The government is on a charm offensive in Davos, but businesses are sceptical January 23, 2025 UK business confidence is set to decline compared to 2024, with more than half of all UK executives expecting business risks to increase in the year ahead, says Heather Blundell Chancellor Rachel Reeves has attended the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos this week with a clear mission – to convince global CEOs and [...]
Insurer Howden and founder hit with fresh lawsuit by PIB Group over poaching January 22, 2025 Insurance intermediary group, PIP, along with its subsidiary Acquinex has launched legal proceedings to the High Court against rival Howden and several individuals
‘Pension death tax’ raid attacked by Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell January 22, 2025 Britain’s biggest wealth management firms have mounted a coordinated attack on Rachel Reeves’ plans to slap inheritance tax on undrawn pension pots today, describing the proposals as “flawed and potentially damaging” to grieving families. In a letter to the Chancellor, the bosses of Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, Interactive Investor and Quilter, which collectively manage some [...]
Wonks think a wave of asset management mergers is inevitable January 22, 2025 Across the European continent, a surge of mergers and acquisitions among asset managers has begun. Yesterday, Italian and French giants Generali and Natixis agreed to a €1.9 trillion (£1.61 trillion) merger to create the second largest asset manager in Europe. Meanwhile, BNP Paribas recently bought out AXA’s investment arm, and rumours continue to swirl about [...]
PRA under pressure to cut red tape as growth plans fail to excite the City January 22, 2025 The banking regulator is under pressure to go further and faster in its efforts to cut red tape from the City after it outlined plans to boost the growth of firms within its remit last week. In a letter to the Prime Minister and Chancellor, the PRA, which sits within the Bank of England and [...]
JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin calls on Starmer to reduce pub taxes January 22, 2025 Wetherspoons chairman Tim Martin has once again called on the government and Keir Starmer to reduce the tax gap between supermarkets and pubs in his company’s latest trading update. Martin said following the government’s decision to hike the national minimum wage, business rates and employers’ national insurance, costs at Wetherspoon will increase by around £60m [...]
UK economy: Borrowing overshoots expectations as interest bill spikes January 22, 2025 The figures come shortly after a bout of instability in the gilt market.
London commuter towns named ‘financial resilience capitals’ of the UK January 22, 2025 From pension plans to retirement savings, new data has revealed the 'financial resilience capitals' of the UK.
Covid BI: Final stage for lawsuits that put insurance lawyers into the spotlight January 22, 2025 Following covid pandemic, an influx of business interruption cases put insurance lawyers into the spotlight. Now these cases are facing the final stage in court.
More good news for pubs as December splurge delivers crucial growth January 22, 2025 A rush of pubgoers in the last two weeks of December brought much-needed growth across the industry in a “big relief” for businesses. Pub sales were up 4.7 per cent ahead of December 2023, while bars bounced back from soft trading throughout most of 2024 to post growth of 1.3 per cent, according to the [...]