‘Bond market tantrum risks’: Gilt traders brace for Labour leftward pivot as Starmer future uncertain
Softbank raises eyebrows with talks to buy a slice of Swiss Re February 8, 2018 Softbank has raised eyebrows after a confirmation it is in talks with Swiss Re about taking a minority stake in the insurance behemoth. The pair are “engaged in preliminary discussions”, Swiss Re revealed in a statement this morning. However, “there is no certainty that any transaction will be agreed”. “I don’t quite get this Softbank [...]
BP’s invested in electric car charging startup FreeWire January 30, 2018 BP is turning to a tech startup, making an investment in the maker of mobile charging points for electric cars. The oil major is putting $5m (£3.5m) into FreeWire, a three-year-old San-Francicsco tech company, as part of a series A funding round with other investors via its corporate venture arm. Read more: Daimler has invested [...]
The digital nomads: How to pack a suitcase and start a new life working from abroad January 25, 2018 Who among us hasn’t dreamed of jacking in their day job to trade forex from a laptop in Malibu or open a beach bar in Thailand? You might have read The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss and asked why you haven’t yet “escaped the nine-to-five to live anywhere and join the new rich”. I [...]
Revealed: The seven best-value stocks to watch in 2018, according to Canaccord Genuity January 9, 2018 Despite a rocky 2017 which saw a number of lawsuits come to a head, Lloyds Banking Group has been named one of the most promising stocks to watch this year by Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management. Based on the value of the stocks at the moment and their potential to generate strong returns over the next [...]
We can’t save the NHS until we acknowledge its failing health January 5, 2018 The NHS has had to cancel 50,000 non-urgent operations to deal with the winter crisis. This is not normal. The Prime Minister may be pretending everything is fine, but this is not acceptable. The trouble is that, beyond the acknowledgement that there is a very serious problem with a health service that spasms in predictably [...]
Liverpool Echo Arena car park fire “to cost insurers more than £2m on car payouts alone” January 1, 2018 The New Year’s Eve fire that destroyed as many as 1,400 cars in a multi-storey car park next to Liverpool’s Echo Arena could end up costing insurers £2m at the very least, City A.M. understands. Firefighters were called to the car park at 4:42pm yesterday afternoon, but were still battling to contain the blaze, which [...]
11 tech startups to watch according to top insurers in Startupbootcamp’s insurtech accelerator December 11, 2017 Nearly a dozen startups looking to disrupt the insurance industry with technology such as artificial intelligence have been chosen for the latest cohort of a London programme, backed by Lloyds Banking Group, Allianz, Scottish Widows and Confused.com among several high-profile financial firms. The 11 early stage startups from nine countries around the world will join [...]
Data is the fuel for AI, so let’s ensure we get the ethics right December 4, 2017 Data is the propulsive energy behind the fourth industrial revolution – playing the same role as coal, oil and electricity did in the previous revolutions. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the new engine, just as the railways connected north and south, roads and cars connected our cities, and electrification lit up our homes and allowed domestic [...]
What will innovation look like in 2018? Bird & Bird’s Digital Innovators tell us all about the year ahead November 24, 2017 In a year when quantum computing made major leaps forward and using your face as a password became a reality, you’d be forgiven for being hard pushed to imagine just how much further technology can take us. But 2018 will certainly be a year for driving even more innovation for the 50 up-and-coming companies chosen [...]
How the Budget could affect your personal finances, and what you should do if it does November 22, 2017 Philip Hammond hasn’t got it easy. Putting a Budget together is difficult at the best of times, but with Brexit looming large over the UK, producing a financial plan for our economy is now a hell of a lot harder. In such an uncertain time, how can Hammond hope to offer the stability the [...]