Ex-dividend shares tame FTSE gains as UK bond yields hit fresh 14-year high August 18, 2022 Traders ditching companies that have yet to announce the details of their next shareholder giveaway tamed London markets’ gains today. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index jumped 0.35 per cent to 7,541.85 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, climbed 0.55 per cent higher [...]
Lloyd’s of London tells insurers to halt covering state-backed cyberattacks August 18, 2022 Lloyd’s of London has said its insurers will be required to stop covering state-backed cyberattacks in their standard cyber insurance policies. The centuries-old insurance marketplace told its underwriters to make exclusions for cyberattacks launched by governments and state actors, over concerns such attacks could expose the market to unmanageable losses. “If not managed properly [a [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Leave cyclists out of your culture wars August 18, 2022 This government is a small state government, Conservatives tell us. People don’t like it when politicians intrude too much in their life choices, they say. Yet Transport Secretary Grant Shapps thinks there’s one area where it is worth intervening: the dangerous, unruly lycra-clad cyclist community. He called for speed limits in residential areas, and insurance [...]
Liz Truss to launch ‘war on technocrats’ by merging City watchdogs August 18, 2022 Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss is planning an immediate shakeup of the City’s major regulators if she wins the race to become prime minister. Truss is planning to merge the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), and Payments System Regulator (PSR) into a single, new body. The Conservative party MP’s plans comes [...]
Ryan Howsam: Why Staysure boss bought Legends Tour and how it can be profitable August 17, 2022 Sports sponsorship usually follows a playbook – Brand X pays to be associated with Team Y or Competition Z – but Ryan Howsam, founder of insurer Staysure, has ripped it up with golf’s Legends Tour. Howsam, a keen golfer in his youth who played off a scratch handicap, got involved with the circuit formerly known [...]
Pubs are vital parts of our community: they urgently need a tax cut August 16, 2022 If the pandemic taught us one thing, it’s that the City is far more than traders, brokers and bankers. It’s the teams who packed up a host of high-end kit on a Friday and parked it in front rooms in the Home Counties in time for Monday’s open; the insurers and the compliance bods who [...]
Bulk annuity transactions set to hit record levels in 2022 August 15, 2022 The UK market for bulk annuity transactions is on track to hit record levels this year, pensions experts have said. The value of all UK bulk purchase annuities deals is already up by 50 per cent compared to last year, and could hit historic levels by the end of the year. The increase in [...]
Google searches for solar panels rocket more than 300 per cent as cost of living and energy crises hit August 15, 2022 Google searches for solar panels have rocketed by more than 300 per cent this year, with the cost of living and energy crises hitting hard, writes Cat Branagan. More Brits are looking for alternative and cleaner energy sources it has been shown by a new report of Google Trends data. Searches shot 316 per cent [...]
Pressure mounts as three quarters of Tories back Labour’s £29bn emergency energy plan August 15, 2022 Three quarters of Tories back Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to freeze energy bills as pressure mounts on Sunak and Truss.
Phoenix hikes dividend as pensions deals bolster insurer’s business August 15, 2022 Phoenix Group today upped its dividend after posting “record” financial results for the first half of 2022. The London insurer hiked its dividend by three per cent to heights of 24.8p a share after a series of pensions deals bolstered Phoenix’s revenues. The pensions deals, signed off in the first half of last year, saw [...]