Lack of language learning in schools is holding back the UK’s trade and business opportunities according to the Language Trends Survey 2016 April 18, 2016 A lack of language skills among British workers could be costing the UK tens of billions of pounds in missed trade and business opportunities each year. Teachers have expressed "deep concern" about the current state of language learning in English schools, in a report released today by the British Council and the Education Development Trust. [...]
Round two of shareholder spring? Centrica, Anglo American and HSBC Holdings all set for annual general meetings this week against background of grumbles from investors April 17, 2016 Three major household names are all set to test the sentiment of shareholders as they gather for their annual general meetings (AGM) this week. British Gas parent company Centrica will meet tomorrow, while miner Anglo American will host its AGM on Thursday. Bank HSBC will meet on Friday. Last Thursday, an unprecedented 59.29 per cent of [...]
City Moves for 4 April 2016 | Who’s switching jobs April 4, 2016 Bryan Cave International law firm Bryan Cave has announced that Remy Blain has become managing partner of the firm’s Paris office. An M&A and private equity specialist, Remy is recognised by Chambers & Partners and other league tables in the areas of mid-cap mergers and acquisitions, private equity and distribution. His past experience includes senior [...]
UK steel crisis: Politicians clash as Tata board meets in Mumbai March 29, 2016 Politicians clashed as the board of Tata Steel met in Mumbai today to decide the fate of thousands of British jobs. Reports suggest the board is discussing the 1,050 UK redundancies announced in January, and whether to back a rescue plan for the Port Talbot plant in Wales. Tata is looking to streamline its business, a move which [...]
Negative interest rates spark 2016 gold rush – but can German buyers push prices even higher? March 29, 2016 Almost a quarter of world GDP lies in economies whose central banks now have negative interest rates of some form. This experimental policy – used variously to weaken strengthening currencies and attempt to stimulate growth – has its fans, but investors have not been among them. “There’s a sense that central banks are running out [...]
The Investment Association reveals productivity plan aimed at bolstering the UK economy through long-term investment March 22, 2016 The Investment Association has today unveiled its plans to boost the UK's productivity through long-term investment. Among the Productivity Action Plan's key areas of focus for removing barriers to long-term investment are improving investor engagement, enhancing company reporting to better show to what extent firms are contributing to the economy and contributing more to the debate on tax [...]
City Moves for 22 March 2016 | Who’s switching jobs March 22, 2016 RPC Consulting RPC Consulting – the insurance consultancy arm of RPC – has appointed four senior insurance actuarial professionals to its team in London and Cambridge. Pete Lee, James Norman and Tony Lovick all worked at EMB (now Willis Towers Watson). Natasha Regan joins from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Pete has over 25 years’ [...]
UK pensions freedoms: Number of defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension transfers lower than expected, finds Financial Reporting Council report March 21, 2016 We hope you didn't bet your pension pot on there being a big switchover from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) schemes when the pension freedoms came into force last year – research published today by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) discovered that there has been relatively low levels of scheme swapping. The study by [...]
Retirement savings: Equity release allowing over-55s to unlock over 100 weeks’ worth of pay from their properties, offering alternative funding for their later years March 18, 2016 Over-55s using equity release products in the second half of last year unlocked over 100 weeks' worth of pay from their property, according to a report out today. The research by the Equity Release Council discovered that customers using drawdown mortgage products in the last six months of 2015 withdrew an average of £49,607, which is equivalent to [...]
The UK legal sector is vital to the City’s international success March 17, 2016 The City of London’s position as a world leader in finance and business is widely acknowledged. I know this only too well from my own work, both as an international commercial barrister and as the current chairman of the Bar of England and Wales. But the City is being challenged by other financial centres in [...]