Asda offloads pensions in £4bn deal as it eyes stock market float October 17, 2019 Asda owner Walmart is said to have secured a deal to offload £4bn of the UK supermarket’s pension liabilities as it looks to clear the path for a potential stock market listing. Read more: Asda employees stage fresh protests over contract changes Walmart and Asda’s pension trustees have agreed a £3.8bn buy-in with specialist insurance [...]
PPI claims drive surge in company complaints October 17, 2019 More than 4m complaints were made to firms in the first half of this year, driven by a surge of payment protection insurance (PPI) claims. The UK’s financial watchdog has reported 4.29m complaints for the first six months of 2019, rising from 3.91m during the second half of last year. Read more: Banks struggle with [...]
Moneysupermarket share price sinks as it warns of money segment weakness October 17, 2019 Moneysupermarket’s share price dropped 10 per cent today as product availability problems hampered one of its core businesses. The comparison website’s money division shrank five per cent to £20.6m for the three months to the end of September, the comparison site said in a trading update. Read more: How to avoid the grey suit mentality [...]
Soaring corporate debt levels threaten financial stability, IMF warns October 16, 2019 The global financial system is at risk from ballooning levels of corporate and emerging market debt caused by ultra-low interest rates, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. Read more: IMF warns global growth will fall to lowest level since financial crisis The IMF cautioned that in a downturn half as severe as 2008, $19 [...]
Banks struggle with PPI claims after deadline surge October 16, 2019 Customers who lodged complaints over the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) may have to wait until next summer for a final response. Read more: PPI costs account for over half of all conduct and litigation in UK banks Britain’s competition watchdog has said it is challenging banks to deal with complaints as quickly as [...]
Crowdfunding in the age of the consumer October 16, 2019 It became clear that fintech companies began to prize crowdfunding three years ago. Monzo crashed our servers in 2016 when it raised £1m in 96 seconds. Last December, the now-serial crowdfunding neobank raised £20m from retail investors. The staggering thing about Monzo’s raise — and it speaks volumes about where both crowdfunding and fintech have [...]
No-deal Brexit: The potential winners and losers October 15, 2019 As you read this, Brexit negotiators are working around the clock to come to an agreement that will enable the UK to leave the EU in an orderly way by the Halloween deadline. Both sides have said they are committed to working out a deal, but with time so short, nothing is certain. If they [...]
Want to ensure Britain’s future prosperity? Stop taking wealth creators for granted October 15, 2019 Last month, the UK reported record numbers of people in employment. With all the Brexit noise, it was easy to miss this incredible news. But a healthy jobs market is of critical importance to society. As a barometer of success, employment is for some (including me) more important than any other figure, including GDP. And [...]
Climate activists target bankers during second week of protest October 14, 2019 Hundreds of climate protesters shut down traffic at the heart of the City today, accusing the financial sector of “bankrolling the environmental crisis”. Read more: Extinction Rebellion targets Blackrock in day of City protest Activists from protest movement Extinction Rebellion gathered in the rain at around 7am to begin a “day of disruption” that saw [...]
Extinction Rebellion targets Blackrock in protest over ‘climate criminals’ October 14, 2019 Extinction Rebellion protesters today targeted the London headquarters of Blackrock as they set their sights on the City over its role in what they describe as a looming environmental emergency. Climate activists glued themselves to the doors of the asset management giant, while others staged a mock dinner party with rolled up banknotes on their [...]