Mortgage overhaul hurts entrepreneurs July 15, 2010 NEWS that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) plans to overhaul the mortgage market may have left some entrepreneurs a little uneasy. From now on, to get a mortgage you need to pass an “affordability” check and self-certified mortgages will be banned. Business groups were quick to state the drawbacks of these plans: “Business owners who [...]
Thinking more inclusively can boost business June 28, 2010 Every entrepreneur I have ever met, and that’s quite a few, has expressed on some level exasperation with the public for not getting what they are bringing to life. The best ones focus on educating their audiences; the ones who never breakthrough drivel in their exasperation. To some extent, they are right. A car is [...]
Cameron to defend UK fiscal squeeze at summit June 25, 2010 David Cameron has defended Britain’s decision to implement the biggest fiscal squeeze in a generation as G20 leaders prepared to meet in Canada to discuss the global economy. Last year’s G20 unity on the need for coordinated action to support the world economy has started to falter as the recovery has got under way. Ahead [...]
BP disaster bill hits $2bn June 21, 2010 Oil giant BP has admitted that the cost of its response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has hit $2bn (£1.3bn) and it has paid out $105m in damages to those affected by the disaster. BP added in a statement that it rejected claims by its partner in the oil well, Anadarko Petroleum that [...]
The bike and car parts retailer who wants to own Britain on the move June 20, 2010 Halfords and its chief executive David Wild are having a good recession. Earlier this month, the bikes and car maintenance retail chain posted a strong set of full-year figures: pre-tax profits rose 42 per cent to £110m, while sales rose three per cent to £832m. The FTSE 250 business said the trend for healthy living [...]
Accountants are vital for boosting economies right across the world June 16, 2010 IT’S clear we are living in unprecedented economic times. Indicators from various sources – including the latest quarterly survey of ACCA members, the largest of its kind in the world – suggest “cautious optimism”, and no more, is appropriate. In 2010, the financial services sector continues to dominate all levels of debate, from its willingness [...]
Charles Stanley: No living wills June 8, 2010 SIR DAVID Howard, the former Lord Mayor and chairman of stockbroker Charles Stanley, yesterday warned that the Treasury’s proposals to introduce “living wills” for financial firms could cost the sector hundreds of millions of pounds in lost profits. Howard said the cost of such a move to Charles Stanley would be around £1m, meaning that [...]
Denton Wilde Sapte joins the rush for transatlantic law firm mergers June 6, 2010 MERGERS and acquisitions are rattling along at quite a pace among transatlantic law firms – unlike at the corporate clients they service, many of which are still finding the M&A game a little hard going at the moment, not least of course Prudential. The latest legal mega-deal repays a closer look. The City’s Denton Wilde [...]
The City must stop talent trickling overseas May 20, 2010 CONFIRMATION that the UK is slipping down the list of the world’s most competitive countries comes as no surprise but is a situation that surely must be remedied before irreparable damage is done to our economy. The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook identified the UK as falling one place to 22nd in the world rankings. Bearing [...]
RPI inflation sees sharpest jump since ‘91 May 18, 2010 NEW chancellor George Osborne yesterday called on the Bank of England to accelerate plans to reintroduce house prices into the benchmark rate of inflation, after the housing-linked index in April recorded its biggest monthly increase in two decades. The consumer price index (CPI) – the official inflation measure which does not currently take housing into [...]