London business confidence falls more sharply than anywhere in the country but Lloyds Bank backs City’s ‘resilience’ February 28, 2019 Business confidence among London firms fell sharply in February after a buoyant start to the year due to uncertainty at home and a slowdown abroad. But Lloyds Bank, conducting the survey, expected confidence to bounce back in the coming months, citing the resilience of the City’s firms. Read more: Lloyds Banking Group boosts profits 24 [...]
London offers a magic potion for startup success, but we can up our game February 28, 2019 The formula for a successful business is impossible to define. Just having the best product isn’t enough (Betamax’s loss to VHS back in the eighties can tell you that). Great branding and brilliant management are both necessary, obviously, but neither is a silver bullet. Luck is probably part of it. Hard work too. But whatever [...]
Bronek Masojada: The Hiscox CEO who’s got the City covered February 25, 2019 Hiscox chief executive Bronek Masojada is no stranger to the City of London Corporation. Nearly 10 years ago, his insurance house sued the body over the demolition of a building near its office, which would later be cleared to make way for the “Helter Skelter” skyscraper at 22 Bishopsgate. Now, after pursuing the organisation from [...]
Hiscox profits treble as London market returns to growth February 25, 2019 Insurer Hiscox announced its profits trebled last year as it returned to growth in its London market for the first time in three years. The firm also revealed that it has completed its Brexit preparations and is ready for the UK to leave the EU “even if British politicians are not”. The figures Pre-tax profit was [...]
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Hong Kong chief executive to retire February 22, 2019 The chief executive of British insurance firm Jardine Lloyd Thompson’s Hong Kong business will step down this year. The company, which is headquartered in London, confirmed today that Kurt Schreiber will retire in July. Read more: Jardine Matheson briefly loses $41bn in value following mystery trade Schreiber took on the chief executive role in Hong [...]
Veteran City banker and billionaire Bruno Schroder dies aged 86 February 21, 2019 Bruno Schroder, the longest serving FTSE 100 board member and British banking veteran, has died aged 86. The billionaire, who served as a non-executive director of his family’s business Schroders for more than 50 years, died yesterday following a short illness, the company said. Read more: Lloyds and Schroders sign £80bn joint venture deal Schroder [...]
Lloyds unveils plan to pay retailers offering cashback February 19, 2019 Lloyds Banking Group and Visa are piloting a scheme to pay retailers that offer cashback to customers, amid fears for rural town shops that have been hit by the disappearance of ATMs in recent months. In a bid to increase the number of outlets where people can withdraw their money, Lloyds and Visa have said today [...]
Peltarion, the AI startup used by Nasa, Ocado and Tesla, raises $20m February 14, 2019 Swedish artificial intelligence (AI) startup Peltarion is heading across the Atlantic after closing a $20m (£15.5m) funding round. The series A funding was led by Euclidean Capital, which has also backed the likes of popular DNA ancestry startup 23 And Me. Existing investors FAM, which is owned by Swedish investor family the Wallenbergs, and EQT Ventures also took [...]
Comedian and writer Paul Whitehouse on fishing, mental health and why the BBC needs to take more risks February 7, 2019 Last year, Paul Whitehouse appeared alongside his lifelong friend Bob Mortimer in Gone Fishing, a BBC Two show in which the comedians travelled the riverbanks of the UK in search of rare species of fish. In contrast to an increasingly bleak news cycle, it was relentlessly genial television, uncomplicated, familiar, cheerful and good-natured. Both men [...]
Lloyd’s of London hires chief financial officer from Allianz February 4, 2019 Lloyd’s of London has appointed former senior Allianz executive Burkhard Keese as chief financial officer. The insurance market has hired Keese from the German insurance giant where he spent 14 years, most recently as chief financial officer of Allianz Deutschland. Keese’s hire comes as Lloyd’s new chief executive John Neal moves to build his executive [...]