Ovo: Shareholders for UK’s fourth biggest energy firm invest further £200m as profits slump July 21, 2023 Ovo shareholders have poured an extra £200m into the owner of the UK’s fourth-largest energy supplier.
Coutts’ Farage decision is a blunder but it’s none of Sunak’s business July 20, 2023 Coutts should have the ability to decide who it grants its services to. But essential to financial services are really boring things like certainty, predictability and trust.
The insurers trying to get their heads around the new world of war July 20, 2023 We knew what war was. Wars used to look like people dropping bombs and people with guns,” Tom Murray tells me from the distinctly unwarlike setting of an Aon meeting room. “It was relatively easy to understand. Now we suddenly have this incredibly rapidly evolving field of cyber war – which could be a fundamental [...]
US Fed fines Deutsche Bank $186m over failure to improve money laundering checks July 20, 2023 The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it fined Deutsche Bank and its U.S. affiliates $186m for failing to sufficiently address money laundering control problems and other shortcomings previously flagged by the U.S. central bank. The new penalty for lingering issues marks the latest blow for the German lender, which has struggled for years to get on [...]
Workers in the UK spend less time in the office than any other country July 20, 2023 A new report shows that workers in the UK spend the least amount of time in the office each week compared to workers from other countries. In fact, we spend significantly less time in the office when compared to the global average, with 34% of Brits spending four days or more in the workplace compared [...]
New sustainability reporting standards are a game changer for businesses July 20, 2023 In June, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) published its long-awaited inaugural standards for sustainability reporting. The launch of the standards is widely regarded as a hugely important milestone in the global fight against climate change. By providing a global baseline for businesses to report comparable information on sustainability issues, the new standards should make [...]
Mid-market M&A remains resilient as UK market hopes for deal surge July 20, 2023 Mid-market deal activity in the UK has remained resilient despite a fall in the overall level of deals year-on-year, according to new data from Big Four firm PwC. In the first half of the year mid-market deals worth less than £1bn increased 1.8 per cent in the UK as smaller deals remained easier to finalise [...]
CMA bosses would have charged Asda more for failing to comply with fuel pricing probe July 19, 2023 The co-owner of Asda, Mohsin Issa, has said he thought it was ‘unfair’ for competition watchdog bosses to say they would have charged the grocer more if they could for failing to provide relevant info for its probe into fuel pricing. In June, Asda was fined £60,000 by competition watchdog for failing to co-operate properly [...]
Inflation tumbles faster than expected to its lowest level in over a year at 7.9 per cent July 19, 2023 Inflation has slimmed to its lowest level in over a year and is falling faster than expected, raising the chances of the Bank of England hiking interest rates at a slower pace next month, official figures out today reveal. The rate of price growth fell to 7.9 per cent in June, down from 8.7 per [...]
Macquarie plans to take full ownership of National Grid’s gas unit after increasing stake July 19, 2023 An investor-consortium led by Australia’s Macquarie Asset Management has upped its stake in the National Grid’s gas transmission business and plans to take full ownership “in due course”. Macquarie, along with British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, snapped up an additional 20 per cent in the gas business, the company said today. The investment takes the [...]