Conservative party tees up a National Insurance tax cut in its election manifesto November 3, 2019 Boris Johnson is preparing to give a tax cut of up to £460 to the country’s lowest earners if victorious at next month’s general election. The Conservative party is reportedly planning on doing this by raising the wage threshold at which people start to pay National Insurance as a part of the Tories’ election manifesto. [...]
Insurance giant AIG fights back in third quarter results November 1, 2019 A huge drop in catastrophe losses propelled insurer American International Group (AIG) to a profit in the third quarter, with a reported net income of $648m (£500m). Total pretax catastrophe losses in 2019 narrowed to $511m, well down on last year’s $1.6bn. Read more: Volatile market movements boost TP ICAP revenues This included $254m for [...]
The City will watch the election with interest November 1, 2019 The fate of the financial services industry is rarely a battleground in election campaigns but though the City won’t get much attention (beyond Labour’s ham-fisted criticism of it) the future of financial and professional services will certainly be determined by the next six weeks of campaigning. Labour have made clear to City leaders and business [...]
Galliford Try joins the Winters of discontent October 31, 2019 Standard Chartered, Lloyds Banking Group, Aviva and BT Group: even the Investment Association (IA) must have been surprised by the rich seam of targets it uncovered when it launched a campaign to curb the lavish pension perks enjoyed by the chief executives of listed companies. A quarter of FTSE 100 bosses have seen their pension [...]
FTSE 100 staggers as Lloyds and Shell profits tumble October 31, 2019 The FTSE 100 dropped sharply this morning as Lloyds and Shell weighed down London’s blue-chip index, which headed for its biggest fall since 2 October. The index fell roughly one per cent to 7,254 points, with the DAX and the CAC both down 0.7 per cent. Shell’s share price fell nearly 3.8 per cent to [...]
Lloyds Banking Group profit slumps 97 per cent after £1.8bn PPI hit October 31, 2019 Lloyds Banking Group narrowly avoided tipping into the red this morning after taking a major third-quarter dent from the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI). The lender’s pre-tax profits were reduced to £50m, falling 97 per cent from the same period last year after setting aside £1.8bn for PPI provisions. Read more: UK banking sector [...]
HSBC-backed fintech Bud to re-focus product stream after restructuring October 31, 2019 A fintech startup backed by HSBC is to open up its software to businesses outside of banking, as part of a restructuring of the business that included a swathe of lay-offs. Bud, which passes financial data made available through Open Banking legislation to banks in order to help them innovate, will now make its platform [...]
US Federal Reserve lowers rates again but signals it is done cutting October 30, 2019 The US Federal Reserve took the axe to interest rates for the third time in a row today, just hours after data showed the US economy slowed in the third quarter. Read more: US economic growth beats expectations with Fed poised to cut rates Fed president Jay Powell struck a more cautious tone than at [...]
Revealed: TfL tightened Uber’s driver checks in London licence extension October 30, 2019 Uber’s licensing restrictions have been revealed to include stringent checks on drivers’ documentation and insurance, prompting claims the ride-hailing app has in the past harboured unlicensed drivers. Restrictions were placed on Uber by Transport for London (TfL) in September as a part of a two-month licence extension in September. Read more: Uber suffers blow as [...]
US economic growth beats expectations but Fed still set to cut rates October 30, 2019 US economic growth slowed in the third quarter but beat expectations as consumer spending and higher exports offset a fall in business investment. Read more: S&P 500 hits all-time high on trade and Fed optimism The US economy grew at an annual rate of 1.9 per cent between July and September, the US Commerce Department [...]