Competition and Markets Authority chastises HSBC over small business loan “bundling” October 22, 2014 HSBC is one of two banks chastised by the government's new competition watchdog over the way it sells loans to small businesses. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said today it had previously warned banks over "bundling", the practice of forcing small and medium-sized firms taking out a loan with them to open business accounts, [...]
Index expecting $10bn EU startup October 21, 2014 LONDON’S top venture capitalists expect the European startup scene to continue turning out hit tech firms, with a partner at Index Ventures predicting Europe will produce a $10bn (£6.2bn) firm within three years. “We will likely see a couple of European $10bn exits in the next two or three years. The pipeline of European companies [...]
Bad business tactics out as economy grows October 19, 2014 COMPLAINTS about anti-competitive behaviour by businesses in the UK are down as the economy begins to recover, new research has shown. The Office of Fair Trading, now the Competition and Markets Authority, recorded a 50 per cent fall in complaints about bad practice in 2013. The number of businesses prompted to phone in and report [...]
Patent trolls are a threat to competitive markets – and the UK may not be immune October 16, 2014 LONDON’s technology sector is booming. Driven by big venture capital investments (tech firms attracted a record $1bn in the first nine months of 2014), and encompassing everything from finance to fashion, it is one of our greatest recent success stories. But this nascent sector also faces a worrying potential threat. A fresh menace to the [...]
Competition in the office: Does it boost results? October 15, 2014 Infighting can be distracting, but helps keep a company nimble. City firms are no strangers to internal competition. The leading investment banks and Big Four accountancy firms reportedly allocate year-end bonuses in part through staff ranking each other’s performances, while numerous companies (elite strategy consultancies included) have adopted some variant of the “rank and [...]
Payday loans opened up to comparisons October 9, 2014 PAYDAY lenders will have to sign up to price comparison websites to increase transparency and prove they are competing fairly, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposed yesterday. The watchdog fears that the incoming cap on interest rates will lead to that rate being the standard across the industry, cutting competition between lenders. Lenders will [...]
Carl Icahn tells Tim Cook: Apple share price dramatically undervalued October 9, 2014 Infamous activist investor Carl Icahn has published in full a letter to Apple urging Chief Tim Cook and board executives to buyback shares. Icahn tweeted yesterday about the letter to Cook hinting "Believe it will be interesting." In the letter, Icahn said Apple was "dramatically undervalued in today's market" and that "the more shares repurchased [...]
Payday lenders like Wonga face new regulation as CMA proposes price comparison websites and clearer fees October 9, 2014 Payday lenders are facing a major shake-up after the competition watchdog laid out plans to curb the costs of loans for consumers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said lenders should make their products available on price comparison sites to increase competition among firms amid a number of proposals for reforming the payday loan market. [...]
Arbitrarily criminalising banking is a reckless way to reform British finance October 8, 2014 THE RADICAL plan to prosecute bank bosses for reckless misconduct in the management of a bank is ringing alarm bells across the City, with a slew of top bankers now threatening to join the duo from HSBC in quitting the industry in protest. The political allure of the proposal is clear. Since the financial crash [...]
As Wonga profits slide, will regulatory pressure squeeze payday lenders out of the market? September 30, 2014 John Lamidey, senior partner at Arminius Associates and former chief executive of the Consumer Finance Association, says Yes. The Competition and Markets Authority says that 83 per cent of payday lending customers have taken out a loan online, and 29 per cent have done so on the high street (12 per cent use both). The [...]