Economic think tank calls for Openreach to be carved out from BT as Ofcom deadline looms February 17, 2016 BT faces fresh calls for its broadband infrastructure arm Openreach to be hived off today, after economists at the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) found the UK is falling behind international competitors. The CPS also has warned Britain's current broadband infrastructure market appears anti-competitive and Ofcom should refer the issue to the Competition and Markets Authority [...]
Legal sector needs a single regulator and more control over who can call themselves a lawyer, warns Law Society chief executive February 15, 2016 The boss of the Law Society has today called for there to be a single regulator for the legal profession and more control over who can call themselves a lawyer. Writing in industry publication The Law Society Gazette, Catherine Dixon, chief executive of the Law Society, urged government not to pull legal regulators and their professional bodies [...]
Sir John Vickers warns Bank of England “too big to fail” bank buffers are not enough February 14, 2016 New requirements for banks to hold enough capital to prevent them from going under in the event of another financial crisis have been questioned by Sir John Vickers. In a stark warning Vickers, the author of 2011's Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) report in the wake of the financial crisis and subsequent bailouts, has called the wisdom of the BoE's [...]
EE earnings grow by double digits as 4G customers soar February 12, 2016 EE’s earnings are up by double digits as the firm, which is now part of BT, reports 4G users hitting a 14m milestone. The figures EE’s total network connections grew by 1.8 per cent in 2015, to hit 31.5m in total. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation are up 12.1 per cent over the [...]
CMA fines pharma companies including GSK £45m February 12, 2016 The Competition and Markets Authority has fined GlaxoSmithKline, Generics UK and companies formerly known as Alpharma £45m for conspiring to delay the entry of a generic drug between 2001 and 2004. GSK, which has been fined £37.6m, was found to have made payments and other value transfers of more than £50m to Generics UK and Alpharma, who [...]
Bye-bye Bogof? Supermarket deals days’ numbered as new research finds consumers spend £1,300 a year more when they take up buy-one, get-one-free offers February 11, 2016 British shoppers spend £1,300 more a year when they take up tantalising buy-one-get-one-free (bogof) deals – and could be soon waving goodbye to the whole concept. Research by the Money Advice Service has found that supermarket offers encourage consumers to spend 21 per cent more on average than they intended – £11.14 per shop – [...]
Why P2P lending is getting ever more robust – and why Adair Turner is wrong about the industry February 11, 2016 Former Financial Services Authority chairman Adair Turner took a potshot at the P2P lending industry yesterday, stating that “the losses which will emerge from peer-to-peer lending over the next five to 10 years will make the bankers look like lending geniuses”. More specifically, he expressed his concern at the credit checking P2P and debt-base crowdfunding platforms [...]
Hey, Adair Turner: It may be the new kid on the block, but peer-to-peer lending is more transparent than other financial products February 10, 2016 Last week the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) put out figures showing our members lent more than £2.2bn last year – more than double the volumes lent in 2014. Anyone who follows the sector will understand the remarkable progress we have made in a relatively short period of time: after all, p2p lending only started in 2005. However, [...]
Marks and Spencer is narrowing the gap with high street rival Next, says Moody’s February 8, 2016 Marks & Spencer is closing in on its high street rival Next after boosting the profitability in its troubled clothing business by bringing more of its design in house and sourcing directly from suppliers, according to analysts at credit ratings agency Moody’s. In a note published the morning, Moody’s said Next’s credit profile is stronger [...]
How Uber, Airbnb and other sharing economy platforms can win over hostile regulators and reach their full potential February 5, 2016 New research by Europe Economics has put the potential of the Sharing Economy at up to £572bn a year in savings across the EU thanks to increases in the utilisation of assets like cars, homes and consumer goods. Right now those assets often spend most of the time gathering dust, costing their owners money. They [...]