Direct Line profits drop after £16m blow from discount rate change July 31, 2019 Motor insurer Direct Line reported a 10.2 per cent drop in first-half profits today amid aims to cuts costs and as it took a hit from government changes to insurers’ discount rate. Read more: Insurers voice dismay over government change to personal injury discount rate The figures Operating profit sank to £274.3m for the six [...]
Fed interest rate cut: Will Donald Trump get what he wants? July 31, 2019 The US Federal Reserve is set to cut interest rates for the first time in 10 years this evening, with the raging trade war with China and signs of slowing momentum darkening policymakers’ moods. Yet US economic growth is stronger than its peers and unemployment is at record lows, meaning the Fed will likely plump [...]
Lloyds Banking Group misses profit targets as £650m PPI provisions weigh heavy July 31, 2019 Lloyds Banking Group has undershot analyst profit expectations for the first half, with a £650m provision for payment protection insurance (PPI) pay outs denting its earnings. The bank posted pre-tax profit of £2.9bn, falling short of the analyst consensus of £3.45bn. Read more: Lloyds to pay £140m to settle Standard Life Aberdeen row The bank [...]
Horse Racing Betting Tips: More Glorious winners await Tudhope with Dubawi Fifty July 30, 2019 THERE are very few Flat racesstarted by a flag and possibly the most famous is today’s opening Unibet Goodwood Handicap (1.50pm), run over 2m4½f. Founded in 1823, this is one of Goodwood’s oldest races and is always popular with racegoers because the runners start in front of the stands, going the reverse way down the [...]
Boris Johnson at odds with Leo Varadkar over Irish backstop July 30, 2019 Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar are at odds over how to solve the Brexit impasse, with Leo Varadkar stating that the EU was united in its insistence that the withdrawal agreement could not be reopened. The Prime Minister held a phone call with Varadkar today, in which the two leaders discussed Brexit. [...]
Don’t underestimate Boris Johnson, PM’s adviser tells Brussels July 29, 2019 Boris Johnson’s EU adviser has urged Brussels not to “underestimate” the new Prime Minister as he repeated the government’s pledge to leave the bloc on 31 October. David Frost, a former adviser to Johnson while he was foreign secretary, said many people were “inclined” to underestimate Johnson but that doing so would be a mistake. [...]
Hiscox profits rise despite increase in claims in first half July 29, 2019 Insurer Hiscox today said its profit for the first half of the year rose three per cent to $168m, despite a higher volume of claims compared to the same period last year. Gross written premiums increased by just under 4.9 per cent to $2.3bn (£1.8bn), equivalent to a seven per cent rise in constant currency. [...]
From energy to insurance: How Open Banking could fix the loyalty penalty headache July 29, 2019 You don’t get to be Prime Minister without having a few political gifts. One of Theresa May’s was her ability to spot the issues that people cared about – even if she found it harder to come up with effective ways of improving them. That was why her maiden speech outside Downing Street was so [...]
FCA tries to take consumers back to the nineties ahead of PPI deadline July 29, 2019 The animatronic head of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the eight-time world memory champion have been enlisted by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to help consumers remember if they were mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). With a month to go before the deadline for making PPI complaints to providers, the FCA has launched a campaign that aims [...]
Fed set to cut interest rates for first time in 10 years July 28, 2019 The US Federal Reserve is poised to cut interest rates for the first time in a decade when it meets this week in a preemptive effort to stave off the effects of trade tensions. Read more: US economic growth falls short of Trump’s target Market players think it is certain that the Fed will cut [...]