alongside PwC as its auditors. But its latest financial report shows that Diamond’s charitable unit picked US bank State Street instead for the [...]
City Moves for 05 January 2015 | Who’s switching jobs January 4, 2015 Weightmans The law firm has announced three appointments. Douglas Keir joins as a partner, and Sarah Phillips and Julia McDonald (pictured) join as associates, in its insurance team. They collectively have 40 years’ experience in law, and arrive from Anderson Strathern Solicitors. London Capital Group The Aim-listed online trading firm has announced two appointments. Nicholas [...]
Gimme 5: New Year events for entrepreneurs January 4, 2015 Grow Your Business in Europe A two-hour workshop on taking your business into Europe with limited resources, run by UCL in partnership with the British Library. 27 January, 2-5pm, British Library Free www.ucl.ac.uk/advances Digital Marketing Masterclass Grow, the small business marketing experts, host a masterclass covering the nine areas of digital marketing you must [...]
Transport for London’s 2015 fare increases: When do they start and how much will your travelcard cost? December 30, 2014 There are only a couple of days left to buy tickets – including travelcards – at current prices, before Transport for London increases your travel fare. Prices are due to rise by an average 2.5 per cent across the board, which as TfL points out means they are “frozen in real terms”. The changes will [...]
TfL issues advice for how to get home safely in London on New Year’s Eve 2014 December 30, 2014 Planning to hit central London for New Year’s Eve? Now that you’ve no doubt sorted out your plans for the party, you also need to work out how you’ll get there and back. Transport for London has once again said it will provide free travel between 23:45 on the big night and 4:30am on January [...]
Tesco profit overstatement: PwC faces double investigation by accountancy watchdog FRC December 22, 2014 The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the regulator for the UK’s accountancy industry, yesterday announced it was launching two separate investigations into the activities of professional services giant PwC. The probes will look into the book-keeping role played by the Big Four accountant in recent scandals involving UK supermarket chain Tesco and banking monolith Barclays. In [...]
McCarthy & Stone seals £200m loan to support expansion spree December 22, 2014 Retirement homebuilder McCarthy & Stone has secured a £200m loan from its lenders to help with its next phase of growth as it seeks to meet growing demand for homes from Britain’s ageing population. The company said yesterday that Barclays, HSBC, RBS and Santander had agreed to provide a new five-year facility, replacing a [...]
Banks need to stop shunning Bitcoin – CNBC Comment December 22, 2014 The UK government, led by chancellor George Osborne, wants London to become the world’s Bitcoin hub. Meanwhile, the Bank of England has released a study detailing the digital currency’s virtues. So why, under the surface, is there a “chilling effect”, threatening to derail a sector that could bring millions of pounds to the UK economy? [...]
From Quindell and Gotham City to Uber and the LDTA – five of the biggest business battles to watch out for in 2015 December 22, 2014 Rival camps have banded together, the lines are drawn, battle armour is on and adrenaline is running high. All that's left for spectators to do is grab some popcorn and watch from the ringside. From rival estate agents, to a business targeted by a Batman styled US fund and an influx of tiny new banks [...]
Barclays’ Asian investment arm cuts clients list December 22, 2014 The Asian arm of Barclays’ investment bank has cut down its list of possible clients by close to a third following a review into its activities in the region, it emerged yesterday. The move comes after the British bank started a process in May to restructure its under-performing investment banking business, which will include the [...]