Budget 2017: Winners and losers of Philip Hammond’s Spring Budget March 8, 2017 Today, chancellor Philip Hammond delivered his first (and last) Spring Budget. Here are the day's winners and losers. Read more: Budget 2017: Philip Hammond's speech in full Winners Tech got quite the showing in Hammond's Budget. The chancellor pledged millions of pounds of fresh funding for disruptive new technologies like robotics, electric cars and biotech along with plans to [...]
Budget 2017: No further increases in insurance premium tax scheduled, though rise in June will go ahead March 8, 2017 Insurance premium tax will rise from 10 to 12 per cent in June, as previously announced in the Autumn Statement, but chancellor Philip Hammond broke the trend of successive hikes with no further increases announced in today's budget. Three successive hikes in IPT have taken the rate levied on insurance products from six per cent [...]
Spring Budget 2017 at-a-glance guide: All of chancellor Philip Hammond’s big announcements you need to know March 8, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond has delivered his first (and last, thanks to a shift around in dates) spring Budget speech. But, as not everybody has the time to go back and listen to his words of wisdom in full, here's an at-a-glance breakdown of the biggest announcements you need to know: Economics, public spending and politics [...]
Admiral boss doesn’t pull any punches after revealing discount rate cut will cost £150m March 8, 2017 Insurance firm Admiral lamented the government's decision to slash a key reference rate for calculating personal injury claims, which it said would ultimately cost the firm £150m. Annual profits for 2016 reduced by £106m, with the balance to be taken in following years. This prompted boss David Stevens, who is in his first full year at the [...]
Work and Pensions Committee to pick over Vauxhall pension scheme and its £840m deficit, as well as retirement funds at BHS and Bernard Matthews March 7, 2017 A group of MPs revealed today they are having a closer look at Vauxhall's pension pot, the day after it was announced the European unit of the motoring brand's owner was being purchased by French car firm PSA. The Work and Pensions Committee also said it is scrutinising the status of Bernard Matthews' retirement funds and the recent £363m settlement [...]
Comparethemarket owner bumps up sales giving Aleksandr and Sergei something to write home about March 6, 2017 The owner of price comparison website Comparethemarket today revealed double-digit revenue growth during the first six months of its financial year. The figures BGL, which also owns Beagle Street and Budget Insurance brands, said group revenue jumped 14 per cent. Comparethemarket.com revenue increased by 15 per cent, while lesfurets.com (literally, the ferets) revenues soared by 34 per [...]
Here’s how we build P2P firms that actually service the poor March 2, 2017 Is payday lender Wonga the only alternative finance business that actually addressed credit demand among poor people? A regulatory crackdown on the industry has pushed the most disadvantaged in this country towards hire purchase firms, where they “buy” something on credit, sell it on almost immediately to obtain ready cash, then end up paying back [...]
Britons are expected to splash out £108bn on cars during 2017 February 28, 2017 Britons will spend £108bn on cars this year, according to research by American Express. The poll found that 19 per cent of adults will spend an average of £11,094 buying a brand new or second hand car. Londoners spend the most on cars at £14,557 each, followed by the East Midlands (£13,831) and Scotland (£13,191). [...]
Government cuts discount rate: Experts react to move by justice secretary Liz Truss and warn on implications February 27, 2017 The government's decision to slash the insurance discount rate caught most of the sector's largest firms by surprise this morning. In particular, large motor insurers such as Direct Line (shares dropped by more than six per cent) and Admiral (down more than two per cent) were hit. [stockChart code="DLG" date="2017-02-27 15:08"] What is the discount rate? The [...]
The City boss running around for retirees: Clive Bannister on being a Phoenix from the ashes and providing a happy ending for pensioners February 27, 2017 Phoenix Group’s chief executive wasn’t looking forward to his morning commitments on 28 March 2014. “I was due to make a presentation to a rather hostile audience,” says Clive Bannister, the head of the FTSE 250 closed-book life insurer. “They didn’t want to think very kindly about Mr Bannister.” And Bannister’s day was about to [...]