City Moves: Who is switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? April 14, 2021 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. John Lewis hires ex-Experian lead John Lewis has appointed a new director of financial services in London this week, who will step into the new role on 14 June. Amir Goshtai, who joins [...]
Northern Ireland: UK asks for more time to respond to EU legal action April 14, 2021 The UK has asked for more time to respond to EU legal action over its unilateral decision to postpone checks on goods going to Northern Ireland. The EU launched legal action against Britain last month for unilaterally changing trading arrangements for Northern Ireland. Brussels said the move breached the Brexit divorce deal agreed last year [...]
EU property giants make €1.6bn move for London’s Globalworth April 14, 2021 Czech CPI Property Group and German real estate company Aroundtown SA have confirmed a €1.57bn cash offer for London-listed Globalworth Real Estate Investments this morning. The offer will go through CPI-owned Zakiono, giving the Cyprus-incorporated company 2.8m shares – which represents around 1.28 per cent of the company. CPI and Aroundtown currently hold 113.8m Globalworth [...]
Brexit: We must use EU divorce to slash tariffs for developing nations and boost UK trade, says PM adviser April 13, 2021 Brexit: We must use EU divorce to slash tariffs for developing nations and boost UK trade, says PM adviser
Brexit: Paperwork and bureaucracy have created barriers at the border as tough as tariffs April 13, 2021 In the months since the Brexit transition period ended, trade flows at British borders have plummeted and border checks have been deemed so unworkable that their implementation has been pushed back by a year. Dire figures and delays point to the fact there is far more to free trade than tariffs, and still much to [...]
Exclusive: London’s fintech bubble is ‘close to popping,’ warns Reed Smith partner April 13, 2021 A coalition of London fintech firms recently called on the Financial Conduct Authority to end the dominance of banks over the use of consumer data this year. They argue it would increase competition in the savings, credit, mortgages and pensions markets. Howard Womersley Smith, an expert fintech and data lawyer at Reed Smith in the [...]
Enforcement of judgments: Brussels opposes UK entry to the Lugano Convention legal pact April 13, 2021 Brussels is pushing for the UK to not be able to join the Lugano Convention, an international legal pact, after officials held a crunch meeting yesterday. The EU is reportedly against allowing the UK to join the convention on the grounds that it is not a member of the European Economic Area or the European [...]
Sir Nick Clegg says EU has ‘let millions of Europeans down’ in vaccine rollout April 13, 2021 Sir Nick Clegg has hit out at the EU for letting “millions of Europeans down” in its slow rollout of the Covid vaccines. The Facebook Vice President, and staunch remainer, said “something has gone badly wrong” in the bloc’s handling of the rollout and that “across the EU people are waiting for their vaccines impatiently”. [...]
Buying from EU retailers post-Brexit: Delays, extra paperwork and surprise charges April 13, 2021 Nearly half of all UK consumers who bought goods from EU-based retailers since the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December experienced some issues, such as extra paperwork, delays or surprise costs, a new survey by the consumer group found. Delays were the most common issue experienced by those who ordered products online, [...]
JD Sports beats profit forecasts as it shakes off pandemic hit April 13, 2021 JD Sports today reported full-year profits well ahead of market expectations as trading proved resilient despite the impact of store closures. The fashion retailer booked profit before tax and exceptional items of £421m in the year to the end of January. This was down from £439m the previous year but well ahead of market expectations [...]