Taxpayer foots bad Covid loan bill of £7.4bn amid ‘uncomfortable level of fraud’ September 14, 2023 The government has already had to foot a £7.4bn bill to settle bad loans while banks have claimed a further £1.13bn under the schemes.
Mark Kleinman: The inquest into Wilko’s demise has only just begun September 14, 2023 Mark Kleinman is City editor at Sky News Inquest into Wilko’s demise has only just begun Few things elicit British consumers’ sentimentality like the imminent disappearance of a once-proud high street name. For Woolworths in 2009 and BHS in 2016, read Wilko in 2023. The sad fate of more than 10,000 employees at the family-owned [...]
Mark Kleinman: Wilko’s demise, the FTSE chair merry-go-round and Bink’s breakup with Barclays September 14, 2023 Mark Kleinman gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly column for City A.M.
Government won’t create single insolvency regulator in its industry overhaul September 12, 2023 Insolvencies will not be regulated by a single body, after the government dropped plans to create a solo watchdog for the sector. Ministers had proposed setting up a single regulator of insolvency practitioners to run within the insolvency service – but have since reversed on the idea. The move comes as high street retailer Wilko [...]
Local authorities must dodge the fate of Birmingham City Council and fix their finances September 11, 2023 The troubles at Birmingham City Council threaten to pull down cash-strapped local authorities across the country, writes Claire Corbett
The Notebook: Victoria Scholar on the economy, Ryanair, and Spoons September 5, 2023 Do you want the good news or the bad news first? I’ll start with the good.
Bank unlikely to pause rate hikes despite 28,000 insolvencies forecast for 2024 September 4, 2023 Over 28,000 firms could go under next year due to the burden of higher interest rates, a top think tank has warned.
Huge jump in London construction firms closing as project delays and inflation bite September 4, 2023 The number of London construction firms going bust has risen by almost a quarter since the pandemic, new data reveals.
High street banks pull back from SME lending despite increasing demand August 30, 2023 Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are finding it increasingly difficult to access funding from high street banks, new data out today shows. According to data from fintech firm iwoca, 84 per cent of finance brokers said high street banks were increasingly reluctant to lend to SMEs. This was seven percentage points more than the quarter [...]
Construction companies ‘treading water’ as insolvency rate reaches highest level in a decade August 24, 2023 UK construction companies are going bankrupt at a faster rate than at any point in the last decade.