A high-speed economy needs more than just a few extra trains February 18, 2020 History will show that productivity, not Brexit, was the economic issue of our age. And the new government has made a high-speed start. The focus on “levelling up” the UK economy — and a resultant focus on regional productivity — is completely right. The story of this country’s regional productivity is sometimes characterised solely as [...]
City Moves for 6 February – Who’s switching jobs at Dentsu Aegis, Lloyds and AlixPartners? February 6, 2020 Today’ City Moves includes Dentsu Aegis, Lloyds and AlixPartners Dentsu Aegis Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the appointment of Hamish Nicklin as executive director of media for the UK and Ireland. Hamish will be responsible for leading the commercial growth of the group’s media line of business by continuing its tradition of offering clients’ services [...]
Beazley’s annual profit balloons as premiums jump February 6, 2020 Beazley’s 2019 profit was boosted by higher insurance rates after a long period of erosion, sending the underwriter’s shares 6% higher to the top of UK’s midcap index. Beazley, part of the oldest insurance market in the world, was able to raise its premium rates last year after a string of industry-wide catastrophe claims led [...]
Cyber firm Callsign set to unveil bumper JP Morgan backing February 4, 2020 London-based identity fraud firm Callsign is said to be on the verge of unveiling fresh funding worth tens of millions of dollars from Wall Street giant JP Morgan. Callsign, which uses AI to verify the identity of users, is signing off on a deal with JP Morgan Asset Management, which manages $2 trillion (£1.5 trillion) [...]
Brexit day is here – but does the rest of the world even care? January 31, 2020 Today is the day that many have dreaded, many have dreamed of and a lot thought might never come. At 11pm, just as the first pubs begin to close, the United Kingdom will quietly slip out of a side door to exit the European Union, ending our membership of a club we’ve been in for [...]
London business confidence soars to highest in UK following election January 30, 2020 Business confidence in London jumped during January as the decisive General Election result helped boost the morale of firms in the capital, figures released today show. The business confidence of London companies leapt 22 points to 38 per cent in January, reaching the highest level of any region, according to the latest Business Barometer from [...]
Lloyds Bank announces 56 branch closures this year January 29, 2020 Lloyds Banking Group has announced today that it will close 56 branches across the UK. The bank will close 31 Lloyds, 10 Halifax and 15 Bank of Scotland branches between April and October of this year. The financial services union Accord said in a statement: “We fully appreciate that the demand for high street branch [...]
Management gurus drop the ball this time January 28, 2020 England’s cricketers haven’t made a recent habit of winning Test matches abroad, so the 3-1 series victory over South Africa is cause for celebration – not least due to the arrival on the international scene of Ollie Pope and a sign that we might just have found a pair of openers who can keep us [...]
No cricket chat? Management gurus dropped the ball this time January 28, 2020 England’s cricketers haven’t made a habit of winning Test matches abroad recently, so the 3-1 series victory over South Africa is cause for celebration — not least due to the arrival on the international scene of Ollie Pope and a sign that we might have found openers who can keep us in a game beyond [...]
Banks ‘use fraud warnings to avoid reimbursing victims’ January 24, 2020 Banks are not reimbursing customers who have been scammed because they have been “careless”, despite some signing a voluntary code intended to protect fraud victims, it is alleged. The voluntary industry code introduced in May 2019 was designed to help customers recover life-changing sums lost to fraudsters. However, some of Britain’s biggest banks are refusing to [...]