Savour 2015: The foodie revolution arrives in the Maldives at Coco Bodu Hithi June 21, 2015 The Coco Residences set out in a circle formation at Coco Bodu Hithi A friend once told me, in total bafflement, about a couple who left their honeymoon in The Maldives early. They were bored, she said, in the midst of the Indian Ocean, so changed their plans and spent the rest of their [...]
Ladies who don’t lunch: Pretty Sagoo talks science, stress and Solvency II June 18, 2015 The whole pension thing was completely by accident,” says Pretty Sagoo, explaining how she ended up in banking, working with insurance and pension fund clients. In the language of the industry, her career has revolved around structuring and pricing deals, de-risking, swaps, hedges and the like. But Pretty doesn’t do jargon. “It just winds [...]
Where are London’s best terraces for al-fresco dining? It’s time to get outside for lunch June 16, 2015 Don’t stay cooped up inside for lunch. Get out and explore the city’s terraces. COMPAGNIE DES VINS SURNATURELS Capture the spirit of the cobbled backstreets of Paris tucked away in Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden. This eaterie serves French fine dining on tables spread across the colourful courtyard. Highlights from the spring menu [...]
Simple ways to save your heirs from an inheritance tax headache June 16, 2015 Nearly 10 per cent of deaths will be subject to inheritance tax (IHT) by 2018-19, up from 4.8 per cent in 2013-14, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. Originally designed to only be levied on the very richest, a combination of rising house prices and successive governments’ failure to substantially lift the threshold at [...]
Focus on Balham: Once the butt of jokes, now the SW place to be June 11, 2015 When Peter Sellers said Balham was the “Gateway to the South” he was poking fun at the fact that nothing of note ever happened there. A semi-suburban no man’s land at the bottom of the Northern Line, it was the pinnacle of meh – the kind of place north Londoners probably think about when they [...]
Where to find the best value cash accounts: They won’t trump equities, but zero inflation makes them more attractive June 9, 2015 The UK is a nation of cash savers, with half of Britain’s collective wealth sitting in instant access accounts. Inflation may stand below zero at present (it was -0.1 per cent in April), making cash a reasonably attractive option, but it will not stay there forever. Indeed, research released earlier this week by Henderson [...]
Dixons Carphone ups full-year profit forecast after smashing expectation with fourth quarter sales June 3, 2015 The figures Sales at Dixons Carphone were up nine per cent in the fourth quarter to 2 May, higher than the four per cent analysts had predicted. The mobile and electronics retailer has upped its profit outlook for the year as a result, saying it will be "slightly above" its previous guidance of £355m to £375m. [...]
Fifa crisis: Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered to launch internal review following FBI investigation May 31, 2015 Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered are all believed to have launched internal investigations into their role in the Fifa corruption scandal that has engulfed world football this week. The British banks were all named in the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) lawsuit against 14 people – including nine Fifa officials – for racketeering, wire fraud and [...]
Libor-rigging scandal: Tom Hayes lost his Citi job over his methods, prosecutors tell court May 26, 2015 Former trader Tom Hayes was fired in 2010, four years after he started attempting to manipulate Libor, according to the prosecution’s case in court yesterday. Lawyers presenting the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) case in Southwark Crown Court said the former UBS and Citi banker received complaints just months after he started to work at [...]
Tobago: An eco-lodge is a great way to experience this Caribbean isle May 10, 2015 “Trinidad and Tobago” suggests two islands of roughly equal size, but the former is 16 times bigger than the latter, its population 1.3 million compared to Tobago’s 60,000. As is often the case in nations divided across two separate land masses, stereotypes dominate each side’s thinking about the other. Ask a Trinidadian about Tobago: “lazy, [...]