City Moves for 5 June – Who’s switching jobs? June 4, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes Barclays, 11:FS and FXD Capital. Barclays Barclays has appointed Karen Johnson as the national head of retail, wholesale and healthcare for its Corporate Banking business. Karen has more than 25 years banking experience, working with a wide range of businesses from owner-managed through to multinationals. She joined Barclays in 2015 to [...]
Blackrock warns stewardship code could prevent UK listings May 29, 2019 Blackrock, the world’s biggest asset manager, has warned that proposed changes to disclosure rules could deter companies from listing in London. Responding to a Financial Reporting Council (FRC) consultation on its stewardship code the New York-headquartered firm said heightened disclosure rules could prevent private discussions that are “necessary to support effective dialogue”. Read more: Blackrock [...]
City Moves for 29 May – Who’s switching jobs at Clearstar, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management and The Office Group? May 28, 2019 Today's City Moves includes Clearstar, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management and The Office Group. Clearstar Clearstar has announced that it has appointed Jennifer Balleza as the company’s chief financial officer with immediate effect. Jennifer, who has been serving as the company’s interim chief financial officer since January 2019, is not being appointed to the board of [...]
How to cope with the confusion around social care costs May 22, 2019 Distracted by the ongoing Brexit crisis, the government appears to have shoved the not-so-small issue of social care to one side. With a growing elderly population (by 2046, a quarter of the UK population will be aged 65 or over), and proportionately fewer taxpayers able to prop them up, the rising cost of social care [...]
Exiles on St Mary Axe: Turkish law firm fleeing Erdogan regime establishes itself in London May 20, 2019 After the failed July 2016 coup against Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the country’s largest law firms was closed by police amid a wider crackdown that saw journalists jailed, judges detained and generals purged. The firm had formerly been the Turkish arm of international legal giant DLA Piper, and its founding partners were [...]
With increased scrutiny of the profession, it’s time for auditing to be in the public interest May 16, 2019 Auditing in the UK is undergoing unprecedented scrutiny, and the magnifying scope is focusing on all aspects of the sector. The myriad reviews, some of which are ongoing, are being conducted by regulators, politicians and government departments, each separately looking at audit’s effectiveness, competition across the sector, and its future in general. Most notably, the [...]
Watchdog hits accountancy firm with £825,000 fine over failings in Laura Ashley audit May 9, 2019 Accountancy watchdog the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has fined Moore Stephens successor firm MSR Partners for failings in its audit of Laura Ashley. MSR Partners is a successor business of Moore Stephens – which merged with BDO in February. Read more: KPMG stung with £5m fine for Co-op Bank audit failures The FRC fined MSR [...]
Labour’s renationalisation plan isn’t just illiterate, it’s immoral May 8, 2019 Want to buy something, but can’t quite afford it? Just use a simple trick from John McDonnell. Here’s how it works. You say: “We’ll pay a fraction of the actual price.” They say: “Sorry, you can’t do that.” You say: “Yes, we can. We’re the government.” That, in essence, is Labour’s plan to renationalise the [...]
KPMG stung with £5m fine for Co-op Bank audit failures as breakup talks roll on May 8, 2019 KPMG has been hit with a £5m fine for misconduct relating to an audit of Co-op Bank. Audit partner Andrew Walker was also fined £125,000, with both “severely reprimanded” by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Read more: Watchdog slaps KPMG with £6m fine over insurance audit The Big Four audit giant and Walker admitted their [...]
Severn Trent chairman to step down as water firm implements new business plan May 7, 2019 Water firm Severn Trent said today its chairman Andrew Duff is to step down after nine years at the helm. Read more: Locals' attempts to thwart Severn Trent's Dee Valley Water takeover fails The departure comes amid the company gearing up to implement its new business plan after being awarded fast track status by Britain’s [...]