Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam jumps into Credit Suisse role March 9, 2015 Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam is set to leave the FTSE 100 giant later this year to head Swiss banking titan Credit Suisse, it emerged last night. The surprise exit, which would bring the curtain down on a six-year tenure at the helm of the Pru, is expected to be announced as soon as this morning, [...]
Seedrs co-founder Jeff Lynn talks risk, investor expectations and the future of crowdfunding March 4, 2015 In 2014, the fastest growing subsector of Britain’s alternative finance market was equity-based crowdfunding, according to figures from EY and the University of Cambridge. It grew by a whopping 420 per cent, with volumes totalling €111m (£80.5m). But such fast growth makes it increasingly vital that would-be investors have access to information about the industry. [...]
City Moves for 04 March 2015 | Who’s switching jobs March 3, 2015 Towers Watson The professional services firm has announced the appointment of Kate Hollis to its credit research team. She joins from S&P Capital IQ, where she was most recently global head of fixed income/alternatives fund research. Hollis has over 30 years’ experience in the industry, and has also held fixed income sales and trading positions [...]
Insurers win reprieve over rule changes after Bank of England ERM warning March 2, 2015 Insurers such as Just Retirement have escaped a potentially devastating blow to their earning power thanks to a regulatory re-think over new capital requirements. The Bank of England’s prudential regulation authority (PRA) had been considering rules that may have forced them to abandon the highly lucrative equity release mortgage (ERM) market. Industry sources last [...]
City Moves for 25 February 2015 | Who’s switching jobs February 24, 2015 Knight Frank The property consultancy’s retail division has announced the appointment of Richard Petyt as a partner in its agency team. He joins from Asda Stores, and in his new role will work on food store and mixed use development projects, development funding and food store portfolio rationalisation. Cantor Fitzgerald Europe Caspar Shand Kydd has [...]
Five policies that will transform the UK into a truly capital-owning democracy February 23, 2015 As a nation, we are bad at saving. While the reasons for this are many and varied, the belief that house prices are a one-way bet, the design of our welfare system, and the inability of humans to properly judge their future financial needs all contribute to UK households putting less aside than their counterparts [...]
Insurance sector to be hit by M&A fever as Fairfax buys Brit February 17, 2015 Analysts said yesterday that Brit’s acquisition by Canadian firm Fairfax Financial Holdings could be the precursor to other deals set to sweep the insurance market. Shares in Brit jumped by 11.23 per cent following the news that Fairfax had made an offer of £1.22bn that has been agreed by private equity owners CVC and Apollo, [...]
Ringing the changes: Why Britain’s retail bond market has life in it yet February 17, 2015 The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its Order Book for Retail Bonds (ORB) today. The trading platform enables retail investors to buy and sell corporate bond issues. Corporate bonds should be an important asset class for retail investors. They generally offer higher interest rates than many bank and building society [...]
Tesco Bank moves into new mortgage territory with independent brokers February 15, 2015 Tesco Bank is extending its mortgage offering to include independent brokers, with the hope of dramatically increasing its customer base. In an interview with The Telegraph this weekend, the business said it would start selling the loans through intermediaries in 2016. The bank has already shown promise in the property market – [...]
Pensioners should opt-in to winter fuel allowance and jobseekers should get personal welfare accounts, says think tank February 3, 2015 A think-tank with close links to the Conservative Party has outlined a series of changes to welfare that would affect pensioner benefits and Job Seekers Allowance and child benefit payments. Under Policy Exchange's Welfare Manifesto pensioners would be asked to opt-in to receive the Winter Fuel Allowance. Currently, the Winter Fuel Allowance is given to [...]