July Budget 2015: Pressure mounts on government to back a living wage July 5, 2015 Raising the minimum wage to the so-called “living wage” would lift 6m people out of poverty and generate more than £4bn of additional revenue, according to a new report out today from KPMG. The living wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation charity, is £7.85 per hour nationally and £9.15 in London. The national [...]
George Osborne’s marginal revolution: Why Britain’s top rate of tax is unsustainable July 1, 2015 The so-called marginal revolution in economics occurred in the nineteenth century. George Osborne’s marginal revolution in taxation needs to start next Wednesday, with decisive steps towards a more sensible tax system. In many ways, next week’s Budget will reveal the real Osborne. Freed from the shackles of coalition politics, will we see a markedly free [...]
City Moves for 29 June 2015 | Who’s switching jobs June 28, 2015 Deloitte Richard Wood has been appointed senior adviser in the professional services firm’s private client and family office team. He was most recently head of real estate within UBS’s wealth management division. Wood has also held roles at Knight Frank, Cazenove and Arbuthnot Securities. Berenberg The private bank has appointed Dr Manfred Schlumberger as chief [...]
City Moves for 26 June 2015 | Who’s switching jobs June 25, 2015 Baker Tilly The professional services firm has appointed Kenny McLean as a director in its consulting practice. He joins from Certeco, where he was a director overseeing client change programmes. McLean has also held roles at KPMG, IBM, SAP and EDS. CBRE The commercial real estate services and investment firm has announced two appointments to [...]
City Moves for 17 June 2015 | Who’s switching jobs June 16, 2015 CRUX Asset Management The fund manager has appointed Karen Zachary as chief operating officer. She has 20 years’ experience in asset management, and has held positions at Henderson Global Investors, Man Group, Fidelity International and New Star Asset Management. EY Chris Gould has been appointed partner and head of the professional services firm’s cybercrime team [...]
City Moves for 15 June 2015 | Who’s switching jobs June 14, 2015 Zeus Capital The investment bank has appointed Phil Walker as head of healthcare corporate finance. He was most recently executive director in corporate finance at Nomura Code Securities, a boutique investment banking firm he co-founded. Walker has also held roles at WestLB Panmure and Panmure Gordon. Charles Stanley Ben Money-Coutts has been appointed chief financial [...]
UK’s £56bn aerospace, defence, security and space sectors come out strongly against Brexit June 11, 2015 A whopping 86 per cent of the UK's £56bn-a-year aerospace, defence, security and space sectors want Britain to remain part of the European Union, a new study has found. Just two per cent of companies in the combined sectors' trade body ADS said Brexit would have a positive impact on their business. The [...]
UK aerospace and defence sector flies high amid booming sales June 10, 2015 The UK aerospace and defence sector enjoyed a record year last year, with industry pundits predicting the boom times will be here for a while. The UK currently controls 17 per cent of the sector’s market share – second only to the US. “We are in a global growth market which could top £3.6 [...]
Total cash spent at UK retailers is on the climb June 8, 2015 UK retail sales are ticking upward with evidence that confidence is rising, as consumers spend more on big-ticket items. Total spending at retailers grew by 1.8 per cent in the three months to May compared with the same period last year, according to figures published today by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and financial services [...]
Why a compulsory living wage is not the best way to help society’s poorest June 8, 2015 The Living Wage Foundation – which lobbies employers to pay £9.15 an hour in London and £7.85 elsewhere – has never called for statutory implementation of its cause. It considers itself to be a pragmatic civil society movement, encouraging firms to pay their low-paid workers enough to live comfortably. But the campaign has been hijacked [...]