Budget 2015: George Osborne plays to the crowd with a populist plan March 18, 2015 Despite the chancellor promising not to pull a rabbit from the hat, there were in fact plenty of Budget bunnies to be seen this year. With the UK now growing ahead of its major international competitors and an General Election coming up so soon, it’s clear that George Osborne felt confident enough to splash out [...]
Budget 2015: No more paper tax returns, but how will the new digital system work? March 18, 2015 Could the best thing from the 2015 Budget be the end of tax returns as we know them? In an announcement that had taxes as a central theme, George Osborne announced a new, digitised tax-returns system. From early 2016, gone will be the days of wading through paper tax returns – instead HM Revenue and [...]
Budget 2015: Protestors go into the Crystal Maze to grab tax dodger cash March 17, 2015 Protestors donned costumes and recreated the classic Crystal Maze game in the heart of Westminster yesterday, as part of the campaign against tax dodging. Dressed as George Osborne, Danny Alexander, and Ed Balls, they posed with ministerial red boxes inside a glass dome, with fake bank notes flying around. The flying cash represented the money [...]
BDO: What we expect and hope for in today’s Budget March 17, 2015 Our tax policy over the past decade has largely ignored the UK’s mid-market businesses despite this section of the economy being a significant source of tax revenues and widely regarded as the engine room for future economic growth. This fact needs to be acknowledged, with more targeted reliefs and incentives aimed at stimulating this fundamental [...]
City Moves for 12 March 2015 | Who’s switching jobs March 11, 2015 Edmond de Rothschild Olivier Colom has been appointed head of the private banking and asset management group’s new General Secretariat, responsible for ensuring the Executive Committee’s decisions are implemented. He joined Edmond de Rothschild in 2013 as an international adviser, and has previously served as an adviser to the President of France and in various [...]
Argentina turns up the heat on HSBC with demand for £2.3bn of offshore cash March 9, 2015 Argentina is demanding that HSBC repatriate £2.3bn of its clients' money. The bank stands accused of moving the money offshore for tax advantages. The head of Argentina's tax authority, Ricardo Echegaray, claimed HSBC's actions threatened the stability of the Latin American state. Speaking at the Argentine embassy, Echegaray told a host of journalists "HSBC built [...]
General election jitters? UK house prices fall off the boil in February March 5, 2015 The path to house price equilibrium is an undulating one. After a 1.9 per cent spike in January the average cost of a house fell by 0.3 per cent month-on-month in February, according to the latest data from Halifax. This put the price of the average home slightly lower at £192,372, with some analysts suspecting [...]
City Moves for 05 March 2015 | Who’s switching jobs March 4, 2015 Aon Hewitt The talent, retirement and health solutions business has appointed Adrian Mitchell as partner and senior portfolio manager in its delegated consulting services team. He joins from the John Lewis Partnership Pensions Trust, where he was chief investment officer. Mitchell has also held senior positions at Proxima Alfa UK Investments, FF&P Asset Management, JP [...]
HSBC bosses to face more MPs for another interrogation on tax March 3, 2015 HSBC’S chief executive and its former private banking boss will answer questions in parliament on Monday over the group’s Swiss private bank. The Public Accounts Committee, headed by Margaret Hodge MP, has summoned chief exec Stuart Gulliver and ex-global private bank boss Chris Meares, as well as HSBC non-executive director and BBC boss Rona Fairhead. It [...]
JP Morgan and the Brookings Institution host UK-US trade summit: What can cities do to boost exports? February 26, 2015 Sheffield’s manufacturing heartlands were once dominated by grey steel, but now they make something more colourful. Sheffield council’s recent push to boost exports has helped one hair dye manufacturer win a six-figure contract to make hair dye for Asian consumers – and it won’t be the last. “Our initiative is already targeting 60 companies in [...]