London Report: British economy in fifth straight growth quarter April 27, 2014 BRITAIN’S economy is expected to show its continued return to form this week, with official data likely to show a fifth consecutive quarter of expansion. Figures due from the Office for National Statistics tomorrow are expected to reveal the economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the first quarter, despite worries that February flooding would [...]
Want to buy a Rangers season ticket? Don’t try paying by card April 25, 2014 One football club is having some serious payment issues. Scottish team Rangers FC has been advised that allowing fans to pay for season tickets with credit or debit cards would see the club incur "considerable cost". Rangers' merchant acquirer says card payments would "require extensive security, including standard security to be granted over Ibrox Stadium [...]
The hidden costs of low interest rates are hurting the economy April 24, 2014 WE ALL know the dangers of high interest rates: borrowers end up having to fork out more, some people and companies with high amounts of debt will go bust, and the reduced disposable incomes and profits hit economic growth. But a policy of permanently low interest rates comes with its own distortions and risks. UK [...]
S&P fears Scots banks are too like Iceland’s April 23, 2014 AN INDEPENDENT Scotland would join Iceland as the only European governments which could not afford to support their banking systems, analysts at ratings agency Standard and Poor’s warned yesterday. If giant banks like Lloyds and RBS kept their legal registration in Edinburgh, the sector’s assets would amount to more than 1,000 per cent of Scotland’s [...]
How Britain can rebuild welfare with the power of individual contributions April 15, 2014 THE TWO great legacies of post-war socialism were the NHS and the Beveridge system of welfare. Designed for a different world, with a younger population and lower life expectancies, both are seen as politically untouchable, impossible or at least very difficult to reform. Periodic attempts to introduce internal market mechanisms to drive efficiency in the [...]
City Moves for 08 April 2014 | Who’s switching jobs April 7, 2014 Barclays The bank has announced the appointment of Karl Trumper as head of trade and working capital for the UK. He joined in 2002, and was most recently head of sales for larger business. Towers Watson Tammy Richardson has been appointed UK head of insurance management consultancy at the professional services company. She joined in [...]
Watchdog boss accepts blame for insurance mess March 31, 2014 CITY watchdog chief exec Martin Wheatley yesterday said he accepts responsibility for the sloppy announcement of a new insurance investigation last week. The Financial Conduct Authority is looking into the fees and charges faced by savers with insurance policies dating back to the 1970s. And when this was inadvertently released through a newspaper on Friday, [...]
Watchdog under pressure after insurance firm fiasco March 31, 2014 THE CITY watchdog will come under renewed pressure from insurers today demanding urgent action from George Osborne to prevent a repeat of the regulator’s mis-step that led insurance shares to plunge on Friday. The industry will write to the chancellor to raise “serious concerns” about the disclosure of information by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) [...]
Bottom Line: Time to stop throwing good money after bad March 24, 2014 WHEN stressed out, at-odds parents are involved in a heated dispute of their own, the last thing they need is their naughtiest child barging in and asking for cash. But that’s what happened to the Co-op Group yesterday, when its flailing bank subsidiary came knocking for another £120m to prop up its losses – on [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 24 March 2014 March 24, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Heseltine takes control of Haymarket Michael Heseltine has taken full control of Haymarket, the publishing group he co-founded 50 years ago, as it restructures to move its flagship consumer titles online and expand internationally. The 81-year-old former Conservative politician is betting on a recovery in the fortunes of Haymarket, which made a pre-tax [...]