When the scheme is a scam: Top tips to protect your money against con artists February 7, 2018 As we see a rise in people investing online, fraudsters are changing the way they con people out of money. Worryingly, £87,000 is being lost to investment scams every single day, according to figures published by the UK’s financial watchdog last week. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) urged people to be vigilant when signing up [...]
Lloyds Banking Group cuts 930 jobs ahead of fresh three-year strategy February 5, 2018 Britain’s biggest bank has axed 930 jobs across multiple divisions ahead of a new three-year strategy to be unveiled later this month. A Lloyds Bank spokesperson said the majority of cuts were within the lender’s commercial banking unit, the chief information office, risk, community banking and insurance and wealth. A net total of 465 roles [...]
The insurance industry needs to embrace blockchain, starting now January 31, 2018 In March 2017, the expression “financial inclusion” hit its peak popularity on Google. This is excellent news. There are over two billion unbanked individuals in the world today – people with no access to banking services. This is a global problem. In India, 19 per cent of the population – 1.2bn people – is unbanked, [...]
Challenger bank Revolut and Thomas Cook have just launched a pay-per-day travel insurance service activated by your phone’s location services January 17, 2018 Another day, another insurtech idea. This time, challenger bank Revolut has launched a pay-per-day travel insurance plan which relies on a mobile phone’s geolocational services. The scheme, which Revolut claims to be the first of its kind, can be turned on and off from a user’s phone. When in use, it will use the phone’s [...]
Carillion could crash into administration as early as Monday if the government doesn’t back a rescue plan January 13, 2018 Troubled construction firm Carillion could fall into administration as soon as Monday if the government does not back a rescue plan, according to reports. Government officials are set to hold crunch talks on the firm’s fate on Sunday, Sky News reported, quoting a source that called it a “make-or-break weekend”. “Without that commitment of support [...]
Carillion: Trade credit insurers pull cover as Carillion “hangs by a thread” January 13, 2018 Euler Hermes and other trade credit insurers have stopped writing new coverage for suppliers to embattled contractor Carillion, sending a signal the company is at risk of collapse, according to reports. Tokio Marine HCC and MGA Nexus also said they would not insure deliveries to the firm, Insurance Insider reported. Trade credit insurance protects firms [...]
Gocompare share price rises after splashing £36.5m of its spondoolicks on voucher code website MyVoucherCodes December 19, 2017 Price comparison website Gocompare today snapped up online voucher code website MyVoucherCodes for £36.5m. Gocompare is hoping the acquisition will be transformational by attracting customers on a daily rather than annual basis. Boss Matthew Crummack said MyVoucherCodes would play a “valuable role [in the firm’s] ambition to become the ‘go-to’ place for savvy savers to [...]
Insurance startup InsurePal to launch £15m initial coin offering December 18, 2017 Millennial-focused insurance startup InsurePal has announced it is raising £15m in an initial coin offering (ICO) to fund its UK motor launch in the first half of 2018. ICOs are a type of crowdfunding using cryptocurrencies, but they have been criticised by the Financial Conduct Authority as “very high-risk, speculative investments”. InsurePal uses the ethereum [...]
Digital challenger Starling to hit profit in 2019 says founder Anne Boden as European expansion takes crucial step December 12, 2017 Digital-only challenger bank Starling will “definitely” be in profit by the end of 2019, its chief executive told City A.M., as it announced a major step in its plans for European expansion. Anne Boden, who started work on the bank in 2014, said Starling will be “breaking even in about two years’ time” as it [...]
Avoiding the financial perils of divorce November 29, 2017 If your marriage has broken down, the emotional strain can take its toll. But splitting your finances can make the divorce process a lot tougher. Last year, the number of divorces among opposite sex couples increased by 5.8 per cent compared to 2015, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. But worryingly, [...]