City watchdog wants to impose stricter rules on spreadbetters December 6, 2016 The financial watchdog has revealed plans for stricter rules for firms selling "contract for difference" (CFD) products such as spread bets to retail customers. The Financial Conduct Authority said CFDs like spread bets and rolling spot foreign exchange products are complex financial instruments offered by investment firms, often through online platforms, to customers who may not really know [...]
A flood of new energy tariffs risks “bamboozling” customers now Ofgem has removed deal restrictions, First Utility warns December 5, 2016 Energy customers risk being “bamboozled” by a flood of new deals following the scrapping of Ofgem’s four tariff rule, challenger supplier First Utility has warned. Customers could be faced with choosing between a whopping 1,364 energy deals in 2017 from 44 suppliers, the company has estimated based on previous averages. Five years ago, the average [...]
FCA wants customers to shop around for the best bank interest rates and have revealed who gives the best returns on cash December 1, 2016 With interest rates at rock bottom levels we've all become accustomed to the fact we shouldn't expect much of a return from our bank accounts. And today, the UK's financial watchdog named and shamed the banks paying the lowest interest rates on cash savings accounts. Read more: City watchdog warns of asset management "market failure" [...]
City Moves for 1 December 2016 | Who’s switching jobs December 1, 2016 NEON Neon has appointed Geoff Riddell as its new non-executive chairman. Geoff brings with him over three decades of experience in the international and London insurance markets. He is currently chairman of Pool Re, having joined its board in 2015. He previously held several senior managerial roles at Zurich, where he was chief executive and [...]
Edinburgh at the heart of the global revolution in digital healthcare driven by science fiction November 28, 2016 From the work of HG Wells to Arthur C Clarke, science fiction visionaries have predicted all manner of technological advances. Just look at the 2002 cyberpunk thriller, Minority Report. Facial recognition, personalised advertising, predictive crime fighting, gesture control, driverless cars – sound familiar? Yet some technologies have remained tantalisingly beyond our reach…until now. As Star [...]
Ladbrokes Coral could be in line to table a £2bn bid for Australian betting company Tabcorp November 27, 2016 Ladbrokes Coral Group could be in line to launch a bid for Australian betting company Tabcorp, in a deal worth over £2bn. Advisers for the bid have been hired, according to reports in the Mail on Sunday. Ladbrokes Coral Group declined to comment. Tabcorp, which reported a market capitalisation of AU$3.8 (around £2.3bn) in its [...]
Compare the (annuity) market: Financial watchdog wants customers to be offered more choice November 25, 2016 The UK's financial watchdog will force annuity providers to tell customers to shop around after it found that 80 per cent of customers would get a better dealing by doing so. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today revealed its own Black Friday push with plans for an "annuity comparator" to help people find out if there [...]
FCA head of strategy and competition warns of asset management “market failure” November 24, 2016 The financial watchdog’s director of strategy has branded competition within the asset management industry “a market failure”, after carrying out an interim report into its workings. Speaking at the Tax Incentivised Savings Association’s (TISA) annual conference, Chris Woolard of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said: “We are for the first time proposing to use our powers [...]
Big Six beware: The government will look more closely at the UK’s energy market, chancellor Philip Hammond said in today’s Autumn Statement November 23, 2016 The government will “not be afraid to intervene” in the UK’s retail energy market if there is evidence of market failure, chancellor Philip Hammond said yesterday. “We will look carefully in the coming months at… key markets, including the retail energy market, to make sure they are functioning fairly for all consumers,” Hammond said in the [...]
Five of the Big Six energy firms have hiked their cheapest fixed-rate tariffs since September, according to uSwitch November 23, 2016 Five of the UK’s Big Six energy suppliers have hiked the price of their cheapest fixed-rate tariffs since September, according to data from uSwitch. On average, the UK’s major energy companies have increased their rates by an average of £129, around 16 per cent, driven by a rise in wholesale prices. The Big Six firms consist [...]