Sustained bank levy takes £3bn from lenders March 19, 2014 BANKS will cough up almost £3bn in bank levy payments every year for the forseeable future, as the sums on which the tax is based are re-calculated. The chancellor did not increase the rate yesterday, as he had already hiked it to 0.156 per cent of big banks’ balance sheets, the levy’s seventh rise since [...]
Budget 2014: What to watch out for today March 18, 2014 WHO: GEORGE OSBORNEWHEN: 12.30PM TODAYWHERE: HOUSE OF COMMONS WHAT WE ALREADY KNOWA facelift for the pound coinOsborne will announce plans to give the £1 coin a facelift in his Budget today. This will see a new two-coloured 12-sided coin introduced in 2017 after a consultation. Help to buy extended to 2020The equity loan scheme set up to [...]
Wishes and predictions for Osborne’s budget March 17, 2014 Business and accountancy advisers BDO has drawn up a wishlist for neglected middle-market firms, looking for a tax allowance for spending on factories and a reduction in employers’ national insurance for manufacturers. BDO also believes that the chancellor could reform business rates in a revenue neutral fashion and announce a fresh review. BDO say that [...]
Eurozone price growth hovers at four year low March 17, 2014 INFLATION in the Eurozone stayed at a four year low during February, despite early indications that price growth was slightly firmer during the month. The currency union’s harmonized index of consumer prices has risen by 0.7 per cent between February 2013 and last month, significantly below the European Central Bank’s target of close to two [...]
Letters to the Editor – 18/03 – No clothes Cameron, Best of Twitter March 17, 2014 No clothes Cameron [Re: Cameron sets out his agenda for EU reform, yesterday] David Cameron’s EU plan will be a stillbirth, if it ever reaches the delivery room. Powers cannot flow away from a German-driven, Frenchbacked, ever closer union, which suits weaker member states. Qualified majority voting is increasingly the norm, and there is little [...]
Wishes and predictions for Osborne’s budget March 17, 2014 ■ EY suggests there is little room for the chancellor to make big changes, given the spending constraints he has set for the Treasury, and that the OBR’s adjustments will be small. ■ However, the big four accounting firm expects George Osborne to make a move on the top rate of stamp duty, raising the [...]
Gimme 5 March 16, 2014 …OF THE BEST AWARDS FOR ENTREPRENEURS Deloitte Technology Fast 50Now in its 16th year, the technology award programme is a ranking of the UK’s 50 fastest growing tech companies, based on revenue growth over the last five years. deloitte.co.uk/fast50 The EuropasThe Awards, taking place this June in London, celebrate Europe’s hottest tech startups. Former winners [...]
City Moves for 14 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 13, 2014 Ashcourt Rowan The asset management firm has hired Chris Legge as head of intermediary services. He was most recently at Brewin Dolphin, where he was intermediary business development manager. Prior to that, Legge held roles at Gerrard Investment Management. KPMG The professional services firm has announced two appointments. Navdeep Arora will lead its insurance strategy [...]
City Moves for 12 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 11, 2014 MHA MacIntyre Hudson The accounting firm has announced the appointment of Sarah Jarvie as a manager in its restructuring and recovery team. She has over 15 years’ experience, and was most recently at KPMG. PwC The professional services firm has appointed two data analytics partners to its financial services risk and regulation team. Nick Bouch joins [...]
The Power of Three: How big business could join government to support small companies March 10, 2014 IF I received a pound for every time a chief executive of a large firm said to me “we’d like to be the champions of small business”, I’d be comfortably off. However, over the past year, I’ve seen an increasing number of businesses not only voicing this statement, but acting on it. This is a [...]