2020 Budget live: City reacts to Rishi Sunak’s spending plans March 11, 2020 Welcome to City A.M.’s 2020 Budget Day live blog. Please refresh your browser for live updates. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to address fears over the economic impact of coronavirus, and announce waves of new infrastructure spending and changes on taxation in his 2020 Budget. It comes after Bank of England governor Mark Carney earlier [...]
COVID-19: potential tax responses in the UK Budget? March 11, 2020 The rapid development of cases of Covid-19 in the UK, and the disruption that this is causing in the UK and globally, may prompt the Chancellor to act in the Budget to help businesses or take powers to do so. So, what might the Chancellor do? Read more: UK interest rates slashed to battle coronavirus [...]
How stock markets perform after heavy falls March 10, 2020 Coronavirus concerns have swept through financial markets. Globally, stocks have endured some of their worst performances since the days of the financial crisis. For instance, the US stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, fell 7.6% in one day on 9 March 2020, its fifth worst trading day since 1988. On the same day, [...]
Can the chancellor protect the UK economy from coronavirus? March 10, 2020 You have to feel sympathy for Rishi Sunak. Suddenly appointed as chancellor after the unexpected resignation of Sajid Javid, he found himself with just weeks to put together the first Budget of the Boris Johnson era. Any chance he could simply copy Javid’s homework was then dashed when the former chancellor gave the Times chapter [...]
Aon to buy Willis Towers Watson for nearly $30bn in insurance mega-deal March 9, 2020 Aon said today it had agreed to acquire Willis Towers Watson for nearly $30bn (£22.9bn) in an all-stock deal that will create one of the world’s largest insurance brokers. The deal between the two would create a company with a combined value of approximately $80bn. Aon confirmed last year it was in early stage talks [...]
Five Tips for Business Success from Five International Women in Finance March 9, 2020 What advice do the top women in finance have for those trying to make their way in the sector? Last year, I interviewed 50 accomplished women from around the world for my 2020 research paper “Top Tips for Business Success,” released on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2020. As it turns out, five of the [...]
If the chancellor stands up for small firms, he’ll be standing up for society as a whole March 6, 2020 Ever wondered how much small businesses hand over to the Treasury each year? Try £145bn in corporation tax and VAT alone. Factor in business rates, national insurance contributions, fuel duty, clean air charges and the insurance premium tax, and this big figure becomes, well, astronomical. We small business owners are resilient. We have continued to [...]
Flybe passenger Q&A: What should I do if I was due to travel with Flybe? March 5, 2020 Any Flybe passenger will not be able to fly after the budget airline collapsed into administration in the early hours of this morning. It failed to obtain a £100m loan from the government to stay afloat. The airline issued a statement saying that “all flights operated by Flybe have been cancelled with immediate effect”. But [...]
Corporate governance at Travelex owner questioned over links to NMC Health founder March 4, 2020 Ongoing financial turmoil and questions over its corporate governance structures have caused analysts to downgrade the credit rating of money transfer giant Travelex, amid ties to troubled firm NMC Health through its founder. NMC founder and former chief executive BR Shetty and his son own 66 per cent of shares in Finablr — the sole [...]
DEBATE: Should the chancellor rethink plans to get rid of entrepreneurs’ relief in the Budget? March 4, 2020 Should the chancellor rethink plans to get rid of entrepreneurs’ relief in next week’s Budget? Caroline Plumb OBE, chief executive and co-founder of Fluidly, says YES. Critics of entrepreneurs’ relief want proof of its economic impact, but it’s not as simple as throwing a couple of headline figures around and dismissing beneficiaries as the already [...]