Pension funds want government help to hedge spiralling deficits August 24, 2016 The government has responded to calls for help from Britain's pension funds in managing their ever-growing deficits. The UK Debt Management Office released its latest consultations on Tuesday and concluded it would sell three tranches of index-linked debt within the third quarter of this year – one through a syndicated sale and two through an auction. Long-running pension scheme [...]
Alibaba’s shares are on a tear after a huge revenue jump August 11, 2016 Alibaba certainly isn't feeling the effects of the Chinese slowdown just yet. Shares in Alibaba – the world's largest retailer – have climbed by almost six per cent in the US pre-market after it posted revenue far ahead of expectations. Alibaba's shares were already up around seven per cent so far this year. A rise in revenue was bolstered [...]
City Moves for 9 August 2016 | Who’s switching jobs August 9, 2016 Metamako Metamako, a specialist in deterministic network devices for the world’s financial institutions, has appointed Kevin Covington as CEO. With a long career in the fintech industry, Kevin has many years’ experience of growing and developing financial technology companies. He was one of the creators of the concept of co-location. In his previous position as [...]
Inzura becomes the lastest company on the insurtech scene August 9, 2016 Inzura – a new digital insurance platform – is set to begin using smartphone data and photo recognition to calculate policies. It’s thought insurance companies will be able to take on less risk by fine-tuning policies. "We believe the smartphone will play a central role in the much-needed digitisation of insurance," said Richard Jelbert, chief executive of [...]
City Moves for 5 August 2016 | Who’s switching jobs August 5, 2016 PKF Littlejohn PKF Littlejohn has appointed Catherine Heyes as a partner. Catherine joined PKF Littlejohn as a senior tax manager in April 2014. She works with colleagues across the firm to provide clients with holistic advice and solutions in order to resolve problems and present opportunities relevant to their particular circumstances. Her advisory expertise includes employee share schemes, exit strategies, [...]
Odd couple? Axa and Alibaba team up to sell insurance online July 29, 2016 There are some things that are just meant to be together. Salt and pepper. Jelly and ice cream. French insurance giant Axa and Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba. The two companies announced today that they have plans to team up, alongside with Alibaba-affiliate Ant Financial Services, to distribute AXA's insurance products and services through Alibaba's global sales platforms. The new financial services [...]
City Moves for 29 July 2016 | Who’s switching jobs July 29, 2016 Gumtree Gumtree, the UK’s largest classifieds website, has recruited Matt Button to the newly created role of head of customer relationship management. Matt will work with the Gumtree marketing team and its agencies to devise and deliver a CRM strategy that acquires and retains customers across all its categories. The strategy will be focused on engaging customers [...]
Yellen to unveil another hawkish hold in Fed’s first post-Brexit meeting July 24, 2016 The US Federal Reserve will stand firm this week when it gets the chance to make its first move on interest rates since the UK voted to leave the European Union. Markets and analysts say there is no chance the Fed's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is going to hike rates this Wednesday, but [...]
Enjoy it while it lasts: Bumper GDP figures to mask post-vote slowdown July 24, 2016 The UK economy grew handsomely in the second quarter of the year, official data out this week is expected to show, though analysts suspect it will be the last piece of good economic news for the foreseeable future. GDP growth is pitted to come in at around 0.5 per cent for the three months to [...]
City Moves for 21 July 2016 | Who’s switching jobs July 21, 2016 Covington Elaine Whiteford is set to join Covington as a partner in the European dispute resolution practice in the firm’s London office. Elaine’s practice focuses on litigation, including contentious competition law matters and follow-on damages litigation, challenges to regulatory decisions, cartel and other regulatory investigations. Over the last decade, she has been involved in many of the most significant competition damages cases brought in [...]